3 January 2011, first day in Delhi

Flight AI 142 to Delhi, 2 January 2011

I had a nice flight but I have to say that I had better before. The plane belonged to Indian Airlines. For met his was the first contact with india. Painted mostly with warm reds and yellows with a background of brown, I was already feeling the heat and the sun of India.

I arrive in Delhi at 10h30 on the third of January. Cyril was supposed to be waiting for me at the airport. He is a friend of Disha, who I met in Paris. She's from Mumbai and she's very cool. Unfortunately Cyril is not at airport and I try to reach him by phone. "Damn", he's not answering. Outside of the airport there's a different world waiting for me and I decide to wait inside. Im feeling kind of stressed with the situation but fortunately he calls me back. He was sleeping and had forgotten that I will be arriving today. He rushes to the airport. After an hour or so we meet. We buy a prepaid taxi because this is what you have to do when you are in India, otherwise the taxi driver will, most probably, try to cheat you. We head to the taxi, "Geetanjali, please!". That's the name of the place where he lives. Unfortunately the driver doesn't know where is place and we end up loosing so much time to arrive. The first impression of Delhi's streets is desolating. Too much crowded, noise, polution, a chaos! Im feeling weird. The jetleg doesnt help and what I see infinitely contrasts with Paris. I just think "shit place, what Im going to do here?". Somehow I manage to peace my mind and I feel ok.

After a long and messy ride we finally arrive at Geetanjali. He lives in a nice residence area that contrasts with the rest of the city. When I see his apartment my mind enters in shock. I couldn't believe in the scenario I see. He had just moved to this new place. His apartment is almost empty. He doesnt have a bed, chairs, the toilet is dirty and water sometimes flows. Again, interestingly, I start to calm down and chill. Cyril is super cool. He plays guitar and he's kind of impressive. We talk for a bit and then we go for lunch. He has a nice terrace and we spend part of the afternoon there, chilling, drinking and smoking. He tells me about a big market in the center of Delhi where you can find very cheap stuff. Im interested because I wanted to buy a mobile phone and we decide to go.


In the street he waves to the bus driver and the bus slows down. We have to run and jump into bus while it's moving and we do it. I just laugh!! This is so crazy. This happened because, first, we were not at the bus stop and second, and more important, because we are in India! We get out at metro station and we head to the center. It is evening and there is a dense smog that makes me feel so unconfortable. This is usual in Delhi. Its so polluted. The sky is always very dirty.

The metro is very good, I mean it is very proper but it gets very crowed as we approch the station "Rajiv Chowk", one of the hearts of Delhi. We walk to Palika Bazar. This is a huge underground market, it is super dirty and smells bad. As I walk people look at me as if I was painted with gold and try to sell me anything they have. I can't stare at anything otherwise they will jump on me. Im getting annoyed with this. I end up buying a mobile phone after some bargain and we went out. Right now I feel so hungry and tired and we decide to go for dinner. We go to a nice restaurant. The food was great. Yes, indian food is very good. It's such a cocktail of spices.


Wanting to rest we head back home. Cyril deals a ride with the "Rickshaw" driver. Rickshaw is three wheeler taxi and its very cheap. I think we have done like 10Kms in the way back home for just 50 rupees, this is like an euro!!

Next day I left to the airport. I was leaving to Puri in Orissa state.