we did so much and yet absolutely nothing, all at the same time. It was a good day and yet a totally frustrating, infuriating day. A day full of contradictions, which I think I'm going to have to get used to while being in India.Delhi is crowded and loud and dirty and teeming with people who are trying to rip you off. We had decided that we didn't need to spend any more time here so we made a plan to leave this afternoon and head south to a town called Jaipur. It seemed like such a simple thing to do but, as I am already learning in being here less than 36 hours, nothing in India is simple. Nothing.
We got up and got organized and headed back to Punjabi Kitchen, our new favorite Indian restaurant, for some more garlic naan and curry to fortify us for the trip. We went to the internet cafe and made a hotel reservation in 
Jaipur and headed back to the house to set off. We had a plan and we were proud of ourselves. It was all going so well.
It should have taken us one hour to get to the train station. We were going to have tons of time to spare. What happened in the span of the next 4 hours is one of those things that I could try to describe in grueling detail but I could never truly convey the extent of the frustration or the infuriation of the whole scenario. It was one of those things where you really, truly just had to be there. Had to be there to experience each thing building on the other, the whole perfect storm of it all coming to a head, the emotions involved. Let me say it involved being ripped off on train tickets, being unable to find a t
axi (one told us he wouldn't drive foreigners), being a spectacle in the middle of an intersection, trying to figure out Indian logic, being ripped off on rickshaws, arguing with a rickshaw driver, a metro, men in collusion to rip us off, an argument with a taxi driver, a crescendo of all the realizations of being ripped off happening right at the same moment that a huge, torrential thunderstorm hit, a frantic cab ride through Delhi traffic, the cab breaking down in the middle of the street in the rising waters (the irony being that the name on the cab was "Lucky") from the storm and getting to our train with two, literally two, minutes to spare.
Between Fen having been traveling here for a month already and her being somewhat wise to the scams in India as well as the numerous warnings/suggestions we received from other people about what to watch out for, we fe
lt we were at least marginally prepared for what to be careful of and how to handle ourselves. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. India is tough and it requires being tough (as a guy on the metro told us himself). It is a land of contradictions: full of some of the nicest people you'll meet and also full of people who would rip you off as soon as breathe, all while smiling sweetly. Full of filth and foulness, and also full of beauty and richness and color. And this is only Day Two.
So now we are on the train to Jaipur (the train which, henceforth and forevermore, we will refer to as The Prison Train), a bit poorer but also a bit wiser. I'm also trying to not be jaded, to find the balance between wanting to trust people and talk to, learn from and enjo
y them and being wary of every single one of them, knowing that often even the ones you think you can trust are taking advantage of you. It is going to be an extremely interesting 10 days.
And another note: never, ever have I been stared at so much or been the subject of so much unwanted attention. I get it, I get that we're foreigners, that we stand out with our white skin and our light hair and I came prepared knowing we would be the subject of some attention (especially after Jordan). But here it is pervasive, bold, ongoing and truly obtrusive. There is not even the slightest pretense of subtlety or of people trying to pretend that they're not brazenly, unapologetically staring at you. And I'm not talking quick glances here, I'm talking full out, long, hard staring. Fen has been here for a month and says she can't count the times that people have stopped her asking to take a picture of or with her. Not for her to take their picture, but just for them to take a picture of her. And it comes from men and women alike. People stopping what they're doing to turn around and stare. People hanging out of windows to stare. People
craning their necks around corners (like on the train this very minute as I write this) to just sit and stare and stare and stare. I don't get it, really. Surely white people have been here before us, surely we are not the first. I find it kind of amusing (granted, this is day two; by day ten I may feel completely differently); Fen and Sarah are seriously unnerved and annoyed by it. It is obtrusive and it is a bit strange to realize that no matter where you are or what you're doing, someone is watching you. I figure that I can't change it so why let it bother me? But, again, ask me how I feel about it on day ten....
Jaipur and headed back to the house to set off. We had a plan and we were proud of ourselves. It was all going so well.It should have taken us one hour to get to the train station. We were going to have tons of time to spare. What happened in the span of the next 4 hours is one of those things that I could try to describe in grueling detail but I could never truly convey the extent of the frustration or the infuriation of the whole scenario. It was one of those things where you really, truly just had to be there. Had to be there to experience each thing building on the other, the whole perfect storm of it all coming to a head, the emotions involved. Let me say it involved being ripped off on train tickets, being unable to find a t
axi (one told us he wouldn't drive foreigners), being a spectacle in the middle of an intersection, trying to figure out Indian logic, being ripped off on rickshaws, arguing with a rickshaw driver, a metro, men in collusion to rip us off, an argument with a taxi driver, a crescendo of all the realizations of being ripped off happening right at the same moment that a huge, torrential thunderstorm hit, a frantic cab ride through Delhi traffic, the cab breaking down in the middle of the street in the rising waters (the irony being that the name on the cab was "Lucky") from the storm and getting to our train with two, literally two, minutes to spare.Between Fen having been traveling here for a month already and her being somewhat wise to the scams in India as well as the numerous warnings/suggestions we received from other people about what to watch out for, we fe
lt we were at least marginally prepared for what to be careful of and how to handle ourselves. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. India is tough and it requires being tough (as a guy on the metro told us himself). It is a land of contradictions: full of some of the nicest people you'll meet and also full of people who would rip you off as soon as breathe, all while smiling sweetly. Full of filth and foulness, and also full of beauty and richness and color. And this is only Day Two.So now we are on the train to Jaipur (the train which, henceforth and forevermore, we will refer to as The Prison Train), a bit poorer but also a bit wiser. I'm also trying to not be jaded, to find the balance between wanting to trust people and talk to, learn from and enjo
y them and being wary of every single one of them, knowing that often even the ones you think you can trust are taking advantage of you. It is going to be an extremely interesting 10 days.And another note: never, ever have I been stared at so much or been the subject of so much unwanted attention. I get it, I get that we're foreigners, that we stand out with our white skin and our light hair and I came prepared knowing we would be the subject of some attention (especially after Jordan). But here it is pervasive, bold, ongoing and truly obtrusive. There is not even the slightest pretense of subtlety or of people trying to pretend that they're not brazenly, unapologetically staring at you. And I'm not talking quick glances here, I'm talking full out, long, hard staring. Fen has been here for a month and says she can't count the times that people have stopped her asking to take a picture of or with her. Not for her to take their picture, but just for them to take a picture of her. And it comes from men and women alike. People stopping what they're doing to turn around and stare. People hanging out of windows to stare. People
craning their necks around corners (like on the train this very minute as I write this) to just sit and stare and stare and stare. I don't get it, really. Surely white people have been here before us, surely we are not the first. I find it kind of amusing (granted, this is day two; by day ten I may feel completely differently); Fen and Sarah are seriously unnerved and annoyed by it. It is obtrusive and it is a bit strange to realize that no matter where you are or what you're doing, someone is watching you. I figure that I can't change it so why let it bother me? But, again, ask me how I feel about it on day ten....
No comments:
Post a Comment