Northern India

So, where was I?

Ah yes, India...

Our second day was out and about in New Delhi; a chance to experience the crowds and traffic as we go from sight to sight. Our driver keeps us well insulated from too much of the local atmosphere but we do get to see the biggest Mosque and, as it is festival time, there are lots of market stalls inside which makes it surprisingly festive for those of us used to more austere places of worship. The workmanship and splendour of the major buildings gives us an idea of the craftsmanship of times past.

There is a stark contrast between the space and tranquility inside the buildings and the cramped, frenetic activity outside.

Delhi City life

Solving the energy problem

Both here and throughout Northern India we encounter a lot of local tourists admiring their heritage, so we don’t have the sense that it is only for the foreign tourists - YET.

700kms over 5 days take us through Udaipur, Jaipur and Agra where we are presented with a smorgasbord of Persian and Hindu design in the Amber Fort, Fatehpur Palace and Taj Mahal.

(In fairness, I can't quite swear that I have the photos in the right order here but I'm getting internet cafe-itis and you'll get the general idea!)

The Women's Screen in Jaipur so the Royal women could watch the processions without being seen.
The front gate at the Taj Mahal.

You know who, you know where at dawn.

Life outside of the capital doesn’t get any calmer. People’s lives are relatively similar wherever we have been. Where there has been the opportunity, an individual family may put together a small business that focuses on one specific market – some have small ‘shops’ which generally consist of a room (probably 6 – 9m2) that opens directly onto the street. It is unusual to see shops with windows – most just have a shutter that they will put down when they are shut. Cooking, mending bikes, soldering pipes, sewing, grocery shops, electrical shops etc. etc. make up the average street. These then often seem to be organised into, for example, the car part’s quarter, the tailor’s quarter, the spice quarter etc. Apart from these more organised businesses there are a multitude of street stalls and hawkers each selling something different.

Being westerners we are constantly swooped on and called after. I want to say that it takes us some time to get used to the constant ‘hawking’ and clamouring that being on the street entails – but in fact I don’t think that we ever really did get used to it. Individual space isn’t a concept (luxury) that is available here and so the usual social cues that we give out are ignored and we, in turn, have to try to learn to ignore the worst of it.