India: First Impressions

I arrived in Delhi early yesterday morning and, after eating breakfast fell on my hotel bed and slept for five hours. Afterward, I gathered my courage and went to explore. Delhi is . . . kind of a mess. It's noisy and smoggy and people are shouting and horns are honking and men are trying to pull you into shops and beggars are waving their stumps in your face and it's all incredibly overwhelming. After walking dazedly down the street, a British Indian man stopped me and introduced himself. Mr. Singh was from Birmingham and he was kind enough to show me to the internet cafe and warn me against touts.

Here I am with monkeys on the street. Not touts, but equally as scary. I'll never forget the time in Malaysia when a monkey almost attacked Ritchie with its gnarly yellow teeth bared. Anyway, after taking this picture, I went home for another nap, ate dinner, then fell asleep again at 11 p.m. I think I was tired.

I met Cam over breakfast this morning and we made our way through the city via auto-rickshaw (enclosed three-wheeled mopeds). We met with Ms. Suhrabi Mittal, author of a paper on inclusive development in Uttarakhand, and found her incredibly warm and helpful. Afterward, we went to Humayun's Tomb (have to fit in the sightseeing!), a 16th century park that inspired the Taj Mahal. I'd post pictures, but I don't have my cord here.

Right now I'm feeling tired, but pleased to be getting the hang of the city. I've been pretty good at haggling with taxi drivers, ignoring touts, and wavings away beggars. I might get fewer points in my next life for that, but as my friend Mr. Singh told me, "If you give it away, you'll have nothing left to live on." That's true, especially as the beggars here are endless.

We catch the night train to Uttarakhand tonight. I'm looking forward to fresh air and mountains, as well as really getting into the project. Updates with pictures to follow.