New Dehli

From Friday November 5

Mr. Janesh, our Dehli guide

Today marked our first day of real touring in India, and we hit the ground running. We got on our big comfortable bus at 10 and headed out on to the streets of New Dehli. Our guide Janesh tried to shout out a narrative about Dehli as we proceeded to the first stop but the bus microphone wouldn't work so most of us missed most of what he had to say. I did make out that the name Dehli is derived from the word for palm; so Dehli means something like "City of Palms."

New Dehli is way more attractive than I expected. There are many green areas and palaces, and we passed several temples that looked quite pleasant from the road. I noted at least one especially noxious looking slum. Of course, there was trash everywhere but not that outrageous by our Ukrainian-influenced standards.

Our first stop was at India Gate , a British built monument originally dedicated to the soldiers of the British empire killed in the First World War. It is now the home of India's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with an eternally burning flame. The area around the monument is vast and open. There were a lot of people there but the atmosphere was calm and peaceful; the grounds absorbed the crowds to make them hardly noticeable.


Before we left the bus, Janesh gave us the usual warning about beggars and touts. When we exited the bus, however, not a one was there to greet us. Walking from the bus park to the monument we were approached by only a couple of people trying to sell little flying toys (quite interesting actually) but they didn't hassle us or follow us at all. For beggars, one absolutely adorable girl of 4 or 5 years, carrying a toddler almost as big as she, came and sat on the curb by our group but didn't say a word or even hold out her hand. To this day I regret not giving her baksheesh.

Click here to view all the pictures we took at India Gate.