Arrival

Nathan and I landed at New Delhi’s Indira Ghandi International airport on a Sunday at 11PM, nearly 23 hours after departing from an arctic Minneapolis. Confusion greeted us almost immediately, as we’d discovered that my bag had been mishandled during our connection in Paris, and had not made it to Delhi on our flight. This backpack contained essentially everything I had packed other than my camera gear, and its disappearance was the last thing I wanted to deal with while wearily navigating a bustling airport. Luckily, my bag had been found soon after our departure from Charles De Gaulle, had been thrown on a connecting flight to Amsterdam, and was only a couple hours behind us on its path to Delhi. After a two and a half hour wait at baggage claim, we exited the terminal and greeted our guide, Ajaz, outside with the biggest smiles and hugs. It finally felt like we were in India.

Why am I here?

Taking a step back, I use the word “guide” up above because Nathan (my roommate) and I had hired the expertise and resources of an American agency in India called Go Deeper Travel - started by one of Nathan’s closest friends, Caleb. Since Nathan had for a while been wanting to visit Caleb in Delhi, and I had talked about visiting friends and former colleagues in Pune, Nathan and I decided to turn our talk into action, and to travel to India together; hiring Caleb to coordinate our adventure in Northern India. Over the next week and a half, we’ll be going on a number of tours with local guides, drivers, and hosts that Caleb has built relationships with over the past two years - which is extremely helpful to Nathan and I, having never been to Asia and having felt quite overwhelmed at the initial thought of visiting.

First impression:

I don’t even know where to begin. India is an all-encompassing assault on your senses, assumptions, and values. It’s as if you’re rebooting your entire nervous system, and then reverting back to a child-like state of questioning everything you see and feel.  Every aspect of daily life here is unique or different from what I’m used to in some way or another. From the polluted air you breathe, to the vibrant colors and fabrics, to the unique textures and flavors in the food, not to mention the chaotic flow that is Indian traffic - sensory overload is the norm. Just minutes before writing this, as Nathan and I left Caleb’s after finishing lunch, we opened the front doors to find a stray cow wandering past us through the narrow alleyway.  No one else seemed remotely shocked at this. There is just so much to learn and try, that I will in no way become an expert after three weeks here, let alone if I had three years to spend. I’ll explain in more detail my insights on some of the bigger differences later, after I’ve had more time to process life here, but I’ll first shed light on where we’ve stayed the past two days.

Location:

We’ve stayed in Mehrauli the past three nights, which is one of the oldest and most diverse neighborhoods in Delhi. Mehrauli itself was an autonomous ancient city, with history dating back to the 8th century, before eventually being swept up into the outskirts of the sprawl that is now modern Delhi. Much unlike many areas within Delhi, Mehrauli is surrounded on three sides by forest, and is full of ancient monuments, tombs, and other remnants of past dynasties. One of the most famous of these is the Qutub Minar complex, which I hope to talk about more in a later post (this is where we encountered hundreds of young students eager for selfies with us). Speaking to its cultural diversity, Mehrauli houses schools and places of worship for Hindu, Muslim, Protestant, Jain, Sikh, Buddhist, and Catholic religious groups. As for location, Mehrauli is about a 30 minute drive from the airport, and another 30 minutes via subway to Old Delhi. Due to such a late arrival on our first night, we crashed in a spare room at Caleb’s home, a beautiful 1930’s haveli, containing multiple stories built up around an enclosed courtyard. For the following four nights, we’re at an Airbnb just minutes away, on the top floor of an apartment complex, complete with a rooftop garden patio, and wide views of the city and surrounding forest. Check back soon for more on what we’ve been doing our first few days.