From McLeod to Delhi

September 23rd, 2008
Topic: Adventure Tags: India

Since McLeod Ganj, I now find myself amidst the Gujarati riots in the city formally known as Baroda ( I have a hard time pronouncing Varodera, as it seems many people living here do as well). Much has happened on my journey, from visiting holy people in mazars, to saving tigers, dodging bomb blasts, catching up with old friends and seeing some amazing environmental initiatives that are happening in India. I’ll recount some stories now.

We left McLeod Ganj without having seen the Dalai Llama, we did however enjoy the Tibetan food and even took a couple classes in Yoga, damn that gets the energy flowing, never felt so great, I hope to continue classes throughout Asia, or at least on my own in the mornings. The bus to Delhi wasn’t too exciting, we broke down for an hour, but hey, this is India, no worries

Delhi was a real surprise, last time I had come I took a 12 hour bus from Agra, that should have only been 4 hours, the guy told us it was direct and would leave at 6, when in reality it left at 10, and stopped at every shine and mazar on the way leaving me and 2 other girls in some backstreet in Delhi at 6am, scrambling to find a place to stay, then having rickshaw drivers overcharging us. This time however, the story is slightly different, I was stranded with no place to go as my buddy Dhruv here ditched me for some other important matters. However a friend I met from a conference in Jaipur in 2006 helped arrange for me to stay with the Chittwani’s another AIESECer from Delhi University. Staying with him was great, it was easy to get to the metro station (which, by the way, looks just like a metro in Europe or Toronto, other than the large line ups of people always wanting to get on) and his house was gorgeous. Indian Sindhi’s are also very welcoming and accommodating, although I was surprised to hear that most have taken on Hindi as the de facto language, and most new generations don’t speak Sindhi.

Let me describe the Delhi of today as opposed to two years ago. First, smoking is banned in all public places that non-smokers and impressionable youth may go to, and this includes the entire north campus of Delhi University! Second, the metro provides a safe, clean way to move around the city, making it very easy to get anywhere. Next, only CNG rickshaws or cycle rickshaws are allowed on the roads, and emissions standards are the best yet. It’s like entering a brand new city that is cleaner, and livelier than ever. This coupled with the fact that I saw some amazing things while there.

First of all the Indian Habitat Centre is like a shrine to nature, with eco-friendly designed buildings, and lots and lots of green space. Here I was lucky to catch a performance by street children who acted, puppeteered and danced all on themes of social significance! The reaction was just amazing as the amphitheatre was packed. The organisation that put it on is called Kutumb (means like Family). Definitely a best case practice for other cities to consider adopting. At the Habitat Centre, The energy and resource institute (TERI) had their main office, who was kind enough to arrange a visit for me to go to the Teri Gram retreat centre, a totally energy efficient self contained structure providing a role model on integrated design for the future.

I have set out to meet Dr. Pachauri, the Director for TERI and Nobel laureate winner in environmental sustainability. Perhaps I will gain an audience when I return to Delhi to host a screening on the environment.

The time to leave came, and as reluctant and comfortable as I was, I knew that my next destination was Jaipur, where many friends awaited me who attended the same conference in 2006. On the way to Jaipur however I met two very interesting ladies, one was from Australia, a hippy through and through, lived on an organic farm for 4 years and is now traveling the world like a dervish. Her inspiration came from Yoga, and the Marley’s. The other girl I met was from Israel and we talked a lot about politics, religion, books and more. It was great to share some experiences and meet such interesting people on my journey.

When I finally arrived I enjoyed the big reunion with everyone, catching up with them, hearing about their work and lives. The day I arrived I also met a new AIESEC member who told me about a project regarding savings the tigers in Ranthambore, so my interest peaked, and I decided to hop onto a train with him and his dad and go to Ranthambore that very night. When we got to the train station, only last minute tickets were available, this meant that we had to stand the whole way there, that too and right outside the washroom. The comfort came when my friends dad recounted a story of Gandhi as he traveled India by train; “This is real India” he said, this is real India.

A special note to all Indians, being a conductor for a train can be a very profitable business, especially when people jump on the train last minute and offer to bribe them twice as much as the tickets worth, as did three guys that boarded the train last minute. Baksheesh (means bribe), I tell you.

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