India for the unitiated

The history of this vast country fascinated me and I knew I am definitely not going to be able to claim I%26#39;ve seen India with my meagre 3 week%26#39;s first trip. I%26#39;d put off going to India previously simply because of its%26#39; vastness; but after a few bits of research, I picked out a handful of places to go to on this initiation trip. After almost being 10 hours on the plane from Europe, I was confronted with chaos at arrival hall. The immigration was literally swamped and overwhelmed with fellow passengers. There was no one to organise them and whatever arrangements there was, was completely ';run over'; by everyone trying to get ahead of another, pushing and shoving; and the heat was building in the hall. It took me one and a half hours to clear the immigration; then baggage hall, thinking I%26#39;ll just have to collect my baggage which would be circulating on the belt. Wrong! It hadn%26#39;t or they hadn%26#39;t been off-loaded. Waited for another half hour; by this time my friend who had come to pick me had got worried and had gone to enquire the Air France baggage service staff. They were not sure if our baggages had accompanied us at all from Paris!! Annoyed, but we (myself and many other fellow passengers) started to fill in the ';Lost Baggage'; forms. After another 20 minutes a load came through, and very luckily, mine were the first! 2 hours for the baggages to be off-loaded? At a major international airport? I do have to ask what was their game? I was very very lucky indeed, retrospectively thinking now; I had my friend to meet me and help me and to stay at his place in Delhi. At the same time another group of 5 friends also arrived, but they had arranged a budget hotel for themselves and waited to be picked up as prearranged. The pick-up never materialised and when they phoned the hotel, it had just changed hands this week and their arrival was not handed over (so was the story) and was given the previous owner%26#39;s number. The ';previous owner'; then offered to put them up at his ';new hotel'; - they found out of course, at a much higher rate for a dingy place with no toilet, no running water, let alone hot water! Needless to say my frined in Delhi had to salvage them!! The next day, going through Delhi was a nightmare. The traffic was chaotic. Cars driven whichever way they want and the incessant sounding of horn was nerve wracking. It is very common for another car to come head on and both cars swerving at the last moment. No highway code and if that was unnerving, wait till you get to a roundabout! That wasn%26#39;t just Delhi, I discovered. It was the same in Agra, Jaipur, Aurangabad etc. This time of the year, dust is everywhere, and with unfinished buildings, it does look very untidy. Cleanliness is a notable shortfall in India and when walking in town, village etc. one needs to be very careful lest you step on refuse or excrement! Perhaps you can avoid these if you are there on expensive package trips where you are taken in coachs around places. Inspite of the fact that it is a major tourist destinations and that many complaints have been made, the lack of hygiene and cleanliness or more importantly their perception and understanding of it in many restaurants is very disheartening. The threat of the notorious ';Delhi Belly'; is ever present. To wind it all up at the end of the trip; when you are tired, your bowels a bit loose and upset, there is the minimum of 4 hours trial going through the baggage security, check-in, immigration and personal security check back at Delhi International. You just got to the boarding gate at the last moment - you very lucky! (My flight decided at the end to leave 2 passengers behind - they had arrived 2 hours before flight time and had just queued at the check-in desk)

The sights? They are fascinating as expected!

Bon voyage!

Khayeethe

ps. These were not just made up!

India for the unitiated

My sympathies.

- Deepa