Delhi

Delhi, Delhi, Delhi.... what can I say? It's bloody huge! I don't know if Mumbai is bigger than Delhi in reality or not, but it didn't impress me as much. Delhi just spreads out endlessly....! We are staying in this funny area cause there's heaps of backpackers around, hotels and restaurants galore. So it feels a bit strange to see so many whities (maybe... 1 in 15). But you walk 2 blocks out of it, and you are back into real India. Delhi has the Old Delhi part, the New Delhi part and.... the rest. Today we went to Old Delhi- the Red Fort (they certainly love their forts here), the biggest Mosque in India, the bazaars, and Gandhi's memorial and museum. After we finished our sightseeing and wanted to get a rickshaw back to the hotel we decided to have a different approach to India- counterattack. People are constantly staring at us, saying hello, waving, offering us things. So we just sat on the side of the road, and with our biggest smiles, really over the top happy, we spent over half an hour saying "HELLO!" "HELLO!" and profusely waving to every bus, truck, car, bike, rickshaw and pedestrian that went past us. They were certainly shocked. Some gave us a smile or a little wave or hello back... but majority stared perplexed or looked away. Only one of the many guys selling stuff dared to approach us to try and sell us something, and I just grabbed Jane's Lonely Planet book and insistently tried to sell it to him- lowering the price, and saying all their typical phrases they say such as "Very, very good price", "First customer of the day, special price just for you". It seemed to work, cause he initially tried to talk over the top of me offering us his own goodies but gave up when I counterattacked with my own product and he ended up walking away with me insisting after him "Very good buy, very good book!" as he escaped from the crazy reversed westerners.

Delhi, Delhi, que puedo decir...? Es inmensa!! No se si Mumbai es mas grande que Delhi en realidad, pero no me impresiono tanto. Delhi se extiende sin fin...! Nos estamos quedando en una zona que es medio raro, porque esta lleno de mochileros, restaurantes y hoteles. Asi que es medio raro ver a tantos occidentales (tal vez 1 en 15). Pero caminas 2 cuadras, y estas de nuevo en la verdadera India. Delhi tiene la parte de Vieja Delhi, Nueva Delhi, y el resto. Hoy fuimos a la Vieja Delhi- el Fuerte Rojo (y si, les encantan los fuertes aca), la Mezquita mas grande de India, los bazares, y el museo y memorial de Ghandi. Despues de nuestro dia de turismo y cuando nos queriamos tomar un rickshaw de vuelta al hotel decidimos probar una nueva tactica- el contraataque. La gente constantemente nos esta mirando fijo, saludandonos, diciendonos hola, tratando de vendernos cosas. Asi que simplemente nos sentamos en el costado de la calle, y con nuestras sonrisas mas grandes, exageradamente felices, pasamos la siguiente media hora gritando "HOLA!" "HOLA!" y saludando con la mano a cuanto omnibus, camion, auto, bicicleta, rickshaw o peaton que pasaba. Los indios shockeados. Algunos nos devolvian una sonrisa o un holda o saludo chiquito, pero la mayoria nos miraba anonadado o miraba para otro lado. Solo uno de los varios vendedores ambulantes se atrevio a acercarsenos a tratar de vendernos algo, asi que yo agarre el libro Lonely Planet de Jane y insistentemente empece a tratar de venderelo a el- banajando el precio mas y mas y diciendo todas las tipicas frases que dicen ellos cuando te tratan de vender algo: "Muy, muy buen precio", y "Sos mi primer cliente del dia, precio especial solo para vos" (porque la primera venta del dia trae buena suerte). Parece que funciono, porque en un pincipio trato de hablar por encima mio y de ofrecernos sus propios productos, pero se dio por vencido cuando yo insisti con mi propio producto, y termino alejandose mientras yo le insistia "Muy buena compra, muy buen libro", escapandose de las occidentales convertidas en indias.