Homeward

There are no pictures to document final days in Delhi, partly because a storm rolled in and dumped rain on the city, plunging it further into its sepia tones.  Along with my boss' return, my last two days were spent trying to expedite health recovery and attending more meetings.  Both activities seemed pretty successful.  In other news, I missed seeing the Super Bowl since I was not able to find a TV channel which carried the game (just lots of cricket and the "other" football).  

My final night - before departing for my 2:30a flight - the noise from what I had thought was a several night festival reached a crescendo finally making me look out the window.  I was in time to see fireworks, and party goers greeting a brass band and a groom arriving on a white horse to his wedding festivities - being held under a large tent, in the rain, in the garbage park, just to the other side of the metro rail line.  Given license, one could wax poetic about that image - the grime and dirt of Delhi combined with the pageantry and vibrancy that is India.  Go with it.  In my lay over haze in Amsterdam, I certainly will, and I look forward to returning some day soon to experience more.

Into the Fog

I was determined to see the Taj Mahal during this trip.  In hindsight I should have been less attached to that outcome.  I'd arranged to depart at 4a in order to see the Taj at sunrise. Two young colleagues from the Delhi office thought it would be fun to come along.  I'd been battling my head cold this past week and just when I thought it was getting better, I woke up this morning decidedly worse - considered canceling but thought, oh it will be so worth it to see the Taj in its glory.  I chose wrongly.  

Our drive out took nearly twice as along as we'd anticipated due to the most dense fog bank I've every experienced.  For hours we drove with only a few feet of visibility.  We kept hoping that once we'd come to Agra, the fog would have burnt off.  No such luck.  You couldn't see the massive Taj Mahal until you were standing next to it - and even then it was like being in a cloud.  Coupled with this, maybe it was a combination of sinus infection, caffeine withdrawal and dehydration but I was stricken with a vice like, jackhammer, nauseating migraine.  Fortunately my travel companions noticed I was feeling horrible and we decided to head back to Delhi instead of going to Agra Fort.  After all, there's always next time.

Art & Yuppies

Thursday night, I joined a group from the office on a cross-town outing to see one of the research assistant's art on display in a hip new area of the city called Hauz Khas Village.  To get there involved a bus, metro with transfer and an auto (tuk-tuk).  The experience and the destination were worth it.  Gone was the dirt, noise, traffic and crowds of Delhi and in its place an enclave of buildings with narrow winding alleys housing high end boutiques, shops, cafes and restaurants - sort of shabby-chic.  It was fairly empty but apparently on the weekends this is THE place to be and full of "yuppies".  The art was hung in a covered alley wedged between a cafe and a beatnik bookshop.  

We then scaled five skinny stories to a rooftop restaurant terrace with a cold, foggy view of the city.  Fortunately, it was an early night, but getting back proved a challenge, since no auto wanted to drive far and my companions did not trust taxis.  In the end, one member of our group had a car and he nicely drove us the half hour across town where two of us needed to go.