Delhi Day 7 Metro Trip

Saturday April 9^th

I had a lazy morning this morning and hadn't really decided what to do for the day. Philip had told me before to take the metro to Connaught Place and I hadn't done that when I went there, so today I decided to get on the Metro and ride it to the end of the line. You pay based on the distance you're going and it cost me about 40 cents for a ticket. I thought that some of it would be outside, but almost all of the line I was on was underground. However, it is a new (5 year old), modern, clean subway. I could have been on the Sheppard Line. The people on board were mostly men and were probably from the middle class.

When I got to the north end 40 minutes later, I got off and went for a walk along a couple of what I assumed would be typical streets. They were crowded, dirty, dusty, streets with lots of people going about their daily lives. There were buses, rickshaws, bicycles, cars, cows, pedestrians – you name it. There were people cooking meals and selling them from little shacks with small burner stoves. There were shops, a garbage recycling 'shop' that was disgusting with a young boy and a couple of men working in it. Sometimes I stood and watched things for awhile and tried to surreptitiously take photos. A couple of people came over to me and were curious where I was from and what I was doing. Again there were little kids all around and they seemed to be happy and having fun. It was interesting to just walk and watch. I did that for a couple of hours before returning to the metro.

I decided to take the metro part way back and get off at the presidents palace. I was sitting across from two men who were sleeping (check the photo). The man beside me politely asked me why I took the picture. I explained that I found things very different here and that in Canada two men generally wouldn't sleep like that on the subway. Men here are quite happy to link arms or put their arm around their friend. We wound up talking the whole rest of the ride. He was a doctor of philosophy apparently. He asked about my travels and when he found out I was divorced, he wanted to know why in the west there were so many divorces. He told me that in Indian couples aren’t openly affectionate in public, except maybe in parks. I told him about my observations in Lodi Gardens yesterday. He was a very nice man and we had a good talk.

Then I walked around the palace for a bit, but again couldn't get in the grounds because you have to make an appointment, before walking back to the metro for one last time. I took it back to the station I started from and managed to find my way the three kilometres back to the hotel. The good thing about this city is that I'm not afraid of getting lost because you can always hire a tuk tuk cheaply to rescue you. The three rides on the metro cost me a total of about a dollar.

I met the new tour group at six. They seem like a good group of people. There are fifteen of us. Americans, Canadians, Austrians, Australians, Swiss, and English people. After our meeting with our guide, Sameer, we boarded a van and went out for dinner. The restaurant was very nice and the food was excellent. I had a chicken marsala and talked to a lawyer from the US named Josh and the couple from Switzerland (whose names I haven't learned yet). Sameer seems like a really nice and well organized guide. He has been guiding in India for nine years. Back to the hotel by 9:30 and relaxed in my room.