Before leaving for India we talked with a few friends who had already traveled the country and the only words they could find to describe India were that our "senses would be stimulated"... Not long after arriving in Delhi we decided that it must be the epicenter of senses overload that the rest of India radiates from.
Sense of Smell: Immediately your nose is drawn to the rich smell of Indian spices but soon you catch a scent of the poor sewerage system that suppresses any appetite that might have been building. As you walk along further you catch a whiff of cow feces moments before your foot slides along the top of a warm cow pie and your sandal sinks in just enough to feel it squeeze between your toes (Jason has much more experience with this than Michele).
Sense of Hearing: Hindi music blaring from a local Internet cafe mixes with tired car horns (to warn of passing cars, turning cars, and approaching danger) and touts demanding your attention to view their product or take advantage of your confused, overwhelmed state by taking you to a commission paying retailer/hotel - I don't need it, don't want it, or don't have room for it is not a reason not to purchase it. We cannot walk 15 ft without being reminded that someone could use our "travel" money for much better things than travel. Sometimes - when we are feeling particularly worn with the constant nagging - we have to remind ourselves that 350-400 million Indians live below the poverty line; an estimated 35% surviving on less than US $1/day. We just heard today that about 200 million Indians are unemployed - equivalent to 2/3 the US population. It helps to put things into perspective when we get upset that a taxi driver charges us Rs 10 (US $0.25) more than locals.
Sense of Taste and Touch: After a day in Delhi the pollution from cars with very low emissions standards (50-200 times more sulphur than European Diesel), heavy industrialisation, strained infrastructure, as well as heavy reliance on chemicals and pesticides is said to be the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes (we hold our breath as much as possible ;) ). Not only do we know the pollution is there but we can taste it and feel it settle on our skin with the thick, humid (about 100-120 degrees with 80% humidity) air.
Sense of Sight: It is hard to explain how culturally different this country is from America... small (2yrs) children riding with their fathers on a motorcycle weaving in and out of heavy traffic with no helmets, boys of all ages peeing on the side of the road, cows roaming in the main market (eating fruit from vendors baskets), open wires criss-crossing the sky, coke-a-cola everywhere, cell phones, beautiful saries (15-27 ft pieces of wonderfully colored material ingeniously wrapped and tucked around women forming a dress), children wearing WWF t-shirts, and an elephant in the center of down town - for icing on the cake.
Surviving Delhi has now become a game...
Before we end we should add that we are enthusiastically looking forward to learning from and experiencing the culture and religion of India and cannot wait for "real" conversations with the local people... the senses overload only momentarily shocked us.
These are some of the pictures that help to describe what we feel - they are from all over the country, not only Delhi:
Pictures from Dehli:
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