Adventures From India Gate To Mundka

Hello, gentle persons!

I'm still not at 100% so I'll be unable to go to Agra on this trip.  Visiting the Taj Mahal and also taking some time in Jaipur are good reasons to return to India in the future.  I'm able to eat solid food but, apparently, not too much of it.  Let's just say that I've eaten very little since coming to India -- it's a crying shame, since I should be able to get the best Indian food in the world while I'm in India.  I especially regret not being able to eat any of the food at the wedding.  I'm getting the feeling that India doesn't like me.

Going To India Gate

After spending the morning convalescing and trying not to soil my underpants, I was ready to embark on a long afternoon and evening.  My first stop was India Gate.  Well, not quite:  I firstly needed to find a wedding card for the bride and groom for the wedding I was to attend in the evening.  After doing a search online, I found a large greeting card shop to the southeast of India Gate.  While I made my way to India Gate, a number of touts approached me.  I actually responded to one of them engaging me and we chatted for a while.  He offered to take me the remaining 750 metres to India Gate for that I may take photos, after which he would bring me to a place where I might buy a greeting card and then, finally, to a metro station for that I might make my way to Mundka for the wedding.  He was the most persistent tout I'd encountered.  However, he seemed knowledgeable and his English was fluent, so I decided, after rejecting him many times while walking, that I'd have him take me to the aforementioned places after I took my photos of India Gate.  Before continuing with my narrative, why don't I mention something about India Gate?

India Gate

India Gate was completed in 1931.  It originally celebrated and mourns Indian soldiers who fought in the First World War and the third Anglo-Afghani War, and now also serves as the site for India's Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier, Amar Jawan Jyoti ('The Flame Of The Immortal / Eternal Soldier').

Amar Jawan Jyoti

A soldier who is unknown to me

The Canopy

Traditional Market

My driver, Yogesh, took me firstly to a traditional market where I paid more than I should have for some scarves.  Katya Z., you were right about the nature of the scamming here -- it's different from that in China.  I was able to arrest my spending spree before going broke partly because I saw some very Chinese-style Buddhist iconography for sale in an India store.  For those of you who are unaware of the differences, the 'fat buddha' (Maitreya) is not an Indian icon, and Maitreya is The Bodhisattva, not simply a bodhisattva who is to be the next Buddha.  Although I was leery about buying anything, especially when I was on my way to a wedding, I decided to take advantage of the high-cost gifts because I didn't know whether I'd get another chance.  Given that I feel today (the next day) at about 85%-90%, I think that my trade-off is not as bad as it looks on the surface.  I wonder how much of a cut was given to Yogesh.

On To Mundka

Yogesh's entreaties that going to Mundka from where he deposited me would take only 30-45 minutes is possibly a symptom of what friends of mine form the subcontinent have described as 'brown time'.  It took me a bit more than an hour while I made all (three!) of my transfers.  Upon emerging from the Metro station, I was greeted with the poorest area of the GDA ('Greater Delhi Area'), at which I arrived after sundown.  I felt distinctly unsafe, especially considering that I was wearing my 'portable wedding suit'.  I arrived at the station at 19:10 -- dinner was to start at 19:30.  According to Google Maps on my BlackBerry, I was almost on top of it!  Great -- lots of time to spare and meet some of the other guests before dinner.  But wait -- according to the map, the venue is RIGHT ON TOP OF THE HIGHWAY.  Hmmm ... I figured that something must be wrong, but that I must be close.  I figured that I would wander around for a while.  At approximately 19:35, after exploring the area near to the station and asking non-speakers of English where Saraswati Vatika (the wedding's venue) is, I returned to Mundka Station to ask someone for help.

The first entreaty made to an English speaker was met by 'Saraswati Vatika?  Don't you know that you're in Mundka!'.  He then suggested that I ask someone inside the station.  The station attendant told me to exit via the north exit of the station, got northward a bit, and then head westward.  That's basically what I had done previously, without having gone northward firstly.  I tried that, but I eventually made my way back to the main road, Rodhka.  I walked a bit on the north side of a wall for about twenty minutes, and I became increasingly angry at my reliance on technology and not asking the bride for a map to the venue.  Frustrated, I backtracked and walked on the south side of the road.  I thought:  I have nothing to lose, at this point; I might as well just walk and walk and walk until I find something, or until 21:00.  After another ten or more minutes of walking, I approached a vatika -- perhaps someone there would be good enough to tell me where Saraswati Vatika is.  One of the security / parking persons told me that it was two vatikas to the west.  Great!  Finally some progress!  Unfortunately, I forgot to ask how far it was.  Fifteen minutes later, I approached the first of the vatikas.  The parking attendant confirmed that Saraswati Vatika was further to the west, and that it was only two minutes' walk:  it was!  Modern technology can suck it!

I made it!

The stage is set for the wedding

Once I finally arrived at my destination, I had a wonderful time!  Although I didn't get much of a chance to chat with the bride and groom, I did speak to the bride's brother very briefly.  Among the groom's guests were Ann and David, who travelled from Salt Lake City to attend a number of functions in India.  They were absolutely smashing individuals and Ann, who is blonde, was particularly popular on the dance floor!  Everyone wanted a photo taken with her! :D  Besides both of them being good-looking individuals (and a good-looking couple), they're also wonderful human beings who helped me to make my way back to my hotel later in the evening.  During our ride back, David and Ann told me that the larger trucks are given a national ban on being operated between the hours of 06:00 and 23:00. The cab driver whom they'd hired for the evening was instructed to deposit me at my place, which I was able to help him to do once we reached the neighbourhood by using my BlackBerry's GPS (okay, I guess modern technology doesn't have to suck it).

Me with the groom and bride

I haven't seen dancing like this outside of UW and Brampton

Final Notes

I saw an elephant in traffic!  I saw an elephant in traffic! I saw an elephant in traffic!

Look at the junk in that trunk!

O squatter toilet, how I have missed thee

Both figuratively and literally

The moon was lovely.  I'm not sure whether the thing apparently nearby was a star or an artificial satellite.

TPM - 'The Provider of Music'

I was felled by the volume

That's it for now!  I'm resting throughout today, too, so I doubt that I'll have anything to contribute before I head to Shanghai.