INDIA – Delhi – 27th February – 3rd March 2020

We’ve stayed in a variety of accommodation during our two months in India, some of which we will not be recommending to anyone, well not to anyone we like! However, for our final days, here in Delhi, our accommodation is in an affluent residential area in greater Kailash II, in a large room in an apartment.

Luckily Glen chose for us to stay here in the south and not in the northeast of the city because there have been some awful violent clashes there for the past few days. This was as a result of the newly passed citizenship amendment bill which seems to alienate Muslims.

Our large airy room has wall to wall glass doors onto a small balcony overlooking trees and a Gurdwara. 

A Gurdwara is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. People from all faiths, and those who do not profess any faith, are welcomed in Sikh Gurdwaras. 

It is lovely to be in a clean and cosmopolitan atmosphere with glazed windows – let alone double glazed windows, to keep the noise out. However, one morning I was woken at 5am to the faint noise of tins clanking. I looked outside and saw ‘silver’ servers being carefully unloaded from the back of a truck (which is unusual, people don’t usually try to be quiet in India or consider others when it comes to noise, no matter what time of night or day!) 

Later that day, outside the Gurdwara, we also saw white chairs tied with pink ribbons. We decided to go over and ask if there was to be a ceremony there. We eventually found someone who could understand what we were saying and they confirmed that, yes, there was to be a marriage ceremony and as luck would have it, it was due to start in ten minutes. So we stood and watched as guests started arriving; the women were in beautiful outfits and the men in the wedding party wore orange turbans.  We then heard music and saw several vehicles and a horse drawn carriage making their way down the street. The first vehicle was a truck with a huge generator on it! Wires from the generator stretched back to a flat bed truck ensuring there was loud music to accompany the musicians walking along side. The truck was full of men and women dancing and generally making merry! The last vehicle was a horse drawn carriage which was highly decorated with the groom sat aloft; he too was highly decorated! We asked where the bride was and they said she was already inside, with seemingly no fuss or fun having surrounded her entrance!

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As we watched the goings on a Sikh man carrying a large ‘spear’ came across and offered us some of the wedding food that was being handed out to the guests. Several of the men, and also a lady who told us she was the friend of the groom’s mother, encouraged us to go in and watch the ceremony. One of the men took us to get some scarves to cover our heads and reminded us to remove our shoes and socks. So off we went to our first Sikh wedding! Glen sat one side with the men and I was told to sit on the other side with the women.

I felt very underdressed and was therefore concerned we would be ruining their photos. Everyone was sat cross legged on the floor except a few older women on chairs around the walls. It was such an interesting experience. 

The bride did not look happy at all, she looked frightened if anything. Her mother kept touching her arm but she did not look at her or smile.

The couple walk four times around the Guru Granth Sahib and they are joined by a shawl called a pulla. Here’s a link if you want to read more, https://www.bradfordgurdwara.com/useful-links/news/

Musicians played during the ceremony.

We felt very privileged to have been part of it. We did leave before the end though as it went on for a long time! Lol!

The girls who welcomed us in to the ceremony earlier, in beautiful outfits, were back in their normal clothes and were also escaping early!

Greater Kailash-II has mainly coffee or ice cream shops, banks and an abundance of beauty/hair salons. We had read that it is one of the largest hubs for sanitary ware in Northern India too! It is also full of private surgeries offering hair transplants or plastic surgery etc. So not exactly a tourist area. However, even here in this ‘posh’ residential area they still have different things to see and experience. There are ‘barbers’ (a chair, mirror and a collection of grubby combs!) on the pavements, men randomly ironing on the street using heavy coal irons who then hung the shirts on a dusty gate. The parks are full of beggars and there are food stalls of the like no one living here in the big posh houses would actually eat from I’m sure! We assume it is for the staff of the house owners.

Even in this upmarket area of Delhi the rubbish was not sorted ready to be recycled, it was just put out altogether in one bag. Luckily for our planet these men earn their living by sorting it and selling the plastic etc to survive. We saw this in Thailand too, people going through bags of rubbish outside the hotel late at night. I don’t know why they don’t help these poor folk by separating it from all of the rotting food etc.

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Our final day out as tourists in India was to see Qutab Minar, Mehrauli, south Delhi – which is part of the Qutub complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Qutab Minar is one of the tallest brick minarets in the world and, apparently, is an incredible example of early Indo–Islamic architecture. It was built in 1193, but the reason remains a mystery. Some believe that it was made to signify victory and the beginning of Muslim rule in India, while others say it was used to call the faithful to prayer. The tower has five distinct storeys, and is covered with intricate carvings and verses from the holy Quran. 

We couldn’t climb the steps to the top because it is closed to the general public. There was a tragic event, in 1981, whereby the lights in the stairways went out and the people all rushed to get out and consequently many were trampled to death. That and the fact that many people over the years had jumped from the top to commit suicide. There is always a connection to death at such buildings, whether it’s because of war, natural disasters or accidents and yet people, including us, walk around these places by way of relaxation on a sunny day, its strange really.

As always, we enjoy spotting the local birds and wildlife.

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We had an excellent view of this thunderstorm from the balcony.

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Whilst here in India, Fitbit emailed me to tell me I’d achieved my India badge! What are the chances, I thought, but then I freaked out thinking the company knew I was in India and I then wanted to know how they knew! But I’ve just looked up on their website and it’s pure coincidence! It’s because I had just logged the same amount of kilometres, since wearing my Fitbit, as the length of India! Cool. 

As I sit here writing what is our final blog about our five months of adventuring I said to Glen “why didn’t we take a photo of the snake charmers?” (with their cobras in baskets) There were a handful who approached us along the river on the ghats in Varanasi. Glen said “because we take photos of real people and real life as we see it, not staged, or of people asking if we want to take their photo, its not a circus we’ve been to see, it’s not about paying to seeing ‘bearded ladies in a circus” …..although having said that we’ve seen many of those! Especially Sikh women at the wedding here in Delhi, there were beautiful women of all ages with beards. Cutting off any hair in the Sikh religion is strictly forbidden. This growing of hair is known as Kesh. Kesh is the practice of allowing one’s hair to grow naturally out of respect for the perfection of God’s creation. You will have to trust us on this one, it didn’t seem appropriate to be taking photos of their obvious facial hair!

So, almost five months to the day we flew back home from the visual germs of a grubby India, through and in to the invisible germ that is the frightening Covid-19 Corona virus.

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We landed at Heathrow on the 4th March and two weeks later India had stopped all flights, including internal travel. Since our return over a quarter of the world is in lock-down! We are delighted to be back home after five amazing months away, despite not being able to see or hug everyone as planned.

How the world has changed since we gaily skipped away on our adventure last October, and the frightening thing is that the current situation we find ourselves in is perhaps just the beginning.

We are sending love to all of our readers and those people who may read this in future, for the first time, when they are bored during self-isolation. With programmes like EastEnders having stopped filming due to the need for social distancing, people may become desperate for something to fill their time so may come across this blog……….. when they are not searching for toilet paper and soap.

My final thought at this time is that with so many companies likely to go bust in the coming months, our friends in Japan may actually expand their businesses. There may be an increased desire for the type of toilets we used in Japan and also bidets in general will perhaps become the norm/the preferred option in future, ……in place of the elusive toilet roll!

Keep safe x