dilly delhi

Delhi strikes me as an unusual place.   I had expected something far more clichéd. It isn’t.. it’s a bit bizarre actually.. unusual. It is the political centre of India no doubt  but it seems to be eccentric…I get the impression that there is an awareness of the chilling seriousness of the role it plays in the country and an awareness of its own shortcomings..

Some of the people you come across here are really very sophisticated indeed as befits the capital of a populous country.

 there is a spotlessly clean park at the central roundabout called conaught place.. where the shiny traffic circles on polished bitumen.... but the rest of the entire country looks like a rubbish dump with pigs running around in it.. . Sorry .. to me it does.

 I just don’t believe it. delhi i mean.  Its on some different grid.

new delhi was designed by some architect as a candidate for the capital of the commonwealth by the looks.. but.. the reality is that the indians haven’t taken to the role.. no.. not at all really..  I wouldn’t hold my breath either.  The commonwealth is pretty much defunct anyway. The 19^th commonwealth games are playing here right now.. I don’t think anyone could care less.

delhi graffiti..

Delhi graffiti.

Graffiti is a greek word latinized;  romanized more like it as the latins were a pretty stolid lot unlike their cousins over the tiber,  and probably would never have scrawled on walls.

One reads it like writ.

On the wall in my hostel in delhi there  are comments about India and Indians left by travelers and those who may pass for travelers…(suffice it to say that) its not a 5 star hotel. The travelers have been the addicts and the lost.. the wide-eyed and curious.. the fortunate and the unfortunate: (and just plain travelers like your humble editor.)

Most of the comments are negative.  Indians are impolite, noisy, dirty, stupid, cheater, disgusting, superstitious…   a couple of people wrote ‘I will never return here.’..  there are dialogues.. like threads.. one person described India as an addiction; a sweet one.  One person said that travelers here come only because its cheap.. they come to meet other travelers and don’t give a stuff about the disgusting indians…

There is condemnation of the horrid middle class that has arisen here recently.    

there are prayers mostly om. Glyphs of anarchy.. infinity symbol, peace symbols, gay activism, others I don’t recognise at all.  There is the buddhist wheel of dharma.. .. some Korean .. some Japanese characters/kana. Some French.. one good one reads ‘qui sait se contenter est riche.’  He who is content is rich. The double meaning of which speaks loud and clear in this  hostel..  it has a bleak side.

It is actually not a bad spot.. its quiet ( from traffic noise at least)..bug free… it could do with a good dust out and wipe over but its not to0 dirty and is cheap.. centrally located in paharganj..  delhi’s tourist ghetto.

The trip up here wasn’t very good..

There was a 6 hour delay. Which meant a 8 hour wait at the station after 3 hours of jarring 4 wheel jeep down the hills from Darjeeling.. guh!..

That wasn’t so bad .. the waiting room in Indian stations are often fairly exhausting but usually interesting enough.  This one gave me the impression that the new jalpaiguri junction was totally organised and controlled by the elderly, benevolent Bengali woman in a yellow and orange cotton dress who hobbled/floated  up and down flanked by 2 overweight retainers who evidently cared for the old lady .. but  then the train was slow..   ..  very slow.. in fact over 30 hours longer than the trip should have been which was 33 hours.. so it was well  over 60 hours by the time the mahananda express rolled into old delhi station..  I could only get a sleeper class ticket and it was not comfortable, it was not adequately policed either and though nothing was stolen I was harassed a fair bit.… I arrived quite exhausted.. travel here is not for the infirm.  Trust me.

kolkata .. further thoughts. mother theresa

That kolkata had its genesis as the English east-India company HQ in situ is apparent .  the city has a strong Victorian stamp..   most of the sprawling,  grandiose buildings … mock Georgian or Victorian… some are huge. Some gothic .. are crumbling.. 

Its basically a secular modern city. strong muslim flavoring.  The strident religiosity of other places in the subcontinent is notabley absent.   .its more for the dropouts of India not so much its advocates or critics...   . it is perhaps the deepest mark the English left here.

If one cant develop some humility wandering in the streets here, then probably one should try another planet.

Walking around the street I passed by mother theresas place on ajc bose road..( many of the roads in Calcutta have 2 names as people disagree on what they should be called .it will have its roots in sectarianism. so they have 2. Perhaps more)

What interest has a political economy blog in mother Theresa?  I wouldn’t say nun.  ( forgive me sister.)

I first heard about mother Theresa as a primary-school boy .. I had largely forgotten but at that point I think I had promised myself to go to India and be a missionary..  a noble thought.. one a bit too noble for me to have lived up to..  ( not sure how sorry I am to say that.) (one has to be careful what one says.. even silently to ones self.. or especially.. )

This is what I think of mother Theresa now:-

1950 she formed the missionaries of charity after a decade or so in Calcutta.   Her movement vowed to help the poorest of the poor.

The poverty here is unbelievable but I believe that the efforts of that one lady from Albania has made a huge difference.   I believe she healed the sick and alleviated much suffering.  I believe kolkata is a much better place for her having been here. and the world also. A saint.. I believe that India with all its ugliness halts at the portal of her mission,  and is there forgiven.