Here I am, a week settled into my life and job in New Dehli, India. Everything is going swimmingly so far. Work and jet lag have kept me from exploring too much, but a brief summary:
New Dehli (or at least the parts I've been to) is very leafy and much slower than I had feared. I know the teeming masses of National Geographic features are out there and close by, but my part of the city is very livable and fairly peaceful. However, we are certainly not in Kansas here. I've already seen a number of beggars, a super-crowded train with people hanging out the doors, and ever-present public urinators. The food has been awesome so far. Eh, those last two sentences could have used a transition in between.
Work took us on a nice day tour of New Dehli this weekend, and a brief couple pics:
The resting place of Mahatma Ghandi
India Gate, a memorial for fallen soldiers.
Lots of cool architecture around the city, and a lot of focus on landscaping. The mali is a caste-designated gardener, so I'm interested to learn about the relationship there. British New Dehli is the eighth successive city built in this spot, so many ruins from different eras abound. The urban design of New Dehli feels British in a lot of ways. And of course, India is tea-madness.
Overall, I'm surprised by how much this feels like it could be any other place, with a couple of important substitutions here and there. I guess I kind of expected everyday to slap me in the face with YOU ARE IN INDIA moments, but I'm mostly just going about my routine as usual. Maybe I'm more of a stodgy, habit-driven chap than I thought!
New Dehli (or at least the parts I've been to) is very leafy and much slower than I had feared. I know the teeming masses of National Geographic features are out there and close by, but my part of the city is very livable and fairly peaceful. However, we are certainly not in Kansas here. I've already seen a number of beggars, a super-crowded train with people hanging out the doors, and ever-present public urinators. The food has been awesome so far. Eh, those last two sentences could have used a transition in between.
Work took us on a nice day tour of New Dehli this weekend, and a brief couple pics:
The resting place of Mahatma Ghandi
Overall, I'm surprised by how much this feels like it could be any other place, with a couple of important substitutions here and there. I guess I kind of expected everyday to slap me in the face with YOU ARE IN INDIA moments, but I'm mostly just going about my routine as usual. Maybe I'm more of a stodgy, habit-driven chap than I thought!
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