A Walk to Connaught Place

From yesterday, we have attached one more picture of the Jama Misjad, one of the swastikas covering the Lakshmi Narayan Temple, and one of the Ghandi's quotations from the Raj Ghat.

After breakfast today, we first arranged transport to Agra tomorrow. After much research, we decided the price of 6,500 R (about $130 Canadian) for a car and driver reserved from our hotel was a decent enough deal. There are several online agencies but some of them have very bad reputations. We may be paying a bit more but at least the hotel knows that we will savage them on tripadvisor if they screw us. This seems like the safest option. It will take about 4 hours to get driven right to our hotel in Agra. Train or bus would be cheaper but the good seats on the train are reserved months in advance and sometimes the trains are running up to 7 hours late. Small tourist buses can take up to 4 hours to do all the pickups before even leaving Delhi. Although we like to think of ourselves as budget travelers, sometimes we're willing to pay more for safety and convenience. We'll probably hire a lot of cars with drivers here.

We walked down to Connaught Place for the day. There was the usual congestion through Pahar Ganj past the train station. There was even a cow standing there at the bazaar intersection opposite the main gate into the station. After 15 or 20 minutes walking, we reached Connaught Place, built by the British in a big circle with roads radiating out from it. There is a park in the middle and more upscale shops around the edges, like The Colors of Benetton, Starbucks and others. Fashions and prices in the shops are the same as in Canada and, on a Sunday, there were hordes of seemingly middle class Indians there shopping. People around the world are thrilled by branding. To us, it was further proof that stupidity is universal.

Down one side street, there was a sort of food fair with different vendors offering a variety of foods. We weren't hungry but wandered in to look around. At the entrance we had to go through a metal detector, which beeped for everyone. I was wanded and searched in public, while Anita went behind a screen and was searched by a woman, which is common here. Every hotel seems to have a metal detector at the entrance. It seems that they're looking for handguns, which gives some indication of the level of violence that may occur.

We've also noticed lots of signs that the government is using to try to change attitudes concerning violence toward women, smoking and dangerous driving. Some are very serious, like "Protecting women's safety and dignity is my responsibility and my honour". Some are unintentionally funny, at least to us, like "Even women must wear motorcycle helmets".

We found a small fabric shop that offered the type of Indian clothing that Anita wanted. For 1,450 rupees, about $30, Anita found a long top and also tights to wear underneath. The onsite tailor made adjustments in about 15 minutes, all included in the price, while I talked to another husband there killing time. Originally from a small village in Rajasthan, he was an electrical engineer working in an oil refinery in the Punjab. The shop had a cricket match on tv to amuse us, rather than a football or hockey game.

The people in the shop were great to us, offering water and being very pleasant. We got a picture of the salesperson with Anita in her new clothes. 

Afterward we bought 750 ml of Bacardi rum from a little shop (670 rupees or about $14). In the morning we had bought a couple of 625 ml beers for 95 rupees each (about $2). 

The restaurant we had chosen for dinner had a long line so we ended up at Zen, a Chinese restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet. It was okay but not great. After braving the traffic, we're back in our hotel room, enjoying a drink, relaxing and looking forward to Agra and a visit to the Taj Mahal for Valentines Day.