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July 5, 2009 On Tuesday, June 16, I boarded a British Airways jet plane at Ezeiza International Airport, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. We stopped without deplaning at Guarulhos International Airport, near São Paulo, Brazil, continuing soon thereafter to London’s Heathrow International Airport, where I transferred to another flight, deplaning ultimately at Indira Gandhi International Airport, near New Delhi, the capital of India. Delhi is the older, smaller, central city, and New Delhi the larger, encompassing, modern city, but the names may be used interchangeably today, according to local people. I left Argentina at noon on Tuesday and arrived in India at 11 PM on Wednesday, losing 8-1/2 hours crossing time zones. We were in the air 22 hours. The distance is some 10,000 miles, but we flew 11,000, because of the detour to England . British Airways is permitted to fly Argentina-England and England-India, but probably is not allowed to fly directly from Argentina to India . I caught a cab at Gandhi Airport and was driven to a tourist agency calling itself a government office. This is a ruse. It is a government-licensed office, not really a government office. Anyway, I took a room at Hotel Astoria, in Karol Bagh, a district near downtown Delhi . And I have reserved the room until August 5, but I’ll probably stay even longer. I learned quickly that power failures, water stoppages, inoperative air conditioners and so forth are all commonplace here. The day after I arrived, the temperature was 111 degrees, and it hovered around 110 all week. Now it has gotten cooler, with highs of about 100, as monsoon season is coming. Many a day, the air wasn’t working at all or working only sporadically. So for a few days I did little except try to keep myself comfortable. I was pleased to find that Delhi has a brand-new Metro, on a par with the Metro in Los Angeles , with three lines and about 50 stops. Extensions are underway and will add many miles of track. I saw the stations being readied for October inauguration. There are few, if any, supermarkets or modern pharmacies in Delhi . However, I did find an area called Rajouri Gardens that has some malls, including an upscale mall and several midscale malls. There is a megastore there called Big Bazaar, a sort of clone of K-Mart. Another person who has written articles for useless-knowledge.com, Mr. Shubham Basu, read my recent article on my move from Argentina to India , and contacted me by e-mail. Today, July 4, I met him and his sister, Keya, and another girl, named Mamta, at Select City Walk, a fashionable mall in Saket, an affluent district in the south part of Delhi. This is the first time I’ve met another UK contributor in person. Here’s a list of his articles: http://www.useless-knowledge.com/columnists/000columnists/shubhambasu/index.html India is not absolutely vegetarian. Beef and pork are not available, but mutton, chicken and fish are. Many American fast food stores exist here, with modified menus, including McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Subway and Bennigan’s, but the only ones I can reach conveniently are always packed to bursting and under-air-conditioned. I manage with KFC, as I haven’t found any Indian restaurants in my neighborhood. I was annoyed to see a Hard Rock Café here. Rock and rap and other junk music are among the American exports I can do without. Cyber cafes are few, but they’re equal to those in South America . The one I use charges 66 cents an hour. Cabs don’t cruise the streets here. You have to go to a cab stand or call. Auto rickshaws are here in abundance, however, and they are cheap, if unsafe and unsightly. I went perhaps 15 miles for $2. The only sightseeing I’ve done so far was a jaunt to the Lal Qila, the Red Fort, an eighth-century citadel right in town. It is very reminiscent of the Old Palace in downtown Beijing. Probably next week, I’ll book a one-day excursion to the Taj Mahal, in nearby Agra . Best wishes from India ! Wish you were here! ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Visit my website here. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! 
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