DELHI / NEW DELHI

Leaving Sri Lanka in the middle of the night has one advantage.  I don't have to spend the night in  Hong Kong. I don't mind staying there, it is only that I lose so much weight, mainly in the wallet, each time I visit.  But I do lose two days each time I travel through there.

Having flown thousands of miles over the years, I witnessed something for the first time.  The airlines loaded a critically ill Indian person in a stretcher and placed him on top of four rows of seats.  He had IV's and was being administered oxygen the entire flight to Delhi.  Three people were in attendant to him. Two appeared to be relatives and the third a doctor.  Most were moved from the area.  The two relatives rotated sitting next to me.  They were tense and usually praying.  I didn't ask, but it appeared to be obvious that they were leaving good Hospitals in Hong Kong to get him finally home.  He was grasping for air most of the time.  When you are faced with something like this, all the little trivial things go out the window.  If you've got your health, be happy.  It was a long night night for them, but they made it. I wished I could have done more than simply support them.  After the plane landed about two in the morning, they all appeared to be tense.  I said goodbyes and wondered what would happen.

Getting a room at two in the morning is not the easiest thing to do.  It was done and I didn't complain at all. I crashed.  The next day it was off to the Chinese and Myanmar embassies for visas. It generally takes a week but a little encouragement gets it done faster. I will get the Myanmar visa in less than 24 hours, China may be a different story.

Delhi/ New Delhi

It took me all these years and to travel here to learn the difference between Delhi and New Delhi, India.  The city of Delhi was here when the British ruled.  In 1947 when India got it's independence, everything that grew up around Delhi was called New Delhi. Old Delhi was ruled by the Muslims and New Delhi by the Hindus.  Delhi has officially 2 million people.  New Delhi has about 14 million people.  Needless to say, I understand why a lot of people wear masks around their faces driving and walking around.  There are too many scooters, bikes, cows, taxis, cars, and trucks causing the worst pollution and traffic jams.  Most cars, if they have air conditioning, don't use it.  It is hot, 30 to 33 C or high 90's.  It just feels hotter than in Mississippi.  At night, the government has ordered that no air conditioners be used between 6 o'clock and 9:30 pm.  They are getting ready to increase the hours as there is no more electricity available.

New Delhi is an interesting city and I really became a tourist and did the usual tourist things. I still go to extremes.

The mass of people is unbelievable.  No wonder so many leave.  It is a good country, but the slow economy and jobless people are tremendous. They don't have benefits like we have in America.   When you walk in there shoes and surmise what you would do, you get an entirely different perspective of people.  I read the book "Black Like Me"  during the civil rights days.  That book gave me a very different outlook on life. Another one was "Mila Eighteen."  Many of us think the world evolves around each of us.  Some ways it is nice to have that thought, but when one walks in a stranger's foot prints and walks his land, one gets a much broader picture of  the world.  One is only a microcosm in the total picture.  It is a very humbling experience. The poet, Emerson, said every man is my superior, and that I learn of him. I changed it to say that everyone is my superior in some way, and that I learn from them. Although it is rough times for some, it is a great time. I love life.

This trip has been nothing but bouncing from extremes. New Delhi is an interesting city and I really became a tourist and did the usual tourist things. I still go to extremes.  The weather is hot or cold wet or dry, I go from being a bad boy who is reckless and don't give a damn, to being conservative but with liberal spending habits and just being touristy.  The last two days, I have done nothing but tourist things.  I never expected or thought about buying rugs from India.  Guess what? I bought four rugs for the condo.  I hope no one tells me that 1,292 knots per square inch, natural colors, no chemical dyes used, is a bad carpet.  All I know is I lost a lot of weight, but it was in my wallet and not the body.  Then I had the audacity to buy suits, pants, shirts, and some other things. There goes a few nights at the Peninsula Hotel along with the Rolls Royce, helicopter, and a few other amenities.  The personal valet comes with the room.   I really like the carefree, indifferent, mean, reckless person.  It doesn't cost as much. What the heck, it was only money. My daughter would get it if I don't spend it.  She is still disturbed because I was late in contacting her and MacKenzie on their birthdays. I think it had something to do with not being there also. 

Seeing the mosque, Hindu temple, old Delhi, new Delhi, and about ten other sights was nice but it was too hot and a little slow.  I hired a guide and car to take me around day and night for the entire stay in New Delhi.  Then I went crazy and hired a mini bus to take me through India. I should arrive in Nepal in about four days.

Delhi has been an experience, particularly watching me change. It will be interesting to see what I do in Agar. India is a good country, it just has too many people. 

JAIPUR

O.K., I did it again.  I stayed as a tourist.  I saw the sights and bought of all things a table cloth, bed spread, jewelry, clothes, etc.  They are good sales people.  A couple pair of pants that I had made have slits all the way up the outsides to the waist line. Ole  well!!

Jaipur is known as the pink city because all the buildings are reddish pink in color.  I am told that 80% of all rugs are made here and the same with the jewelry.  This is a buyers paradise and the sellers enjoy it.  They love to take your money.  Remember every guide and taxi driver gets a commission if they take you to some shop.  It goes from two to ten percent.  Seeing the way they make the carpet is fascinating, the jewelry even more so.

Night life isn't bad.  I went out to places where the dinner was under the stars one night and the other in a very exclusive restaurant. Both had the old Indian music.  I even danced with them.  Had a ball. I won't say what all I did.

I have never seen the driving skills like this.  They go every way and come as close as a couple centimeters.  One person told me that a tourist will pray at least five hundred times on the ride down from New Delhi.  I now understand why I hired a driver to drive me to Jaipur and on to Agar.  In Jaipur, there are not only cows you have to contend with, but camels and elephants along with all the other drivers.  I have been to Paris, Italy, and Quitos, Peru, and there driving is nothing by comparison.

TAJMAHAL / AGAR

I have been to the Tajmahal and it truly is a wonder of the world. The design is fantastic.  It took years to build and the queen only lived in it 22 years as she died at an early life.  They said it had something to do with having 14 kids  during this time.  Being the tourist I have become, I bought a marble table with marble carved and colored stones that have the same design as the Tajmahal.  Again, I lost a lot of weight but only in the wallet.  I have to get out of India. Besides the monsoon season is coming.

VARANASI, INDIA

First of all, it was good to make the trip from Jaipur to the train station over 60 miles away to catch an all nighter train ride to Varanasi.  The weather was horrible and the traffic on a small two lane road that everyone made at least four lanes out of was better than the Indy 500. The problem was, I was sitting in the passenger seat of a TATA car approximately 5 years old.  The windshield wipers were the originals.  We couldn't see - particularly the carts, cars, bicycles, and rickshaws that didn't have lights.  Also, the town was blacked out with no electricity.  Oh, I forgot to mention, the cows roaming the highway.  We had to stop several times and wipe the windshield off with newspapers. We also used at times the drinking water to help in cleaning it.

When I got to the train station there were no lights and the wait was not the best in the world.  Trying to figure what platform and exactly what train to catch was a little nerve racking.  When the train arrived it was like cattle cars. People were everywhere hanging on the sides and on top of each other.  The good part, I booked first class with a sleeper.  I learned from the Malaysia trip. The train had engine trouble and we were delayed by several hours and arrived in Varanasi at 9:40 am.  I checked into the hotel and immediately became a tourist. I visited a museum, temple and where the first priest gave the first speech on his idea of Buddha.  The next day I was up at 4:30 am to catch a boat ride and watch the sunrise.  It was fantastic.

Varanasi is one of India's cultural cities, as well as, known for bedspreads, table clothes and etc. Yes, damn it, I bought another bedspread and a few other things. Night life is good and the resturants are good. I lost a lot of weight, but only in the wallet.  India is my waterloo financially.  I can't wait til I get to Nepal and Kathmandu.  I want the other Chuck back.  

The last night in Varanasi had me meeting a man named Raju which touched off many memory flashes of two dear friends, Ruma and Raju Haque.  Both were talented, beautiful people whose lives were cut short. One by cancer and the other in a car wreck.  Several years ago, Raju wanted Ruma, another friend, and I to have dinner with him while at the Bar Convention in San Destin, Florida.  He told me that the treatment had worked, but all along he knew he had very little time. He had rested all day to save his strength for that night.  We went to Cafe 35 south of San Destin and had a fantastic night. He was pleased and so were we, but it was short lived because of his quick death. Ruma was just a beautiful person.  During this time the three of us had a Mr. Buzzie, a water melon carved out, but filled with lots of goodies. Many, many good memories. They are still missed.

Finally, I am leaving India, minus a lot of money.  Ole well, I just lost a few nights at the Peninsula Hotel, and I won't be riding in any of their Rolls Royces or fly in their helicopters. India reduced me to a poor boy living in a rich man's world trying to make it.

When I was at the airport in Varanasi going through customs, I met Kellie, an Aussie, who got into a minor visa problem.  I had a local guy helping me get through and I got him to get her through.  We then flew to Nepal and decided to pool our expenses and travel for a few days together.  She had been traveling India for a little over three months and has to go back soon to Australia. This was just another way to over come the money I lost in India. Thus, the phrase, I am just a poor boy traveling the world trying to make it (no pun intended).