New Delhi9/28/2007
I traveled with a group from Target Corporation with the purpose of touring New Delhi and then making a day trip to the Taj Mahal, a 2-hour train ride away. Unfortunately, while in Bangalore we learned that the Taj was closed during this time period because the Prime Minister was making a visit with a foreign diplomat. So we did what one must do in order to retain one’s sanity in India: we went with the flow. New Delhi had so much to offer that it was some consolation for missing one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. It is a wonderful city, with a better infrastructure than Bangalore and what seemed like an overall higher standard of living. Granted, there were still slums, beggars, substandard housing and infrastructure, but it was a significant improvement. A local businessman named Dennis who does consulting work for Target gave us a tour. Dennis’ hospitality was not unusual in that many Indians will make offers to help, open their homes, or give up their time to show foreigners around their city. Dennis took us to the India Gate, a memorial for Indians who lost their lives in various wars. It is a huge stone gate that dominated one end of the boulevard that connected it to the Presidential Palace, where the President lives. Even though A large park-like area, a canal where paddleboats can be rented, and lots of vendors selling food, carved wooden elephants, postcards, and balloons surround the India Gate. One is constantly being interrupted by people trying to sell you goods. Like in Bangalore, many of them do not take no for an answer. I bought a couple toys for my kids and ignored the rest. It is a beautiful spot and the view through the Gate towards the Palace rivals the Washington Mall. We were caught in a downpour as we shopped along the streets of New Delhi. India has a monsoon climate, with a rainy season and a dry season. The rainy season starts in June after a couple months of 100-degree dry heat, but then it rains consistently until September. This was the first time I had seen it rain in India but this made up for it.
Besides cricket, bargaining seems to be India’s national sport. It is a normal course of purchasing most things, even a taxi ride, and one has to get used to it. I found it difficult to do since it is not my personality to argue with a store owner when they tell me I can have a great cricket jersey for my son at a price that is about half of what I would pay in the states. Standing in the tiny shop chatting with these two Indian gentlemen as I watched cars slog through a foot and a half of water, auto rickshaws stall as their motors were drowned, and people running around completely soaked, was a highlight of the trip. These two guys were as friendly as could be, like almost every single Indian I’ve run across. We chatted about places they travel in India, what the U.S. was like and how Indians and Americans behave. I have been amazed at how interactive people have been. When taking pictures, it is very common to be stared at, or to have someone look directly over my shoulder at the LCD panel on my camera. When one lives in a land of one billion people, personal space is not an option. This is also a good explanation for the lack of (zero) arguments I saw in what has to be the worst traffic on the planet. I saw, and was part of, multiple near-accidents and not once did I see any expression other than surprise. This occurred in an instant and then everyone continued through the madness. Once the rain stopped and we were on our way again, I took part in a traffic jam, a 2-hour crawl, that actually made headlines in a city that is used to this type of thing. Again, when one is in India, one has to roll with the punches and enjoy the inevitable delays. While I shot video and photos, stuck in a flooded parking lot for a highway, people who were crammed in a bus with standing room only actually smiled and yelled at me to take their picture. Of course, I only saw part of the country on this relatively short journey, but like any country, there is a national character that seems to bind it together. In my seminars I take great pains to caution people about placing others in categories, using stereotypes and trying to find a “recipe” for dealing with people from other cultures. However, if my trip has been any indication, Indians are a fantastic group of people who live in a system that seems to defy all odds of working. The contrasts are striking. At the same time one can find beauty and tragedy, rich and poor, intensity and serenity. At the risk of breaking my own rule, I’d have to say that, because of the environment they live in, Indians have a great sense of humor. |
New Delhi is India’s capital city. It is often confused with Delhi, the historic capital city of various empires for hundreds of years beforehand. The British were the last empire to rule the subcontinent and actually began their rule using Calcutta (Kolkata) as their capital, but eventually moved to Delhi. “Old” Delhi did not have the physical structure for an efficient capital city, so the British built New Delhi next to it. Therefore, this part of the city has a similar feel to it as Washington DC, with its long, linear boulevard connecting the India Gate memorial with the Presidential Palace, about half a mile away.
India is a democracy, it has a parliamentary system similar to the United Kingdom. Therefore the head of state is the Prime Minister and the president is more of a figurehead. However, the president lives in the Palace. Incidentally, the president is a female. In a land where females are still struggling for equal status, especially in the rural areas, India was home to the world’s first female prime minister, Indira Gandhi, and has a very even distribution of jobs by gender in the metropolitan areas.
We took shelter in the tiny shops that line the streets. These cannot be more than 10 feet by 20 feet and staff up to 4 people at a time, selling anything from leather bags to silk scarves to jewelry. You can get a very good deal on these products, if you don’t mind bargaining. 