Tour of New Delhi - Essay Example

TRAVELOGUE ASSIGNMENT Travelogue - Tour of New Delhi Introduction This travelogue narrates the events, incidents, findings and theremarkable lessons I learnt from my tour of New Delhi, India. I have always wanted to visit India. Since I was a kid, our family doctors have always been Indian. We have had three family doctors so far and the second one relocated back to India only one year ago citing family responsibilities. Every time I interacted with them, I was thrilled by their stories about India. Their accent made it even more thrilling. They often referred to themselves as Indians in the diaspora. They would tell me how large India is, the unique architectural designs in the cities, the festivities, the trains, the monsoons, the ethnic diversity of the people and many other fascinating stories about India. As a lover of travelling, I started to think of India as an ultimate travel destination from a very tender age in my life. Since our marriage a year and a half ago, my spouse and I had always planned to have an enthralling tour as a celebration of our personal and mutual achievements as a young couple. When the time finally came; when we had gathered all the required resources for the journey, my spouse wanted me to suggest a destination. There would be no better destination than India. I already had done a lot of research about India and the typical stories foreigners tell after visiting New Delhi. Most of them were good, but some few others were bad including: chaos in the city, cunning taxi drivers, fake ‘government’ tourists’ offices and many others. The good thing was that I knew the facts and the hearsay. That information was enough armour to protect us in our six days and five nights in New Delhi. The Cosmopolitan City We landed in the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 8 am on a Thursday at the onset of summer. We had already arranged for a tour guide and we were glad to recognize him easily. He introduced himself again (we already knew he was Kizito), but to our amazement, he was not an Indian. He saw the astonishment, and explained with a smile that he came all the way from Uganda in search for greener pastures since five years ago. Nevertheless, he seemed to be enjoying himself. He slowly walked us into one of the restaurants at the airport for a late breakfast. Here in India, they call it ‘Nashta’. Nashta diet varied from region to region. We were each served with a plate of aloo poha – a delicious meal made mainly from potatoes, curry leaves, peanuts and chillies. Kizito was fluent in English. He was able to answer most of the questions we asked about our new city. He described the cosmopolitanism nature that the city boasts. The people here are from different races, nationalities, ethnicities, religions, and even different political orientations. In addition, he explained that as we shall soon find out, the city have many people from all over the world. Some, like him, live here while others come and go in large numbers for purposes of business, tourism, education, or even to attend religious events. Other than cosmopolitanism, the vibrant economy of New Delhi can be attributed to its virtue of being the capital city of India and its residents practising neoliberalism in whereby they focus on economic growth. The breakfast session lasted about an hour. Kizito headed us to Kario Guest House about a thirty minutes’ drive from the airport. This will be our new home for the next six days. We were to rest till 2 pm when we begin visiting the many attractions in the metropolis. In the afternoon, we begin with a tour to the Old Delhi. The Old and the New Delhi Talking of New Delhi, one may wonder whether there exists an Old Delhi. The answer is ‘YES’. Old Delhi indeed exists. According to David (2008), Delhi was originally on the western banks of River Jumna. Ancient Hindu traditions and beliefs dictated that cities and towns should only be constructed on the right bank of the flow of the river. The left bank was to be left wild. In 1912 however, two British architects led by Edwin Lutyens designed New Delhi that would later serve as the capital for British India. This was a civilizing mission by Britain. They were designing a city that will be more spacious for development purposes (Jane, 1998). These were definitely acts of colonialism. The unruly old town was left to serve as capital for the Islamic India. The old town was to the North of our guest house. Our cab moved rather slowly. On the way we would eavesdrop on pedestrians speaking in different languages. Most of it was Hindi, some English, Urdu and Punjabi. Kizito was good at distinguishing them. In the old city, we had quality time at the dramatic Red Fort. We were lucky to arrive at a time when a volunteer at the Fort was making an informed discourse about the history behind the existence of the Fort. It was now approaching 3:30 pm. We rushed to Jama Masjid, and then took pictures around the medieval-flavoured bazaars of the old town. By the time we were driven back to our guesthouse, were felt exhausted but we could not afford to lose the beautiful lightings that illuminated New Delhi at night. The first night in New Delhi was rather short. Breakfast was served in our room. New Delhi has an enormous variety of tourists’ attraction sites which we would visit in the next four days. We would from that day henceforth use the hop-in-hop-off buses to commute to the different sites. The sites can be categorised as Modern Lutyen’s works, Mughal monuments, Ancient monuments, places of worship, museums and other landmarks and gardens around the city. As far as Lutyen’s works are concerned, Kizito was there to ensure that we visit the ‘must see’ features that Lutyen designed during the conceptualization of New Delhi. They included: Sansad Bhavan, Indian Gate and Rajpath, Connaught Place and Lodhi Gardens. They stood out as symbols of modernization and mastery of excellent architectural designs and landscaping. For Mughal monuments, we were only able to visit three out of the six: Hamuyun’s tomb, Parana Quila and Chandni Chowk. These structures had been built many centuries ago mainly by the ancient states of India. But when the colonialists came they launched assimilation strategies that were aimed to make India look like their mother country (Britain). Some of the strategies involved destroying Indian structures which looked archaic to them (Lahiri, 2012). The fact that these structures still remain means they were built to last many generations. Time was moving really fast. I could not believe it when it came to our attention that only two days were remaining in our tour. As a result, we woke up earlier and retired much later in the evening. We were doing all we can to get to as many places as possible before it was dusk. The whole city generally presented magnificent photography sceneries where we took memorable photos. Whenever we went back to our room, we would review the photos and wish we could visit those places again and again. We felt we were not having enough. Outraging Poverty and Extreme Wealth The magnificent structures in New Delhi are symbols of extreme wealth. But as we travelled to every corner of the city, we would not help noticing the many beggars in the streets and dirty informal settlements in the outskirts of New Delhi. The densely populated settlements however provided many goods and services providers with a huge consumption base for their goods and services. The shanties really painted a bad picture of New Delhi. Kapur et al urges that India is experiencing a fast economic growth and a slow poverty reduction (p, 32). He continues to claim that India has the highest number of poor people expected to be 301.7 million in 2004-05, or 27.5% of the population. These values have not changed much nearly a decade later. Whenever we would pass near these places, Kizito would advise that close the windows of the bus to avoid ‘people throwing in their hands and picking anything they can touch’. We were also advised not to buy the cheap food and snacks being circulated by hawkers in small baskets. He warned that the food could be substandard or even contaminated. We also noticed many children and women who really looked malnourished, skinny and sickly. Kizito explained that some families in these areas even go for several days without a meal. According to Swaminathan (2006), food is clearly the foremost need of the poor and, as we have seen, those below the poverty line spend a very large proportion of their earnings on food. He continues to stress the importance of addressing the major causes of food and water insecurity, under-nutrition and malnutrition among children, women and men in rural and urban areas: lack of adequate purchasing power to permit acquisition of a balanced diet and safe water for drinking. He explained that this phenomenon is the reason for the many micro-protests that erupt from these shanties from time to time. He noted that recently, there have been protests about liberalization-related displacements, environmental problems and livelihood losses have arisen in different parts of India in general and New Delhi in particular and have contributed to the formation of anti-globalization platforms and networks on the issues of livelihoods and natural resources. Liberalization has been associated with a relative expansion of informal employment and with significant regional disparities in the flow of new capital and generation of employment. The disparities were sometimes based on sexuality such that the males seemed to enjoy the upper hand of the available opportunities and resources. These disparities have led to desperation among the shanty dwellers leading them to create microenvironments of terror and insecurity. Viswambhar (2007) affirms that a recognized weakness of economic growth has been its lack of inclusiveness. Caste- and gender-based inequalities are particular challenges, with women in the informal economy among the worst-off and something should surely be done. The Taj Mahal On our sixth and last day, we travelled out of New Delhi to the nearby city of Agra to tour the world famous Taj Mahal. The roads were not in the best condition as you would expect of such a famous place. We were lucky to have set off early because the journey took about three hours by train. It was a fantastic experience to travel first class in a modern metro train. On arrival to Agra, we noted the many people who also traveling towards the Taj Mahal. It is one of the most visited places in India. The Taj Mahal is a wonderful site for tourists and locals to take a photo. It looks identical from all for sides. Here, there were more natives than in all the other attractions we had visited previously. This is probably due to the description that Emperor Shan Jahan used to refer to the Taj: a place where the guilty can seek asylum and be freed from sin. A display of the creator’s glory (Allan, 1958). We felt that this was a place to end our tour of Delhi. A place where all our past sins are allegedly washed away. As we took the train back to Delhi later in the evening, I started thinking about my family and friends back home. I missed them. I was sure I would not go back empty handed. I had done substantial shopping on artefacts, fabrics, paintings, and even recipes of some of India’s yummiest dishes. At least our trip has been a success story. At around 8:30 pm, Kizito saw us off to the airport, waved us good bye, and went to his next clients. Conclusion Many accounts have been narrated about touring India in general and the Delhi metropolis in particular. The stories vary depending on the sources and the attitudes that the story tellers have towards that place. In this travelogue, I gave my side of the story from reliable first-hand information. My story is based on facts and real experiences that I underwent through during the five nights and six days that my spouse and I spent in New Delhi. I did not find New Delhi chaotic and noisy as myths have it. Rather, I appreciated the diversity of the people, their cultures, the effervescent art performances, the scrumptious and delicious dishes, the captivating ancient monuments and the magnificent museums with peculiar historical displays that the city had to offer. To add to that, I also do not agree that New Delhi is full of beggars, has a railway and commuter bus network where is hard to acquire tickets, or has cunning taxi drivers and fake tourist’s offices pretending to be government agencies as critiques claim. In the contrary, I found city life in New Delhi as you would expect of any other highly populated city anywhere in the world. Finally, I would urge everyone to be equipped with reliable facts and information about the destinations they wish to travel. This is the tool I used to ensure that I did not get stranded at any point. In my own view, our tour of Delhi was perfect and I urge anyone who wishes to tour Delhi to follow my footsteps and they will definitely have a wonderful time. I look forward to apply this technique in future trips, probably to Cape Town in Africa or Rio de Janeiro in South America. It will all depend with the amount I shall have saved by then. Reference Allan, J. (1958). The Cambridge Shorter History of India (First Ed.). Cambridge: S. Chand David, A. (2008) "A British Empire for the twentieth century: the inauguration of New Delhi, 1931," Urban History Vol. 35 Issue 3, pp. 462–487 Jane, R. (1998) "Edwin Lutyens, New Delhi, and the Architecture of Imperialism," Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History. Vol. 26 Issue 2 Kapur, K. Shepherd, A, Shah & Kamur, (2011) An India Chronic Poverty Report: Towards Solutions and New Compacts in a Dynamic Context Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. Lahiri, T (January 13, 2012). "New Delhi: The Lutyens Legacy". The Wall Street Journal. Now Delhi: Stories of emerging sub-culture in and around the capital. Accessed 8 May 2012. http://www.nowdelhi.tv/ Swaminathan, M.S. (2004) ‘Ending Endemic Hunger, ‘Social Scientist 32(7-8): 39 - 47 Theres No National Language in India: Gujarat High Court, The Times Of India, 6 January 2007, retrieved 17 July 2011 Viswambhar Nath (2007). "Delhi Before 1947". Urbanization, urban development, and metropolitan cities in India. Concept Publishing Company. Yabolo 2006 Visiting Delhi for the first time – trip advisor accessed May 8, 2012 http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g304551-i3482-k641332-Visiting_delhi_for_the_first_time-New_Delhi_National_Capital_Territory_of_Delhi.html Read More