Delhi

Every little kid in India wants to get a bicycle as a present. Not so much for the joy of cycling but mostly for the bell that comes with the bike.

He can ride along the streets ringing the bell all the time non-stop, creating as much noise as he can, dreaming that one day, when he grows up, he can own a real car.

One day he WILL own a car and drive along the streets using this time his big and stupidly loud horn, every second ANNOYING the F%$K of everybody else.

You might think you have seen traffic in London.

You might think you have seen traffic in Athens

We thought we had seen traffic in China, but this, is something else.

Traffic chaos taken on the next level, with cars, bikes, cows, camels, horses, pedestrians, dogs and flies all mixed up with non-existing traffic light signalling, no rules, no laws, no… nothing.

It is “scary” in the beginning, “funny” a bit later, a bit “annoying” as the time goes, “just typical” as you get used to it, “essential” as you start to drive yourself and the “only way” to get through traffic at the end.

No, I am kidding; it is not like that…it is much worse, and I am just lost for words to describe it;

The cars even have signs on the back saying “please horn” (can you believe this?) to receive attention from the car behind which is pointless as everybody is using the horn at all times anyway so no one knows what is going on.

But there is hope. I have found a unique solution to this problem, which is also a business opportunity for anyone who wants to come and live in India.

I am proposing the “pedestrian horn”. This is a typical air-horn that pedestrians can carry with them and use it as they walk along. They can use it to indicate to cars that they are crossing the road and also when they want to take over other pedestrians walking. They should use it very close to the fellow pedestrian’s ear for max results.

After a few weeks, people will go deaf and the whole problem of noise pollution will be gone. If you cannot reduce the source, then lower the sensitivity of the receiver and you get the same result. A genius idea that I will sell to the Indian government.

Anyway, back to the touristy stuff, we spent a couple of days in Delhi exploring most of the famous tombs, monuments and some markets and parks.

On the plus side, we had an easy ride exploring Delhi.

We stayed with Xavier (a friend from London who is working on a contract here), so we had a decent place to stay, free touring of the city by his driver and a taste of the local life (which normally takes more than a few days to discover by yourself).

Xavier was right, we left the most diverse, difficult and different place for the end of our trip.

We have spent more time observing (and taking photos) of people than monuments temples and other points of interest.

I am proud to say that there is no Starbucks in Delhi, not even a “coming soon” sing (which, by the way is a failure and a disgrace for their marketing department as they normally pop up within seconds).

We have booked a trip for a couple of days in a national park/jungle in north India where we can see a typical small village and one of the best wild animal reserves in the country.

The bigger and stronger survives in the jungle, which is pretty much the same rules for the driving around the city…