A consultant in India – The End

10/06/2009

I mainly dedicated my last 2 days in India to the activity that really defines a tourist: shopping!

We (Johnny and I) went to to Connaught Place, a huge area in new Delhi filled with bazaars, stores and restaurants.  Unlike many tourist spots, C.P. is a shopping place frequented also by indians and this is reassuring about the quality of the stuff you find.

We started by going into State Emporium shops; these are government run stores which have good quality goods but have also high prices. It’s useful a visit here before diving into the bazaars so you can have benchmarks of the goods’ prices you intend to buy.

I’ll include a bargaining scene which happened to me at Palika Bazaar (Connaught Place):

Me: (walking)

Vendor:  “Please sir, come here!”

M: (approaching the shop and looking around for few seconds) “Do you have pashmina shawls?”

V: “Yes sir, many textures, many colors!” (showing several shawls)

V: “There are shawls 100% pashmina, 50% pashmina and 50% silk and 100% silk!”

V: “Feel this fabric, you like it?” (giving me a 10o% silk shawl)

M: “Yeah, it’s really soft. But I prefer the 50% pashmina/50% silk. How much for that?”

V: “How many of them do you want?”

M: “Just one”

V: “1000 rupees, sir. High quality, sir!”

M: “Ah… ok. I’ll think about that…” (while leaving)

V: “Wait sir! Say a price!”

M: “I don’t know… I just have 200 rupees left for shopping…”

V: “No 200 rupees, this is high quality, see? 800 rupees, sir. Take it.”

M: “I’m sorry, I can’t afford that”

V: “Wait sir! You’re the first customer, 600 rupees.”

M: “Still too much for me”

V: “500 rupees!”

M: “No, thank you.”

V: “Morning time discount! 400 rupees”

M: “I can’t really spend more than 200 rupees, thank you for the discount anyway!” (while leaving)

V: “200 rupees! Take it!”

One thing you’ll notice while going around for Delhi is that shops, bazaars and public places in general have metal detectors and customers and their bags are searched by policemen stationing at the entrance. India has enforced security measures in all the crowded areas, a measure I think enacted after the recurrent terrorist attacks which have hit this country.

After the morning shopping we went to Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque of all India. This is a impressive and at the same time beatiful building, capable of containing 25′000 thousands people!

Jama Masjid mosque – Delhi

Jama Masjid is just one of the great structures built during Mughal Empire (muslim domination in India) that also built Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qutb Minar, …

11/06/2009

My last day in India, I spent the day mostly wandering around  Pharganj Area; looking for t-shirts and fining my bargaining skills.

Main Bazaar, Pharganj – Delhi

Many thoughts came into my mind while walking around the stalls:

People: it’s for sure the most amazing aspect of this country. Every square, street, bus or restaurant is packed of noisy people and, unlike in many western countries, there’s an high sense of community here. As a foreigner I receive a lot of attention by locals, often they ask about me or my country and offer me chai; however this is also true for Indians. They don’t really consider other people “strangers” and are available to talk or help each other.

Poverty: I have never experienced that before. You may find half-naked children begging also in the most fancy streets of Delhi; it’s simply part of India (still). While I’ve found poorness more bearable in rural areas, where people tend to positive behaviours (e.g. farming) to improve their situation, in cities this translates into slums, beggars, thieves…

Taxi/Rickshaw meter: my biggest failure in India; they simply refuse to use it with tourists. I tried very hard but drivers prefer losing the ride that giving you the fair price!

Hand in hand: at the beginning I mistook this a sign of homosexuality (which is illegal in India, btw) but then I was explained that it’s just a custom; Indians (male) usually walk hand in hand with their friends (still male). I can’t help it, seeing a man spitting and/or burping (and they do!) while walking hand in hand with one friend will always look odd to me!

Limca: a real discovery! This is a great lemon drink, bottled by Coca Cola, which I’ve never seen before; why it’s not available also in Italy?

To sum up I have to say that I couldn’t anticipate a bit of how India it’s like: crazy, assaulting and with its pace to which you have to adapt, not the opposite. All its aspects, those bad as much as those good, have been really instructive and I hope I’ll have the chance to travel thoroughly across this incredible country in the future.

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