Namasti. Oh, that means "Hello" in Hindi. :)

Now it's time for my trip to India. How eager I was to get there!

It was early March, and although it was still cold in Jordan, the weather was somewhat warm in India. We arrived at Delhi early in the morning, about 6:30 AM their time. We landed at the airport. The first thing I noticed in a distinctive smell that filled my lungs. What is that smell? My employer, who has been to India before, told me once about this. He and I tried to figure out where the distinctive smell was coming from. "Maybe it's coming from cars and vehicles, because apparently the country is overcrowded," I said. "Or maybe it's coming from the famous Indian spicy foods," I added. My employer then
said that the smell could be coming from the burning corpses of the dead, "remember that this is a Hindu country and that they burn their dead!!" That thought somehow made me shiver. "No, maybe they use special local perfumes…" Whatever the source is, the smell remains with you all through the trip and you take it back home! We needed a couple of hours or more for our noses to get accustomed to the weather, and the odor, of Delhi.

We stayed in India for only 2 days, most of which was spent on work. After we were done our work for the first day, we went out in a walk in the streets of Delhi. I noticed the lots of kinds of vehicles speeding down the streets. There were lots of motorcycles, on which sometimes 2 or 3 persons were sitting, often a man and his wife and kid. We passed by a church. An old man with a turban on his head was sitting at the entrance of the church. People took of their shoes and got inside the church bare-foot, on their way they greeted the old man with great respect and they bent down to touch his toes (as a sign of respect). We peeked in and we saw the people sitting on the floor and doing prayers. Afraid we may bother the Christian Indians, we went peacefully on our way. There is a strange vehicle that is used abundantly in this country. I was told it's called the "rickshaw". In case you don't know what a rickshaw is (as was the case with me at that time), it is a vehicle that walks on 3 wheels, one frontal and two rear. The vehicle is very small, it can only take a driver to the front and two passengers to the back. Some rickshaws run on gas while others are run by foot, just like a bicycle. That kind of rickshaw has two pedals on which the driver puts his feet and moves the rickshaw with these pedals. The poor driver!

So, we took a ride in a rickshaw and then we went to the old markets of India. My employer bought a beautiful Indian shawl (I wonder for who), and then we went back to the hotel and that was that.

I particularly had difficulty eating in India because their food is too hot and spicy it would burn my throat! I lived on fresh juice, fried potatoes and bananas. Needless to say that by the time I was back to Jordan, I have already lost 3 kilograms! I used to ask the waiter(s) in the hotel which dishes are spicy and which aren’t. I would ask, "Is this dish spicy?" The gentle waiter would reply with a big smile, "No, this dish is NOT spicy." And then it takes me only one bite before I run looking for water to turn the fires in my mouth off!

What made my trip to India so special is that I met for the first time my long net-friend, whom I have known at that time for almost five years. It was wonderful seeing him for real for the first time, and awkward at the same time. (I guess no need for me to get into details about this one. :) ).

In the evening, I went to the hotel's lobby to mix with people and feel the life outside my room. I heard loud Indian songs I was familiar with. It made me almost dance! I asked the receptionist where the sound was coming from, he told me there is an engagement party in the hotel's garden. Cool! "Can I get in?" The receptionist told me that I need to get the permission of the engaged couple's families first for me to be able to attend the party. I thought that since I am a woman, they would not mind me attending. I approached the garden and I saw lots of pretty young ladies dressed in fascinating sarees
(Indian traditional dresses) and all the accompanying accessories. I asked them about their kinship with either the bride or the groom. "I am the bride's sister," one of the pretty ladies said. Great! "Can I get inside and watch?" I asked. Much to my surprise, the ladies disliked the idea of a total stranger staring at them as they dance. Anyway, after a small talk, the lady allowed me to get in but only for '10 minutes'. Fine!

I got into the party and I saw many men and women dancing on the dance floor, with beautiful Indian songs in the background. It's a colorful party indeed. Sarees of all colors.

I stayed for only ten minutes and enjoyed the fascinating atmosphere and then I hurriedly left, in order to avoid being kicked out of the party. Then I headed to my room and went to sleep.

It's the morning of the next day. Work time. Today's meeting was shorter and I learnt that our host has arranged for us and another delegation (the Lebanese delegation) a tour around the city.

We got into the van. On the way we passed by a huge fort with a very distinctive color. Red. No wonder it's called "The Red Fort". They took us to a Buddhist temple and we got inside and took many pictures with the priest (if that's what they call him) and other temple people.

When we got inside the temple, the first thing we saw was a long red carpet that leads to a big picture of teacher Buddha. I saw two young girls going down on their knees and holding their hands close to their chins as they prayed to Buddha. They then offered "ablation" to him. There were 3 pots in front of the picture of Buddha, one included sugar and sweets, one included money, and the third I don't remember. :) The two girls' ablation was money. They put it in the money pot, then they bent down for Buddha and left. Again, as was the case with the church, anyone who wants to get inside the temple has to take their shoes off. So we all did. The priest in a red outfit (somewhat resembles a dress) took us around the temple, which was divided into two separate big rooms, and he introduced us to the statutes of gods and goddesses inside the temple. I remember seeing a statue of a female goddess. Her name was "Kali".
This goddess is believed to be the protector of women. Women would pray to her and ask for her help. There were lots and lots of statues, big and small, as well as lots of candles everywhere inside the temple. There was also a huge drum to the right side of the temple. The priest told us that they shake the drums every 2 hours to announce time for prayers. Anyone can come whenever it's suitable for them to pray. They don't need to come at every prayer! The priests were holding drums of different sizes. The drums have a stick and two small strings that would knock on the drum each time a priest revolved the stick of the drum, which is based on his thigh. They gave me a drum to try it out. I sat on a chair outside the temple and fixed the moderately sized drum to my leg, and I started revolving the stick with my hand, the strings moved to the right and left and started making sounds.

In Delhi I noticed the huge number of dogs in the streets. I find this weird because where I live the natural view is cats everywhere, not dogs. Dogs are only possessed and nicely tied to ropes. They are not on the loose in the streets like that!

We left the temple and went to the shops. I bought a statue for god Shiva and for Taj Mahal. I didn't have the chance to buy myself a dress though (thanks to my employer who disappeared and make us waste lots of time searching for him). After that we went to see India Gate. This place is crowded with people. It is almost like a shrine! The gate is located inside a big garden, with lakes spread around the place.

After that we went back to the hotel and that was it for the second day.

We woke up on the next morning and prepared our luggage as we will be leaving soon. We met the friends we made and on our way to the airport, we saw a statue of a huge Hindu god that is at least 12 meters long. People were standing in rows and buying flowers to offer them to the huge god. I asked the driver of the car and he told us that it's the Diwali celebrations, one of the biggest religious festivals for the Hindu people.

We got on board of the plane and I left with two sorrows in heart. One for not buying a saree for myself, and the other for not visiting Taj Mahal. I have lots of hopes that I will visit India one day and then I will be able to do the shopping I wanted, after all Indian people are mostly petite like myself, and I would hopefully visit Taj Mahal, one of the fascinating wonders of the world.