Sweet Taste Of India

Today i landed at Indira Gandhi International airport at New Delhi after 4 long years. A lady from Greece was sitting next to me on the flight from Munich. "Wow, the architecture of the buildings is so impressive layout of the houses seems so organized" she observed, as we peeked though the window at the landscape down below, squinting into the sun. "Its so much better than Athens" she said.I did feel proud when i heard it looked better than Athens from the sky! but then a city whose architectural foundations are based on Edward Lutyens's blueprints couldn't have looked so bad from the sky after all, i figured. While disembarking from the plane, i had my first whiff of dust, the ramp winded through a dilapitated corridor, with white paint/chuna peeling off from the plastered walls, crimson pan stains in the corners, mangled, exposed wires on the ceiling. There were absolutely no signs guiding people on where to go. I just flowed with the crowd which led me to a jam packed escalator and an adjoining empty staircase. The stairs were faster to walk down, the ecsalator emptied into a stagnant pool of confused people who did not know which immigration line to stand in (there wasn't any line by the way). The crowd was too heavy and was getting backed up onto the escalator. I found it funny, that people still preferred to go down an escalator for a short distance when it was apparent that they couldn't get off of it. Thankfully i got my baggage off the carousel really quick and walked out through the green channel as i pretty much had nothing to declare. I walked out alone and there was this sea of anxious visitors/parents/relatives/taxi drivers on either side held back by a barrier, trying to spot their known ones. Felt pretty much like a member of the Indian cricket team while walking out there into the crowd. My parents ushered me to their vehicle and i missed out on being approached by those "non-prepaid", over-zealous taxi drivers with their amazing 30 sec sales pitches. I think Delhi roads are not world class, but they definitely are among the best in India, the first thing that struck me was, the ride felt so slow! Traffic in India can really take you from merry to melancholy in a heartbeat, though I must admit the city has also done a pretty good job of keeping those ambling bovine beauties off those traffic intersections. There were lanes on the road and there were road signs, but beyond that its pretty much left to you as a driver to figure out a method in that madness. I had really missed this cacophony, people honking for no rhyme or reason, thela-wallahs peddling their wares, kids playing cricket on the streets, people standing around in groups for no apparent purpose or reason. All in all it felt good on the first day, experiencing all that hullabulloo after such a long time! Like they say, "You can take a Man out of India but you can never take India out of a Man" :) right?