Incredible India - Arrival

Recently, I was fortunate to visit India, Delhi specifically, for the first time.  I would like to share my first impressions of this amazing and expansive city with you. 

India is a vast country…almost a billion people live there. Let me put that in context … Jordan’s entire population could fit into Delhi! I arrived in the late afternoon…all my senses instantly alert to the cacophony of sights, smells and sounds of a city which was, by then, bathed in a warm, soft apricot haze. It was the end of the day, but the streets were teeming with life. Old and new cultures merged effortlessly. Modern, fast cars, the latest models, slowed to make way for the sacred water buffalo that dreamily roamed the streets; auto rickshaws scooted alongside their more traditional counterparts, and motorcycles zipped in and out of them all, like bees.  

There is an energy and buzz about this vibrant city. Lush greenery flanked the roads; leafy canopies provided shelter for pedestrians (and troops of curious monkeys) who ranged from sharp-suited businessmen doing deals on their cell phones, to dhoti-clad street vendors selling green palm juice – a welcome refreshment in the balmy air. The first signs of spring were everywhere…from the fuchsia bougainvillea cascading over walls and weaving through branches, to the elegant krishnapuri tree…a bare tree, with seemingly bald branches… until right at the very end of the branch, an explosion of color burst forth, attesting proudly to the life pulsing through its veins. 

As we made our way to the hotel, the majestic silhouettes of India’s parliament buildings loomed elegantly and, in the distance, the defining arch and eternal flame of India Gate (a memorial to the Indian soldiers killed in World War I) framed the evening sky. If this was just my journey to the hotel, what wonders did tomorrow have in store?