Merry Christmas and Happy New Years all.

I am sick for the second time in a week so not at work today. I used to think I had a pretty tough stomach. I had made it through three months in SE Asia without getting sick and two in Beijing. But I've been here not even one month and twice I've eaten something that has disagreed with me in a big way. I don't know what is so different about their cooking here, but it's something I'm still getting used to.

Anyway last weekend I headed off to Varanasi. Parts of it I enjoyed and some things I found frustrating. Varanasi's main feature is the Ganges River (or Ganga as they call it here), and Indians go there to bathe and to be cremated. The river itself is pretty filthy but apparently better than it used to be - less raw sewerage. I was slightly surprised that people would swim in it, but they consider it 'good luck', which is the last thing I imagine it could be.

It was a beautiful city. From far away. Huge old buildings line the river, and you get a beautiful view from up high of sunrises and boats along the river. Took a boat ride at sunrise which was good. Up close though, when you are walking along the streets, you have trouble appreciating how pretty it is. You get a lot of touts trying to get you to buy postcards, or take a massage, or jewellery, and you feel like you are always on the defensive. Even on the boat, we had other boats following us trying to sell us garbage. And then there are the animals - a lot more animals in Varanasi (goats, cows, buffalo & dogs mostly) and much tinier streets. TIny alleys where you have to squeeze past people, let alone big bulls, and watch where you step for fear of treading in a pile of shit. Once or twice we had to dive into the nearest doorway to avoid mini-stampedes. So things like that - I don't know I think because I was sick as well, I found it a bit frustrating. I couldn't help thinking, despite not wanting to, why do these people let this happen? why do they let dead dogs lie in the street for a day? why do they bathe in this filthy water? why do they put up with bulls stampeding through their streets? I suppose i had a bit of culture shock.

My mood improved after a couple of days when I felt less sick and started to get better at ignoring the bad and appreciating the good.

I'll post up some photos next week. I'm heading to Nanital this weekend, which is in Uttrachnal , north of Delhi. It will be freezing cold, around 2 or even less, probably snowing in some places. Its in the foothills of the Himalayas, and we should be able to see Nepal if we get high enough. It should be really beautiful. And it will be good to be somewhere less crowded.

I'm heading there with Mauri, Paula and Teo. Same people I went to Varanasi with. So it will be a quiet new years, which will be fine, although Mauri tells me in Italy they have a superstition that if you don't have sex on the 31st, you don't have any for the next year. Mauri's got Paula, but me and teo are up shit creek. Happy 2006 everyone.

What else have I been up to besides checking out Humayun’s tomb on the weekend? Well, Saturday night I headed to a party with some other people doing internships here. I was able to meet a few Indians and expats alike. Good to know a few more people in Delhi. Also some of them will also be stuck here for New Years, meaning hopefully I won’t be sitting around at home by myself on the big day!

I also was able to learn some of the different opinions people have on Delhi. Many expats who work outside of Delhi are jealous of the ones working here. Delhi’s pollution is comparatively good because rickshaws and buses have all been converted to run on natural gas; its roads, at least in the newer parts, are big and wide; there are a large number of parks and trees in comparison with the rest of India; and despite its huge population, its spread out enough that except for certain areas, you are rarely really crowded.

On the downside, many people, including Indians, find Delhiites to be obsessed with money and status, more than ordinary Indians. Delhi is in some ways India’s New York or London or Paris (although Mumbai I think would take this title in other areas – it’s the financial capital, the movie capital and the fashion capital of India). Delhiites aren’t considered friendly, and are thought to be always in a rush. Now ‘in a rush’ I am not sure I agree with – doing anything here takes ages, I don’t know how anything gets done really as the bureaucracy that surrounds everything, such as buying a train ticket, is something else! If Delhi's in a rush the rest of the country must be moving backwards. But a lot of them aren’t really as friendly as I expected and you definitely do get the money-hungry impression. It gets tiring sometimes to have to bargain for everything and check prices everyday.

Having said that I have met plenty of friendly Indians here so I don't want to make too many generalisations.

My boss is on holiday for the next few weeks, so now at the office its just me and a few other Indians, who do random stuff like making tea or disappearing for hours at a time. I’m mostly working on putting together a new comic on the issue of HIV / AIDS in India. I’m doing a lot of research on the issue, which has been pretty depressing. Although they have handled AIDS here far better than in most other Asian or African countries, the stories of those that have become infected and been ostracised by their friends, families and communities does not make for feel-good reading.

I’m heading to a place called Varanassi this weekend. Its on the Ganges about 12 hours away. Its considered a very holy place to Hindus, who go there to worship and bathe in the Ganges - and they also go their to die. Devout Hindus will often try to go to Varanassi before they die to ensure they will be cremated there. Many Hindus, even those living overseas, will not be cremated at Varanassi but will have their ashes taken there to be added to the river. Good place to die - kind of like Adelaide. Hopefully a bit more exciting though.

Back at home, I hope everyone has a merry Christmas and all that, and trust you're enjoying the holidays.

Humayun's Tomb

210509
Originally uploaded by lamoney.

Last weekend I went to Humayun's tomb. Beautiful buildings and spectacular gardens which made a nice change of pace from the stress of Delhi. Humayun was a Mughal emperor, meaning he was Muslim - most of Delhi's great architecture is Muslim in origin, and many other famous Indian buildings, such as the Taj Mahal, also share this heritage. You can see my photos of the tomb, as well as of the gardens and smaller tombs around it, here.

In this type of architecture, symmetry seems incredibly important. For instance Humayun's tomb itself is a square building, identical on each side. You'll get the same view from the North, South, East or West. It is surrounded by gardens divided up by canals and paths into 8 parts, which are further subdivided into four parts by smaller canals and paths.

You'll also rarely see paintings or sculpture in or around these buildings, as representations of the natural world, and people especially, are not permitted in stricter interpretations of Islam. Instead, you'll see extremely intricate patterns, in tiling, painting, brickwork and so on.

The gardens surrounding this and other Mughal tombs are supposed to represent the Muslim idea of paradise. The word paradise actually comes from the Persian word for 'walled garden'.

Humayun's tomb was built after his death by his widow. Also seems a shame for such a beautiful building and gardens to be built for someone after he can no longer enjoy them!

taking it easy

taking it easy
Originally uploaded by lamoney.

This weekend I headed off to Jaipur, Rajashtan, which is about 5 hours drive from Delhi. Went there with Kate & Ruth from my house. The bus trip over was pretty average….freezing cold, 11.30pm – 4.30am, the usual cramped seats and terrifying driving. After a while you learn you're better off not watching where you are going. Jaipur itself though was good. They have several great old forts and palaces, a beautiful walled city and some interesting temples. And hordes of monkeys on their roofs.

There are a few photos available here. It's hard to get a sense of how much colour is around, in people's clothes, the temples, the filth, the animals.

Our bus to Jaipur left at about 11.30 at night. Getting around Delhi that late is tough. Its freezing cold (last night it was 3 degrees) and the rickshaws are completely open so you need to rug up. And its dark. And everyone has their higbeams on. Trying to catch a rickshaw on the side of the highway watching the headlights come through the massive haze of pollution, listening to the din of horns and the noise of the city, seeing another person sleeping on the sidewalk every few metres, you worry that this is where most cities will probably end up. It really is not a good place to be at night.

I am amazed not at how many people are sleeping on the streets (I was expecting that) but on how they manage to survive through the night in this sort of weather. I'm going to bed in a jumper with a few blankets in a house, and am still cold. They're on the street with an old blanket if they're lucky.

Anyway back to Jaipur. The whole place was a bit of a zoo really - monkeys, chipmunks, geckos, camels, elephants, dogs, cats, cows, pigeons, eagles,mice, rats, horses - saw all of them within a couple of days. I think most of India is probably similar in that regard. Hundreds of animals just wandering the streets, except for the elephants, which are, luckily, generally being ridden.

While there I was served a very strange panner curry. Paneer is a type of cheese that many Indians eat as a meat substitute, in the same way we might eat tofu. This paneer curry was strange because in the middle of it all was a huge block of butter, sitting there melting into the rest of the dish. I don't mind butter but halfway through the meals I was eating spoonfuls of the stuff and it was just disgusting. I think its a bit of a luxury meal here as I was charged about twice as much as I expected for it.

Work has been going well. I've been designing posters, invites and press releases for a comic exhibition and workshop we are holding in January. A famous Belgian artist, Etienne Schreder, is coming down to train Indian illustrators. Also we are bringing out a book on child rights which I'll be doing some editing on which should be interesting.

Anyway hope everyone is kicking along ok back home.

i've finally moved into a house in new delhi. i'm living with six other people...ruth & susanne, germans, kate, slovakian, paula, spanish, theo, south korean, and mauri, italian. so its a bit of a melting pot. they're all about my age and pretty good fun so i think i'll enjoy living with them. its a three bedroom place so would be a little crowded, except that we're only all there from 9pm onwards so its not really an issue. also there are 3 bathrooms by some miracle, so no mass line ups in the mornings.

there are a few strange things about living here. we have a maid come in everyday who does our dishes and sweeps the floors (gold). people come to the door to do your laundry, to pick up your garbage, to collect old bottles. you have to turn on a water pump at 5.30am or you have no water for the day. you can't drink from the taps. so there are a few things to get used to.

i've also started my new job at viveka foundation. at the moment we are rushing to publish a comic which is reaching its deadline. they publish these comics which try to highlight development type issues for a young adult audience, and some of them also are a way of bringing indian myths and legends to a new audience. i've been involved in editing and also photoshopping/desktopping the comics (most of the work is done on computer), so its been quite interesting.

on the downside i have to take an autorickshaw there and back everyday. this would be fine, except that i have to negotiate the price twice a day which is very annoying. mostly because i'm not very good at it. i give up too easily and end up paying twice the price that i should nearly every trip. on the other hand, these guys mostly sleep in their rickshaws at night, so i don't feel too bad about being a sucker.

i'm going away this weekend with a few of my flatmates. originally we were going to a sacred spot on the ganges but couldn't get a train reservation, so instead we are taking an overnight bus to some other spot. i'll find out where tonight.

anyway, i hope everyone back home is well, and i hope to hear from you all soon.

So, I have made it safely through to New Delhi. A quick rundown on the past couple of days...

I arrived Friday night after a very long day of flights and airports. A couple of guys from the group organising the intership (AIESEC) picked me up at about midnight and drove me to a conference they were holding over the weekend, at a nice little spot in the countryside outside New Delhi. Stayed there till Monday. I was surprised that all the Indians there spoke perfect English and this was the main language they communicated in, even with each other. They will occassionally drop into Hindi but not often...even on the radio it is about half English / half Hindi (hinglish), you'll hear passages like 'and the survey indicated about 70% of people agreed that bing na damast neek pan pradi'.

Conference was good fun and I got to meet quite a few Indians from New Delhi. It was absolutely freezing at night and I ended up wearing almost every piece of clothing I had to bed. I feel like an idiot who turns up to Melbourne with only t-shirts and shorts because he thinks all of Australia is hot and dry.

At the moment I am staying with a girl named Mikna and her family, Mikna is a student working with AIESEC. Apparently today I should be moving into the trainee house. It will be good to find out what the other people working over here are like, and should be interesting as they'll be from all over the world.

Mikna's family have been great to me. I have eaten really well (loving the food and the sweet, milky, spicy tea) and watched a few seinfeld re-runs on their cable (I am amazed they watch the same shows...Mikna's mum was annoyed because she missed Will & Grace and everybody loves Raymond).

I haven't seen much of New Delhi yet except for the roads late at night and early in the morning. They are possibly worse drivers here than anywhere else I have been in Asia. Low beams are for wimps and are only used when flicking high beams on and off to get others attention. Indicators are rare. Who gives way seems to be a test of nerve sort of like Chicken, they seem to get as close to crashing as possible before someone pulls out and decides the other can take it this time. Red lights are completely meaningless as are pedestrian crossings. Speed bumps appear out of nowhere with no warning or signage, so that you find either your driver constantly slows down for what seems like no reason till you spot the speed bump, or you get airborne without warning.

Anyway Mikna's family are all out now so I am going to try to figure out how to get some breakfast. Their servant is here but frankly I am a little scared of her and not sure how to communicate with her, as they all speak Hindi to her (but English to each other). Also I feel bad trying to get her to make me some toast.

Hope you're all well. Let me know how you're all doing.

bar open

bar open
Originally uploaded by lamoney.

Out last night with a few friends for my going away. Went to the standard hotel & bar open. Here's Judd, Lou, John, me and Ronan at Bar Open upstairs. More photos are available here.