Au revoir India

Our tour of Rajasthan is drawing to a close.

One last long drive from Jaipur to Delhi, and we check in to the grand-sounding Regent Continental Hotel. This turns out to be rather less grand than expected: ancient plumbing, peeling paintwork, rickety furniture, grey towels and sheets, drawers lined with newspapers. And the newspapers were in Hindi, so we couldn’t even get a free read. Perhaps we should not have been such cheapskates when we booked! But we did not have to endure this for long – we had to be up at 3.00 am the following morning for the early flight to Singapore.

In the afternoon we had time to visit the largest Hindu temple in Delhi. A magnificent pagoda, colourful inside and out, and sporting shrines to several Gods. We made namaste to Vishnu, and Peter had his forehead marked as a sign of devotion.

This excursion took place using one of the weirdest forms of transport known to Man: the tok-tok. These ubiquitous three-wheeled scooter taxis scurry around like a swarm of ants, dipping and diving and weaving in and out of the traffic at breakneck speed. The passengers in the back have no protection whatsoever. We have discovered that Health and Safety has not yet reached these shores.

Then it was time to reflect on our trip. 

The art and architecture are quite staggering in beauty, craftsmanship, size and number. The people are generally welcoming, helpful and smiling. The hotels are top class, assuming you are prepared to pay the price. Prices for most things are very reasonable, the landscape is wild and beautiful. All the ingredients are there for an exceptional holiday. But as we all know, there is a downside to India: the inescapable squalor and poverty, the obsolete infrastructure, the incessant assault of hawkers and beggars, the frenetic madness of road transport, the ubiquitous food poisoning. Much needs to change before India will receive its fair share of tourists.

We grew very fond of our driver (Our Son), even though we never managed to find out his name. We learnt that he was not just any old driver. According to him, he had driven both Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. The latter liked him so much that he bought him a new Honda motorbike as a tip. Sadly, we were not able to match Clinton’s generosity. The main drawback was that Our Son never stopped proposing to take us to shops, factories and craftsmen; we were obviously expected to buy huge quantities of souvenirs, on which he, no doubt, would have been awarded a useful commission. So we were sad to say goodbye to him.

This page would not be complete without a word about Gulab Jamun. This delightful and sensuous dessert is made, as far as we have been able to ascertain, of cottage cheese rolled into a ball, wrapped in batter, fried, and served with hot syrup. We had never come across it before, and it tops our list of Indian gastronomic delicacies.

There is no doubt that we have to come back to India another time for a much longer stay.