I’ve been living in Delhi for 3 months now, and everything seems to have become “normal” quite quickly, at least compared with when I first arrived in India over 2 years ago. Some things have normalised remarkably fast; some of them less so. An example of the former would be the daily commute to and from work on the metro, which has changed from: being an empowering novelty—Independence! Efficient, clean, reliable public transport at last! (Are you listening, […]
Right then, here comes the Summer. The ultimate test. Maybe. When I arrived in Delhi in January 2013 it was surprisingly cold. Even for seasoned Dilliwalas it was something to talk about… supposedly the coldest winter for 40 years. As the Times of India commented back in January: For nine straight days since December 31, the capital hasn’t seen temperatures rise above 16 degrees Celsius and the minimum has remained below 6 degrees. Taking these two temperature limits as cutoff, […]
Today was Holi, the Hindu “festival of colours”. Given that I’d already been targetted by local kids with water-bombs and supersoakers last night, I decided to stay home, relax and enjoy my day off. Maybe do some studying. In the end it was way too noisy. Starting from very early. Which was unexpected, as I live in a really peaceful neighbourhood. So this put me in a pretty weird mood for the rest of the day. (Or maybe I […]
A week ago I was bitten by a street dog, right outside my flat. I was walking to the shops about 8pm, along a badly-lit road, and it jumped out from behind a parked car, snarling, and bit me on the ankle. I was more surprised than anything else. It’s a dog that I see every day—street dogs are everywhere in my neighbourhood—and I didn’t even know it was there until it had nipped me. I checked out the […]
Around 5pm, on a busy main road in Naraina. A small, wiry woman–a daily wage labourer–walks briskly along the road after work with her three children. All of them are animated and chatting over the noise of the traffic. It’s clear that she’s a daily wage labourer because as she walks she has a full-size pickaxe perfectly balanced on her head, hands-free, and with the handle pointing directly forwards.
Delhi, February. About 7.30am, and I’m just heading out the door to go to work. I hear the hoot of a train from the nearby track. Only it sounds different: three rising tones rather than two. Or the more common long, single, plaintive note. I think to myself how it sounded like a trombone. I carry on walking past the park and hear it again. Odd. As I turn the corner, in front of me is a man in […]
So here we are then. I’m now a Dilliwala—a resident of Delhi. The past 3 weeks have been a bit hectic and complicated, given that I started a new job while living in a hotel, and meanwhile had to find a new apartment within 14 days and register the address at the Foreigners Registration Office. But I managed it, and this time it’s an order of magnitude easier than when I first arrived in India 2 years ago, when I […]
Right then—I’m back in India! The 4 weeks back home in the UK flew by incredibly quickly, and sadly I spent the last 12 days down with a nasty virus and doing very little apart from coughing, sleeping and experimenting with various flu remedies. Many of my grand plans for visiting friends fell by the wayside. I left the UK just as the first major snow-fall of the winter was arriving. 7 hours later I was in Dubai looking […]
