India 2007 | George Filev

The belly of Delhi.

24 Jan 2007 02:11 Filed in: India 2007
Hi again and here we are in Delhi. It was really smoggy when we arrived. The pollution levels here are intense. To give you an idea here is a before and after shot taken a few days later from my hotel room.

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On a bad day it made you sick just looking out the window, let alone walking outside and breathing the air. We were here to perform at the National Drama School. Here we are setting up.

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You see a lot is this sort of wiring in India and this was the plug for our lights in our dressing room.

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Last minute check before heading out to perform.

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The last show, in particular, was a very nice show. The head of the school came out and presented us with flowers and a plaque to commemorate our visit.

We had the next day off so when in India, what is a must see before you leave....The Taj Mahal of course! It took 22 years and 20,000 workers to complete this amazing memorial that was built from the inspiration of love for a lost moguls wife. Up until recently the only people that were privy to seeing the Taj were foreign dignitaries visiting India and then the Indian government took over and opened it to the public. We entered the gardens and had to go through this gateway.

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The four towers the flank the central tomb have been built to lean away from the main building so that if there should be an earth quake they would fall away from the building. How smart is that!

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It was stunning and really a buzz to be standing next to and walking inside this icon. What an amazing monument to love.

Well that was India. The best way I could describe it is a land that is fragmented in time yet exists in the present with all that diversity somehow working side by side.

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There are Sikhs, Moslems, Christians and Hindus all living together worshiping different gods. Poverty and old world traditions intermeshed with modern 20th century comforts.

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old ways of doing things

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and new technologies working side by side.

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And a hell of a lot of people.

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Things that stick in my mind are 40 people riding on top of a container truck on a highway passing a camel pulling an enormous tray of hey. Cows eating rubbish next to pigs next to dogs next to rats next to birds in the street. Beggars and peddlers everywhere trying to make a buck. 20 people riding in a motorised rickshaw. Vehicles everywhere honking their horns all the time. People sleeping in the streets on cold evenings with a tyre on fire to keep them warm. Dirt everywhere. Wonderful food. Pollution on pollution. Smells that turn your stomach and smells turn your appetite on. A wide smile on the face of children with hope filling their eyes. Cows roaming the streets. An elephant with a painted face by the roadside. Some things here will never change while others are in a constant flux of change. I feel privileged to have experienced this part of the world and even more blessed that I live in Australia.

Till the next adventure,

Namaste

George

xxxooo

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