Delhi in a day

When we were planning our trip, we didn’t necessarily want to just spend one day in Delhi. What can you see in one day? It’s kind of a disgrace, especially if you think of yourself as the adventurous, special breed of traveler who has made it all the way to India. (As the guidebooks say over and over, India — with its poverty, and crowds, and traffic, and inefficiencies — is not for everyone.)

But Crayton and I only had two weeks together in Rajasthan and Mumbai, and we hoped to make it west to Jaisalmer, by gum, if our lives depended on it. That meant breezing through Delhi right after our plane landed. Delhi was a way-station — the place where our plane dropped us off, and where we refueled and reinvigorated before moving on to the next spot.

“Invigorating,” in the end, was not the correct word to describe Delhi. The place was loud. Polluted. Crowded. (Did I mention loud?) Men on bicycles, rumbly auto-rickshaws, cars, and pedestrians carrying bundles on their heads swarmed the streets. Every person with access to a horn honked it, as often as they could. I thought I knew horn-honking, but no. These people rarely paused. Just honk, after honk, after hooooooonnnnk…

When our plane landed at 9:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night, the entire city lay smothered with fog. As we taxied to the gate, outside it looked like we were still flying through the clouds. How did the pilot even find the runway? Later, I pondered the same thing about our cabbie, who attempted to drive us to our bed and breakfast with about two feet of visibility. Luckily we got there safely.

So yeah. We did not have much time in Delhi, and overall, I didn’t like it much. Not exaggerating when I say that when we left, I felt like I’d swallowed three liters of exhaust.

Negative Nelly-ness aside, there were a handful of things I did enjoy about Delhi. Our homestay, Delhi Bed and Breakfast, couldn’t have been more comfortable or quaint, and I’ll never forget slathering up potato parathas with butter and curd at breakfast, the kick-ass evening toast and tea, and sipping chai in the mornings.

I enjoyed our five-hour city tour, and winding through Old Delhi’s narrow streets on a rickshaw. And I loved my first introduction to South Indian food at Sagar Ratna, a dosa joint in Defense Colony.

I’ve listed each in more detail below, with photos. (Warning: Lots of photos. You may need a few minutes to scroll through them all.)

1. Delhi Bed and Breakfast

I found Delhi B&B recommended in a travel article I’d read on the Internet. I loved the quirky, personable website, and the fact that it was just one room in a private home. The owner, Nina Kochar, wrote me back quickly and seemed friendly and warm. Walking in from a 13-hour flight from New York, and an hour-plus cab ride from the Delhi airport, I cannot tell you how overjoyed I felt to walk into a real home and see a real bedroom with a king-size bed and fluffy down comforter. Nina had set a hot water bottle in the sheets and turned on the space heater, so the room was nice and toasty. (Delhi was freezing that night.) She even had an extra pair of slippers for us.

Before we went to bed, she asked if we wanted an Indian breakfast or Western breakfast, and of course I said Indian. (Sorry, Nina, I know that was probably more work for you.) My eyes glowed at the thought, despite the fact that I was half-loopy, having just come off a nearly 20-hour journey from Mexico City. An Indian breakfast! My first one!

The next morning, Nina and her housekeeper, Ganesh, prepared us fruit chaat, a mixture of bananas, chopped guava and grapes with a spicy-salty powder sprinkled on top…

And they offered us orange juice, fried mutton sausage, fresh curd in little glasses, and the parathas you see above. All of it was utterly fabulous.

“Be sure to put a lot of butter on the parathas,” Nina told us.

We did.

Nina recommended Sagar Ratna, a dosa place, for lunch. We didn’t have much time to linger, because we were off for our five-hour city tour of Delhi. When we got home that evening, Nina had Ganesh prepare us tea and toast. I didn’t think much of it, but this ended up being the best toast I’ve ever had. EVER. Ganesh had smeared butter on each thick slice, and then placed them in a basket with buttered sides facing each other. When I grabbed a piece, the butter had already oozed into the little holes of the crumb, resulting in a chewy, warm slice of heaven. I had three pieces.

2. City Tour of Delhi, through Driver in Delhi.com

I found Driver in Delhi through Frommers’ website, and booked a five-hour tour that hit all of Delhi’s major sites. Madan, the driver, also offered to pick us up from the airport.

We met Madan right where he said he’d be, and he drove us to our B&B in a black Ambassador cab, navigating expertly through the dense fog. The next morning he arrived right on time for our tour. We hit four spots: Old Delhi, Humayun’s Tomb, the Baha’i Temple and Connaught Place.

Madan drove well, but he was not a guide. He drove us to the spots and then waited in the car while we nosed around. I admit I’d expected a little more trivia or information. But in the end, it was completely fine, because I was so exhausted I probably couldn’t have comprehended any dates and historical info anyway. I would definitely recommend him, if you’re looking for a driver who knows his way around.

My favorite part of the tour was when he dropped us off with a rickshaw driver in Old Delhi. We sat on the back of a bicycle, and a man who weighed maybe 110 lbs. used his leg power to pedal us around. I felt guilty about this at first, but many people make their livings this way in India, so you kind of just have to go with it. Also, it’s the only other way to see the nooks and crannies of Old Delhi, besides on foot.

Some photos of our tour, all of which were taken from the backseat of the rickshaw:

3. A taste of South India: Dosas and vadas at Sagar

I’d had dosas once before, on a trip to San Francisco several years ago. I had no idea what I was eating, and I remember thinking, “Well, that was interesting,” and that’s about it. I don’t know if it was the jet lag, or the fact that I was starving, or the fact that I was in India, but the ones I tried at Sagar left my head spinning. What were these interesting cylindrical creatures? How could something so thin and light have such intense flavor? (It’s the fillings. And the chutneys. And the sambar.)

Even Crayton was intrigued.

We munched on vadas, which were deep-fried doughnuts made from lentil flour. As I ate the dosas and the vadas, I kept thinking: How could I replicate this at home? That thought would continue to pop up throughout my trip. I’d tasted real Indian food, and now I couldn’t live my life without having more of it, or at least learning how to cook some basic dishes with the ingredients available in Mexico.

Next on my India recap: Indian Tex-Mex fusion in Jaipur, and whether seeing the Taj Mahal is really worth it.