The Hard Sell

Our first day in New Delhi in many ways felt like a test to see how long we could all stay awake. So we decided to stimulate ourselves by venturing into "old" Delhi to take in the sites of the street vendors and spice markets.

We hired a couple of cars to drive the seven of us around for the day. First we stopped at a couple of gift shops that sold everything from ivory statues of the Hindu deities to hand-embroidered bed covers and traditional Indian garments.

Talk about "hard sell"! Oh my God. Everywhere my eyes fell, some salesperson would go to that item, pull it out, show me all angles and uses, and tell me how wonderful it was. Imagine that happening every time you looked at something. After a while, I would just turn away but I would be met with a stern "listen to me. Just look at it. You don't have to buy it." "I don't have to buy it, my ass," I thought. The hard sell coupled with the harsh mid-afternoon hot sun seemed to really drain everyone.

Next we went to one of the oldest parts of Old Delhi: the spice markets. Apparently, not much has changed around this area for the last 1000 years or so, and it looked and felt like it.

There were no westerners around. The busy streets were full of the rickshaws (those bicycles with two seats on the back) that we were actually being transported by (we ditched the cars when the streets got to narrow), motorized versions of rickshaws, people pushing sweet lime juice carts and others walking, riding, and moving. Thom said the area hustles and bustles like this 24/7.

We stepped off of our rickshaws in the thick of it all. Walking along the spice market road, it seemed like every vendor we passed was selling the exact same thing out of these big burlap sacks: dates, cinnamon, dried red peppers, cloves, cardamon, etc. I don't know how anybody makes any money seeing as how the market is thoroughly saturated with everybody selling the exact same thing.

Anyway, we passed by guys squatting in circles talking politics, people making and selling other goods in the street.

Interestingly enough (at least to me), I didn't see very many people smoking. Only one or two, here and there. Everyone seemed occupied enough not to pay much attention to us.

We walked through a spice factory / storage ward where everyone started choking, coughing and sneezing due to the heavy concentration of peppers, cinnamon and all the other spices stacked all around with not much ventilation.

Needless to say, we were happy to get back to our nice hotel, get showered, meditate and relax. Dinner was great. We ate at a fancy Indian place in the hotel. And I imagine everyone managed to pass out by around 9.

I slept pretty well and woke up (as expected) at around 3am. But then fell back to sleep at 4 or so, and slept through the rest of the night.

So far this morning, I've worked out, yoga'd, meditated, eaten breakfast, and soon we are leaving for Rishikesh (a 6-hour drive north) in about half an hour. I feel good, rested, and ready for the next part of our journey.

Type to you again from Rishikesh.