Heat and Dust

As I looked down on New Delhi there was a pall of pollution hanging over the city but the hotel was splendid and palatial and we were greeted with necklaces of fresh marigolds. We were a small group of ordinary people – some more seasoned travellers than others; two Canadian ladies had experienced a grizzly bursting into their cabin and to their relief bursting out the other side and Marion a small stout widow with a hacking cough had had an awful nose bleed in Peru.

We travelled by train and plane but mostly in an air-conditioned coach. Ganesh was our very skilful driver and Haresh was our guide, mentor and Daddy for the trip. There was a large fridge on board so we never ran out of bottles of ice cold water. Haresh taught us the greeting: Namaste (sounds like no mistake) which you give with head bowed and hands together as in prayer.

We must not give money to the children but could give biros and shampoos etc from the hotel bathrooms. As well as the touts and beggars we would be approached by people who would claim to be a teacher asking for money for the children but we should say we donate at the hotel. We mustn’t haggle with the hawkers as this could put Harish in danger. Any negotiations should be done through him when we were safely on the coach. Some of the hawkers were quite frightening giving murderous looks so it was better to say nothing.