Arrival in Incredible India

I have arrived. After 2 months of sighing, 1 month of contemplation, 1 month of whinging, 1 week of crying, 1 day of action and another month of eager anticipation- I have arrived. In India. Alive!

I had only been back at home in Melbourne for 6 months, but I felt like I had been trapped for years. That isn’t to say that life is shit there. Far from it. I simply knew there was MORE. Having lived 7 months in Cambodia, working for an NGO running a preschool for displaced Vietnamese children in 2009, and having lived and worked on a tropical, remote island on the Great Barrier Reef off Central Queensland prior to that- I was somewhat inspired to seek out even MORE.

So here I am in New Delhi. It has taken 2 days to get here. I travelled via Singapore and had a 10 hour stop-over. I definitely took for granted how much energy is drained when transitioning from one place to another. I also took for granted that, although young and fit, I’m still human and need food, rest and sleep to sustain that energy. Slight details I overlooked in my excitement that led to my (thankfully short-lived) demise on my first day of New Delhi. I collapsed.

On a 40-degree day we met as a group in the dining room of Good Palace Hotel at 1pm. ‘We’ being the Intrepid Travel group made up of: myself, Charming Chetan the tour guide, Jenny (who has become endeared to me as Mother Jen), Retired Nurse Kathy, Porcelain Joelle, English Adam, Knowledgeable Tom, Insightful Cloder, and Traveller Karin. I had arrived at 5am that same day and was running on 4 hours of sleep and 2 proper meals since my departure from Melbourne. Running on adrenaline and eager to start my new adventure, I powered on into the day. The eight of us scrambled onto a local bus (that wouldn’t stop) and headed into the heart of Old Delhi. We all got to know each other very well on that first bus ride, bumping and tripping into each other as the bus crudely navigated its way around the crater-like potholes, darting auto-rickshaws, and other banged up Indian buggies. All eyes were on us as the group is made up of blonde-haired and blue-eyed Angrez (Hindi for ‘foreigner’). With the exception of me, of course, with my midnight black hair and typical Asian features. Our first stop was the Jamid Mosque (the Friday Mosque)- a structure of ‘blended’ architecture representing both Muslim and Hindu faiths. The main feature of the Mosque (besides the curious stares of the locals) was the 20 meter watch tower that boasted 160 steep stone steps. My body is well accustomed to stairs so I charged onwards and upwards with my fellow tourists and down again without so much as a wobble of a knee cap. But as the day wore on, my face became more and more crimson and I felt my breath get shorter. As we walked through the rugged streets of Old Delhi, laced with kilometers of exposed electrical wires, nausea started to settle in. I couldn’t even bring myself to try some authentic vegetarian Delhi samosa! The Old Spice Market was the next venture and we boarded the local bus. It was even more crowded than the last with even smaller windows. With our arms up on the hand rail, and bodies in such close proximity, claustrophobia accompanied by a fresh wave of nausea washed over me. My hands started to tingle, my legs started to liquefy. I called out to Chetan who called for the bus to stop and I charged through the doors looking for a clear spot on the roadside of Delhi. I was faint, disoriented and flustered. I was sent back to the hotel via auto-rickshaw escorted generously by Retired Nurse Kathy. I felt bad that she’d given up her trip to the market for the likes of me, but I’m so glad she did. I was barely conscious the ride back. We weaved and zipped through the unfamiliar streets of Delhi. Horns blared, the sun scorched, people spat, and wafts of waste committed offense to my senses in my already vulnerable state. I felt awful. We finally reached the hotel and I collapsed in the foyer. Nurse Kathy fed me some salty chips and sugary drink, expertly diagnosing my condition as exhaustion. I was taken to bed in my air conditioned room and slept. Not to rise for another 17 hours.

I have arrived in India. Alive! Barely =)