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First stop on what turned out to be a two year trip. Read my trip report from three months in this fascinating country. (1994 to 1995)

India, part 1

Si_lad
2004-03-26 21:22:27

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We decided to plunge in at the deep end and make India our first stop. I’ve always been interested in India, and Dibs, being half-Indian, had a natural instinct to go and discover her "roots". It just so happened that Dibs Dad (Sarban Singh), Sister-in-law (Kulwinder) and nephew (Govinder – age 2), were also planning to take a trip to India. We decided to all go together, allowing us to spend the first week in the Punjab with some of Dibs family. We flew from Heathrow to Delhi with Thai Airways – a direct flight taking about eight hours. The flight and service were excellent.

Our first journey.

As expected, New Delhi airport was hot and hectic and it took us about half an hour to get through immigration. Our immigration official had a little badge with "Smile Please" written on it, which made me laugh because he looked as if he hadn’t smiled for a long time. As he stamped my passport, just for a fraction of a second, his face changed from a stern "I’m an official" one to a beaming smiling one.

Once we had collected our bags and passed through customs there was an onslaught of touts and taxi drivers plying their trade. Luckily, Dib’s folks had organised a driver to take us to the Punjab. They were there waiting for us, complete with Bagichar – Dib’s brother in law. We piled into a tiny Maruti van and headed off just after midnight.

The next eight hours were the most scary, noisy, uncomfortable eight hours of driving I had ever experienced. We weaved through the suburbs of Delhi for an hour or so, to apparently avoid corrupt police who would take money off us, dodging cows, dogs, people, rickshaws and bicycles. Once we got onto the main highway I wondered why every truck (and there were lots of them) had "Horn Please" or "Blow Horn" written on the back. I soon found out. It appears that the horn is the most important part of any vehicle on India. Brakes, windows, lights are ...