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The arrival in New Delhi came not a minute too soon, the two beasts snored heavily throughout the night and still did when we arrived in Delhi, I did not dare try to wake them up and left this dangerous task to the courageous Indian Army, after all there was a regiment full of them and only one of me.
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New Delhi, Sunday the 14th of August

Degrubenc
2005-12-09 17:33:21

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The arrival in New Delhi came not a minute too soon, the two beasts snored heavily throughout the night and still did when we arrived in Delhi, I did not dare try to wake them up and left this dangerous task to the courageous Indian Army, after all there was a regiment full of them and only one of me.

Exhausted I quickly made my way to the Imperial Hotel, even if it is a bit of expensive luxury I was seriously in need of it. The Imperial is the most magnificent hotel in New Delhi and probably one of the top 5 in India, along with the Lake Palace in Udaipur and the Taj Mahal in Mumbai. It was built in 1933 by the British in Art Deco style with British and Indian Influences set in lush gardens with a heated swimming pools (a bit over the top in India but a pleasant extravagance). It has become the reference point of Delhi. They were kind enough, based on my haggard look and strong animal smell to upgrade me to one of their complete luxury suites. It took me a good 3 hours to try all the gadgets, sit in every chair, read the labels on all the perfumes and bottles and generally make myself at home. Even the shower had three different massage settings, each of which had to be tried and tested at length.

I left for a swim at the pool and then for a walk around Connaught circus, It is one of the great British constructions of the Raj in India, at one point the Brits tried to transform Delhi into a copy of London, and so it is that Connaught circus, Connaught Place and countless other parts of Delhi and elsewhere with similar building appeared in India, the architecture is the same as that of Belgravia in London, Victorian in its perfection, countless large imposing houses each with its identical columns and black door. What the architects forgot is that they were building in India, a place where nothing remains clean nor in a good condition.

I had lunch at a nearby Indian restaurant and an attempted visit to the red fort which was unfortunately closed due to the preparations for the Independence day celebrations I would have to come back later once the celebrations were over. The sun was quickly setting and I was tired of the constant questions "Mister Mister, where are you from, Mister Mister money money, backshish etc.."

I retired to the heavily guarded fortress of the hotel reasonably early and enjoyed the luxury of the suite and the perfect atmosphere and service of the hotel. It was too hot for supper, the first time since I started the trip that I missed a meal, I felt most disappointed for not feeling hungry and emptied my fruit platter in the room as a consolation.

As I had a quick drink at the bar of the hotel I met one of the assistant managers of the hotel, he was French and keen to share his stories. We shared a few drinks on the expenses of the hotel and parted as best of friends in the world.

The suite had a large wide screen TV in the bedroom with a DVD player and a very large collection of the latest DVD's, what made the experience even more memorable was that there was a large wooden partition separating the bathroom and bedroom, at the press of a button the partition made way to reveal a large glass wall so that the supremely lazy being could watch TV from the bath in which a number of pillows were available for the sake of indulgence.