Passage To India: On The Go To Goa

September 4th, 2007 at 04:33am Barbara Floria Orcutt 332

Day One in Delhi.

It's hot and dry in Delhi - no rain here for the past 10 days. Big billowy clouds overhead but not a drop.

We have a Sikh driver - turban, thin, speaks as much English as we speak Hindi.  He drove us to Humayum's tomb - a precursor to the Taj Mahal, in that it's similar in design, but constructed in red sandstone with black marble accents.

Stopped by the India Gate - a huge arch the British built after WWI to commemorate the Indians who died fighting in the war. A great meeting place for tourists and locals with something to sell. Two young Rajasthani girls descended on me to paint my hand with henna - now I have a temporary tattoo covering my right hand and two fingers. At one point the tourist police pulled up to us and tried to shoo her away. I had to explain she was not bothering me, I was glad to have her company.

The highlight of the day was a stop at Gandhi's Smitri -place of martyrdom. There's an exhaustive museum of his life and last days.  One interesting exhibit had a list of books he had read - Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Henry David Thoreau's "On Civil Disobedience."

Tomorrow AM we fly to Goa,
 B and A

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