Thoughts on Delhi

Pahagaraj - a large market in Central Delhi
Katrina and our Fruit Walla

Helzi, my professor, lives in a very middle class neighborhood. Upon arriving it does not strike you as such, because of the general street chaos, the dirt and the haphazardness of the buildings. However, compared to some of the more innercity neighborhoods it is quite luxurious here. For instance, there are not people living on the streets, the streets are roughly in a grid, there are parked cars on the street. One of the best features about being at her flat are all the Wallas (work people/vendors). Each morning a trash walla comes to the door to pick up our trash. Each morning a water walla brings huge jugs of bottled water for us. Each morning the fruit and vegetable wallas hawk their wares up and down the street and we just hail them from our balcony. And each morning the pressing walla comes and picks up all the clothes to be ironed and pressed. It’s fairly fabulous really.

This does contrast to the market scenes that you’ll find towards the middle of the city. The poverty is very visible, but I haven’t found it oppressive yet because it is mixed in along with everything and everyone else. I have been surprised to find that Delhi is not as smelly as I thought it would be. There are women everywhere and so any harassment received on the street (which hasn’t been much) is due to being a white American with money and not my gender. The people here are very accessible, ready to talk, well-versed in English and smile easily. I wouldn’t say they go out of their way to welcome you, but they are eager to interact with you (what a contrast to Russia!).