Water? No, thanks.

Our stomachs weren’t used to the bacteria in the water, so a basic routine was to be sure that we only drank from unopened bottles of brand name water, such as Himalaya or Aquifina. Even the water served at nice hotels was served in unopened bottles.

A souk stall is a souk stall anywhere in the world.

Vendors sit all day selling their wares: produce, eggs, chicken were popular, as well as car parts and the usual souk fare. Sometimes, they just sold solo on the road, no souk. But souks were huge collections of basic storefronts. I’m thinking that our farmers’ markets and flea markets are the closest we’ll ever get to what we saw, and they are a pale facsimile. You can find just about anything on the street. Anything.

Advertising.

Advertisers the world-round use the same techniques.

I never saw a “car wash.”

Lawn? What’s a lawn? We saw very little grass, just dirt and lots of it all over the place, including covering vehicles. The dirt was the biggest surprise for me. Well, one of them, anyway.

Perfect photo for a backstory.

A moment in time. What was happening here?

Everything is for sale

This is what I mean by everything being for sale.

No Indian equivalent of OSHA

There were what we’d consider “safety issues” everywhere. Rickety ladders were only some of them.

I’d have loved to have seen it inside.

Not super-appealing.

Where there’s poverty, there are missionaries offering the promise of a better life. Later.

India is Hindu, has a large Moslem population and of course, the missionaries have a long history there.

This was in Delhi but could’ve been anywhere. And much worse elsewhere. Garbage is just dropped and forms big piles. We were told that garbage collection is a problem. No one wants to do it, not even the lower castes, whose job it apparently has been. So it just piles up.

The subhead should read “who cares?”

Pick your main course

I know plenty of people who’ve come and eaten on the streets, but there was no way I would’ve done that. No. Way.

Cooking al fresco

This just didn’t look appealing to me.

Auto chop shop

In Delhi we saw dozens of shops offering car parts.

What a shocker!

And then

I loved this. Some of the best things I saw were as we passed in our bus and if we were moving quickly, my trusty camera couldn’t keep up. But when traffic stopped, I got the shot.

Sikh at Gandhi cremation site

This was at Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation site, a monument revered by many Indians. But some Indians do not care for him, believing he gave up Pakistan too easily.

Scene at monument

We saw many beautiful old palaces and monuments and they were often crowded.  People definitely took advantage of cultural opportunities if they could.

And then, a few videos.

Standing in stark contrast to what we saw were our hotels and the meals we were served.  Here is a very cool smoking dessert

India was made for people-watching. I loved how colorfully people dressed. This was outside a monument.

Traffic jam in Delhi–yes, like any big city. Only worse.