Know your city
Delhi is a city in transition. When speaking to people from Delhi they fall into two camps, they either love or hate the way the city is changing. There is no doubt that over the past ten years Delhi has modernized amazingly and is now on its way to being a typical cosmopolitan international standard city with all the facilities you would expect. But the price to pay is a certain loss of the feel of India due to globalization and the standardization of products and places. You can now visit McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Marks & Spencer, Benetton, Levi's, Reebok etc, just the same as any city in the world.
To a newcomer however, Delhi is still a wonderful mix of past and present, of India and the west merging, and can still provide a certain amount of culture shock and challenge, but maybe a little less so than previously. There is still the smell, pollution, slums and ubiquitous cows wandering the street but you now find this alongside the 5 star hotels, beautiful houses and world class restaurants.
Unofficial estimates of Delhi’s population run to 18 million with hundred of thousands a year coming from the rural areas to find work in the capital. This population represents almost a third of the population of the UK in an area the size of London.
Currently there is a huge amount of infrastructure modernization going on in Delhi as well as new buildings and improvement of transport. This is due to the city hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Delhi has a world class Metro system that is being expanded to cover the suburbs and there are also plans to fully replace all 40,000 buses in the Union State with world class modern air suspension vehicles with windows and closing doors.
The usual guide books will give you a very good flavour of the huge number of monuments, forts, temples and attractions in Delhi, it still remains one of the most exciting gap year destinations with so much on offer.
History of the city
New Delhi is the civic and political centre of India whilst Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is the financial capital. As the name suggests it is not an old city, the British decided they wanted to move the capital from Kolkata and identified the land for New Delhi in the late 19th century to build a new capital for the country.
The city was designed to convey a certain grandeur with the intention of show casing the British Empire and its might and subsequently the buildings of New Delhi are very impressive in style, variety and character. The architect Lutyens designed the residential area where most of the government ministers and officers reside and he succeeded in creating a wonderful environment; tree lined, leafy and shaded, quiet, wide roads with stylized white airy bungalow residences in huge gardens which gives a complete contrast to everything one thinks about Delhi - a crowded, noisy and polluted city.
The Delhi everyone naturally thinks of is 'Old Delhi'. It adjoins New Delhi and is hundreds of years old as a city and as such has much more hustle and bustle, bazaars and historic monuments. This is definitely India! No gap year trip to Delhi is complete without a cycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk, one of the biggest bazaars in India, followed by a trip to the Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in Asia and the Red Fort ,a beautiful palace where the Moghals ruled the city and their provinces until the British occupied India in the 17th century.
Amusingly, the British administration when they eventually moved in to their new city of New Delhi in the mid 1920's couldn't cope with the summer heat and would pack up everything from the government and corporation buildings. They then transported it all, desks, files and employees up to the hill station of Simla, a days travel away, for the whole of the summer season! The hill station has much more clement weather, much like a good English summer's day. With the invention of air conditioning units this is of course no longer necessary and Delhi works all year round!
Business in the city
There are some head offices of Corporate business in Delhi, particularly insurance and banking, however it really is the heart of government and therefore the city itself hosts all the ministerial departments for the country, usually in very grand buildings, throughout New Delhi. The new satellite cities springing up all round Delhi are where purpose built industrial and IT parks are located. Here you will find extremely modern infrastructure, huge shopping malls, cinema multiplexes and leisure facilities. Although these new towns are just outside Delhi they actually fall within the states of Haryana or Uttar Pradesh and so have different laws, taxes etc.
The general make up of businesses in Delhi are small and medium sized enterprises with a huge number of retail outlets from one man stands selling cigarettes or bananas to multi nationals like Benetton and Levis.
Around New Delhi
Weather
Another big difference between north and south is the weather. Whereas the South is very tropical with palm trees, an average temperature of 33 degrees and high humidity, Delhi can reach zero degrees in the winter and 50 degrees in the summer. The City is just north of the Tropic of Cancer and is surrounded to the north by the Himalaya. As such it receives bitter northerly winds from the winter snows between December and February. During summer months daylight hours are 5am to 7pm but in winter it reduces to 7am to 5pm.
Out & About
Delhi is extremely well located for visiting a number of places and the transport network is excellent. Here are some ideas of where to go for weekends or longer from the city.
Agra
Of course, the home of the Taj Mahal and a real must for any trip to India. Agra can be reached by the early morning express train out of Delhi within 3 hours. Hiring a car and driver is also a good option. It must be recommended to see the Taj at either sunrise or sunset so an overnight stay would be a good idea. Other things to see include the Black Taj, the Red Fort and Fatephur Sikhri which is around an hours drive away.
Rajasthan: Jaipur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur
India's major tourist attraction, Rajasthan is a riot of colours, smells, scenery, arts, crafts, fabulous jewelry, forts, palaces and wonderful people! Any of the above locations can be visited for a weekend and come highly recommended. When visiting Jaisalmer you are on the edge of the desert and so a camel safari is a great way to get the feel of the place. Udaipur is where the James Bond film Octopussy was filmed so rent it out to get a feel of the place, Jodphur is where Liz Hurley got married in one of the fabulous palaces and Jaipur is home to the famous Pink Palace, home of the Maharaja.
Amritsar & Wagah (India / Pakistan Border Post)
Home of the Guru Nanak Grant Sahib, the last prophet of the Sikhs, the Golden Temple is a stunning building two thirds of which is covered in gold and gold leaf whilst the remainder of the buildings and all the New Delhi: Out and Aboutsurroundings are in white marble. Amritsar itself is not a very exciting city but you can easily fill a day and then travel about an hour for the 5pm ceremony of closing the border gates between India and Pakistan. This daily ritual has been turned into a ceremony of great role playing, strutting and posturing between the two countries and the spectacle attracts thousands of people every day to take part in the 'friendly' baiting that goes on between the two sides.
Corbett National Park
One of India's oldest national parks and a part of Project Tiger, the Indian Government's attempt to arrest the decline of this fabulous big cat, this park is reached by overnight train and bus. There are a number of guest houses outside the park or lodges inside. As well as Tigers, which can be illusive - the whole of India now has less than 1,000 of them - the park has a good number of different animal and bird life so is well worth a visit.
Simla
This is the hill station the British used to take to in mid summer due to the heat of the Capital. It still bears some of the hallmarks of the British, particularly the architecture of the town. In the winter Simla gets snow and it is a huge draw for the people of Delhi and its surroundings to come and see.
DharamShala
The home of the Dalai Lama in exile from Tibet, this town has become a must on any traveller's itinerary. There is a distinct international flavour to DharamShala with Buddhist monks, pilgrims and the plain curious coming from around the world hoping for a chance to meet the leader of the Buddhist religion.
Rishikesh
Well known for its adventure sports, Rishikesh is the place to go for white water rafting, bungee jumping, gorge scrambling etc. Set in the foothills of the Himlayas and with the opportunity of camping, this is a place not to be missed.
Leh, Ladakh & Kashmir
The northern most part of India, this area sees more of a similarity with Afghanistan. The people are much fairer and usually have beautiful green eyes. The cuisine is more fruit and cream in the curries, such as Korma and Pasanda and lots of meat. Again these places are in the foothills of the Himalaya and have a very alpine characteristic. The Kashmiris are well known for the production of Pashmina shawls, at least one of which every woman should own!
Don't be put off by the cost of travel either. Trains are amazingly good value especially if you travel overnight as your bed is included. As an example, the fare for an air conditioned coach with a bed and bedding to the Nilgiris - around a 9 hour journey - would be around 10 pounds.
Many journeys can be done on night bus with full sleeper cabin. A 12 hour night journey would typically cost around £5.
Internal air travel is also very good value with many low cost airlines now operating in India. Flights can be taken to all locations in Rajasthan, Leh & Ladakh.
India is the most friendly and easy country to travel in, so make sure you take advantage of it while on your gap year travels!
Culture and Customs
Entertainment
Delhi and Mumbai are very different from the rest of India. There is a lot of western influence on leisure activities, eating, drinking etc. Both cities now publish a 'Time Out' magazine and there is plenty to do and see in your leisure time. There are several night clubs and bars in the city alongside excellent restaurants of every type of cuisine.
Multiplex cinemas are now showing English language Hollywood movies alongside the wonderful colour, glitz and glamour of Bollywood films. Going to an Indian cinema is an experience in itself as you will often find people dancing in the aisles to their favorite Bollywood hit!
Culturally there are regular programmes at the India Habitat Centre and the India International Centre in South Delhi most of which are usually free as they are subsidized by the Government.
There are many places that teach Yoga or try out Bollywood Dancing, a must for anyone staying in India for a while! So if you have always fancied learning a new skill on your gap year, the GapGuru Local Coordinator will certainly be able to help you arrange this.
Festivals & Culture
India has over 1,000 regional festivals a year and the North has its fair share. September and October find the streets lit up with huge portraits of the Hindu Gods and the temples are full of people 24 hours a day.
Particularly good months are October and November with Durga Puja and Diwali.
Late October or early November is Diwali, the Festival of Lights. It seems every household, however poor, buys a box of fireworks on this day and sets them off from dusk until midnight. Go to the tallest building and watch at night for the most spectacular fireworks show you will ever see!
Holi is held around Easter time and is a great traditional family festival. Powder paints of every colour are daubed on faces and clothes in celebration of killing a demon god. Usually the festivities get out of hand and can end with buckets of paint being poured over people or balloons full of paint thrown between apartments! Even the poor old cows don't escape and can wander around with pink horns and nose for weeks afterwards.
Food
There are many different types of cuisine in India due to its location on the spice routes between east and west. There are influences from Turkey, Lebanon and Afghanistan also China and the asia pacific region with Japanese food becoming very popular in the cities. In Delhi you will find a number of lounge bars offering all of these different dishes on the same menu, you will also find a growing number of Sushi bars – expensive but wonderful!
Food in the North and South of the country is very different. There are more Muslims in the north of India and therefore more non-vegetarians but in the South Hindus are in the majority and every restaurant or café is vegetarian unless it says ‘Non-Veg’ on the outside. Another way to differentiate is whether the meal comes with bread or rice. Generally breads, naan, chapatti, paratha etc are served in the north whereas rice is the staple in the south.
Most people worry about the chilli factor when coming to India. It is very easy to ask in a restaurant or café for little or no chilli at all as most preparations are made fresh. However this cannot be guaranteed and we suggest you try a tiny bit first just in case!
It’s worth coming to India for the food alone, the variety of both veg and non-veg, different rices and breads makes you realise what we don’t get back home! You can eat in any price range from street food at around 20 rupees (25p) for a meal or 800 rupees (£10) for a champagne brunch at a 5 star hotel!
