Djinn City

So, it's day 4 of my Delhi odyssey and I'm writing from the temporary offices of Development Alternatives.

Harking back to Tuesday when I left Blighty, both my flights (one down to London; one from London to Delhi) were both half empty. The first could have only been one-third full. Great for my personal comfort, although a worrying sign that the aviation industry isn't taking climate change seriously enough. Still didn't get any kip on the plane, however. If I'd been quicker off the mark I could have laid claim to one of the numerous 4-seat rows laying empty in the middle of the Economy section. Even I'm not small enough to lie on 2 seats.

I touched down in the morning and was taken to the office for a few brief introductions. The DA office is located not far from the airport, on the southwest outskirts of Delhi in an area called Vasant Kunj. Only one room is air-conditioned and the offices are decorated in a Life on Mars style - that homely shade of nicotine brown. Nobody likes the place much. Their new HQ has been under construction for about 3 years and, according to the brochure at least, will be a marvel of modern eco-architecture and green engineering. The only exceptional quality about the current building is the number of flies that invade the offices.

The area itself is not as crowded as the centre of the city (an assumption as I haven't been to the centre yet) it is a dusty place where cows still roam the streets without a by or leave for fellow road users. Not that road users display much love for each other. Without sounding too melodramatic, the only rule on the street is that "There are no rules!". Stopping for red lights is optional, the size of your vehicle determines your right of way and the horns are parped indiscriminately. You almost get the impression that use of the horn is drilled into learner drivers as the logical step after each time you hit the accelerator.

Quite frankly, France and Italy is a doddle compared to this!

After these preliminary hellos I was transported to my guest house - home until Sunday when I move into rented accommodation. It's a religious retreat where people come to meditate and practise their yoga. They serve four meals a day - inclusive of tiffin (though not the tiffin of Carry On Up the Khyber fame) - and, as you might expect, it's peaceful and serene. The large grounds incorporate a school, general store and a number of gardens. If only they had air-con! So far, I've seen a few Westerners walking around the place, but none of them British. That might be a good thing: I did complain about Antibes after all.

So the past few days I've been working in the office, familiarising myself with the company and starting some pieces of work. I've just finished drafting a brochure for TARA paper, which is produced by rural villagers from waste materials such as cotton rags and paper waste. Presumably, I'll be putting it before my boss in the Comms dept tomorrow. Oh and yes, if you're reading this today, Friday, and thinking "Tomorrow?" then you haven't misread - we work Saturdays. I have to say I'm not sure when I will see the city, or the Taj Mahal. I may have to see if I can wangle a few days off.

All in all, 3 days in and it seems to be going well. The heat isn't really affecting me, although I'm sure this will all change as Summer starts its assault. The mozzies are having a bit of a field day on me. I've been taking Vitamin B as it's supposed to interfere with their ability to target you (or something like that), but it hasn't been too effective. I hear garlic's good for warding off flies, mozzies, and - I guess - other people too.

Actually the strangest aspect of the trip thus far are the people themselves. Indians don't give much away. They'd make good poker players. They can also be quite abrupt, which I don't think is a sign of rudeness, but just the way they communicate.

I'm currently sharing an office with the Comms dept, which comprises three softly spoken gentlemen and their two female managers, both of whom are referred to as "Ma'am" by their subordinates. Today's been quiet as only about three people have been in the office at any one point, but yesterday we had a full house. In the morning, it was just the boys. Of the boys I've only really spoken to Devanjan. He's a young guy whose background is in journalism. First of all he investigated murders until the death threats started to mount then he went on to report on the arguably less cut-throat world of celebrity social lives.

In the morning I was given some information to read whilst the others set about their business. My quiet time perusing through brochures and booklets was only interrupted by the thwack of the fly swatter on the desk, as one guy fought a losing battle against the invading fly hordes. In the afternoon, the managers arrived. Within 10 minutes, one of them was chewing on and spitting out poor old Devanjan - something to do with inconsistent formatting.

That'll never happen to me - I'm still having MediTech flashbacks.