Delhi 3 27.2.10-3.3.10
Nikki
The latest return to Delhi was by sleeper train from Varanasi. The station was as crowded and chaotic as the city, but somehow Dinesh found us a quiet corner to wait and the train turned up on time. Before retiring to our bunks (trunks?..they are stacked in 3's not 2's!) we were determined to finish the last of the gin. We had Limca, our substitute for tonic but no glasses for the four of us. Just after I returned from binning two empty water bottles, someone came up with the bright idea of cutting the bottles in half to create two cups. Too late. When the chai seller appeared, he eventually understood that we wanted to buy 4 of his paper cups but without the chai inside and we poured our night caps.
After a reasonable nights' sleep we arrived back in Delhi at around 8 in the morning. We waved Shirley and Ian off on the next leg of their journey to Kathmandu and settled back into our hotels in Karol Bagh.
Over the next couple of days I visited the Gandhi museum with Jocelyne (met on the tour) and two of her friends who were in Delhi as part of a 4 year ongoing journey around the world in a converted car/van. Incredible! They'd parked in a quieter part of the city, by a park, and taken a tuk-tuk to the hotel.
The Gandhi museum was excellent and looking at the room he lived in for the last months of his life, with his few simple possessions was moving. His last walk to the prayer service across the garden had been marked in concrete footsteps in the same design as his sandals. From the information and quotes we read it is clear that some of his messages have been lost in today's hectic, modern India.

On Monday it was the festival of colours, Holi. I'm still unclear as to what exactly is being celebrated, however, 'colours' which look like brightly coloured powder paints are thrown in the streets and to add to the mayhem water is also squirted or thrown. We were not very adventurous. It hadn't helped that there had been an article in the newspaper listing the health hazards of each colour. All along the streets, people lined the rooftops and those walking below were bombarded by the colours. No-one walked on the streets unscathed; many were covered from head to toe in the brilliant colours. Due to our timidity all we experienced were a few splashes of water. Some other travellers we met were still covered in the residue of the colours after showering; apparently it takes at least a week to completely wear off!

On the final day in Delhi I had my first glimpse of a first class train coach as I saw my new friends off on their long train journey to Jaisalmer. Jealous, me? Well, perhaps next time I come to India I will sample first class for myself!