Today is an important date on the around the world trip calendar. Not only is it my birthday (Happy Jerry West to Me), it is also the physical, psychological and temporal halfway point of the trip. We left home 5 months and three weeks ago, and in five months and three weeks (mid-late July) we will be back in Yellowknife. We are almost exactly on the opposite side of the world from our home. When it's bed time here, our friends and family are getting out of bed in Canada and vice versa. In many ways we are at the most challenging point of our journey. The rest, as they say, is down hill. Tomorrow we depart India for Nepal (wait that's uphill. Seriously), then Doha, South Africa, Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Italy, France, England, Western Europe and home. We have had a wonderful time sharing India with David, Amy and their two kids. We're excited to move on tomorrow but sad that another milestone that we'd looked forward to for so long is at an end. India was tough. It would have been way tougher without good friends to share it with and laugh together at its challenges.
When we arrived in Delhi from Jaipur, our room was very hot. Repeated calls to the front desk to have this rectified would result in a petrified looking young Indian in coveralls rushing into our room and pressing a few random buttons on the thermostat with a promise that the heat would come down in 15 minutes. As the night went on, it just got hotter and hotter. I called down again to see if I could get the key to unlock the balcony door to let in some cool air. After filling out a ponderous form which required, amongst many other details, my father's name and address (the girls were not impressed to learn that I wrote "Barrack Obama, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington), I succeeded in having the door opened and the blessed cool air let in. Unfortunately, the cool air was far from fresh. We couldn't stand the smell of the City for more than an hour and reverted back to the tandoori oven that was our room. After a colourfully-worded threat to vent my dissatisfaction fully and in painful detail on Trip Advisor, I succeded in getting a new room and complimentary dinners for the remainder of our stay. I'm "that guy" in the hotel now.
On our second day in Delhi we took an auto rickshaw down to the India Gate and, after a decent lunch, visited the National Museum of Modern Art and the Humayun Tomb - Delhi's Taj Mahal. Both were interesting and worth the trip. It took us an hour of driving in circles to get back to our hotel in east Delhi. Yesterday was Republic Day, the anniversary of the repeal of the India Act (not to be confused with the Indian Act in Canada which is still in full vigour) and the adoption of the Indian Constitution. There was a massive parade but everything in the City was closed down. We spent a relaxing day reading, doing homework and chilling out. Mira and Shannon have been doing a great job taking care of Laurel which is giving all the parents a good bit of relaxation. I'm happy to report that after losing the Jaipur Round of the All India Euchre Tournament to David and Debbie in two games straight, Tim and Amy came back from a one game deficit last night to win the deciding Delhi Round in convincing fashion. We are pleased to add this honour to our previous victory at Blachford Lake and wish to express our gratitude to all the fans that stayed with us through the Tourny (Willem).
Today, my birthday, we hired a car to take us to some of the sites. Mira was a little ill so she and Deb stayed back at the hotel. The weather was glorious with a bright blue sky and warm temperatures. Our first stop was the India Gate which we caught a glimpse of earlier, but could not get close to because of preparations for the big parade. It's a powerful monument with the names of all Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the King in World War I inscribed on its walls. Next we traveled over to the Indian parliament buildings and strolled around the lovely, peaceful grounds for an hour or so. We were all impressed with how clean, grand and impressive these central places were. Such a striking contrast to the rest of the country.
David and Amy treated me to a world class birthday luncheon at the Taj Palace Hotel's spectacular Vietnamese restaurant. This is arguabley one of the nicest hotels I have been in, and the food was up to the same standard. After a tour of the kitchen by the chef, we enjoyed well-mixed cocktails and a glass of red with our flavourful lunches. We topped it off with vietnamese coffee and a birthday cake delivered to our table. It was too bad that Deb and Mira couldn't be there, but Shannon and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After lunch we spent an hour strolling around yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site - the Qutub Minar. This 72 metre, incredibly ornate tower and surrounding buildings was built to commemorate the defeat of Delhi's last Hindu Kingdom in 1193 ( yes 1193). It's very challenging to impress upon a seven year old how long ago humans toiled right at that very spot to construct such a timeless monument. I have difficulty understanding it myself. A drive through Old Delhi on the way back to the hotel was the perfect way to cap off a great birthday in India.
The food poisoning definitely had a negative impact on our outlook of the subcontinent. This is a fascinating country with much to offer. What we saw of Delhi today was a historic, vibrant City with wide, tree lined boulevards and immaculately cared for public buildings and monuments. I must say, however, that India as a whole has a long, long way to go before it can honestly live up to its reputation as an emerging economic superpower. Wealth is concentrated here in the hands of the very few. The vast majority of India's 1.3 billion people are desparately poor. Corruption is a way of life amongst the political class, civil service, police and armed forces. Infrastructure is painfully wanting and, in most cases, downright dangerous. The bureaucracy and the private sector are both utterly drenched in ineffieciency and incompetence. The country is covered with s*** and garbage. The air is terribly poluted. The water beyond redemption. What is most impressive about India is the ability of its people to survive and live something even close to a happy existence under such conditions. I know I have only spent three weeks in this country and all of it in highly touristed areas. My sense is that things may be better in the south and less urban areas, but I can only provide my reflections on what I have seen. More than anything, my brief time here has taught me to cherish, truely, what we all have and take for granted in Canada. The rule of law, a genuine meritocracy, good government, high quality and efficient public services, reasonable redistribution of wealth, personal safety and security, institutional fairness, judicial independence, gender equality, freedom of speech and of the press, clean water, appropriate regulation, timely redress of grievances, equality of opportunity, freedom from discrimination and harassment, universal health care and education etc. etc. We can complain and argue at length as to whether these are getting better or worse in Canada (and thank heavens we can), but there is no denying that they are all fundamental parts of the basic fabric of our society, warts and all. For the vast majority of the world's people, including the 17 per cent who live in this significant corner, most of these are meaningless, academic notions that politicians with pants full of cash pay lip service to but largely ignore in terms of public policy. I fear that until India finds a way to share the benefits of its impressive economic growth with those most disadvantaged (or more generallly for the public good), a violent day of reckonning will lay in wait just over the horizon. I fear for India far more than I admire it. And on many levels I admire it a great deal.
Now, onto matters of a lighter cadence. In six days my second favorite NFL team will play my third favorite team in what is shaping up to be an epic SuperBowl matchup. I will be trekking in the Himalayas at the time, far removed from technology of any sort. My hope is to convince my Dad to record the game somehow without finding out the final result himself. If I can avoid contact with any seeming football fans in Nepal and on the flight from Kathmandu to Doha, I might, just might, be able to sit down at Dad's apartment in Qatar with a plate of spicy camel balls, honey garlic albatross wings and and a bowl of wolf nipple chips and take in the game as if I'd never missed it. For those of you following this blog, please, please don't spoil the ending for me. I like both teams (so rare) so you can't rub anything in. This is my mission for the next two weeks. Until then, to all my friends in Yellowknife, congratulations on your imminent defeat of General January. Keep up the good fight and Field Marshall February's Army will soon be in full retreat as well. In no time you'll be sunning yourselves in the long spring afternoons with Ambassador March and his aide de camp, Mssr. Avril, Esq. For us, it's off to the chilly and snow covered peaks of the Anapurna. Hope to see you all on the other side.