Bohom Travels: Christmas In New Delhi
What do you want for Christmas?
How can you spread Holiday cheer?
Nah.
What do I want to do on Christmas to help spread stoke on life?
That is how I approached the holiday this year. Spending a day and a half in New Delhi is not my idea of fun, but it was necessary to be there for our flight out of India. So how did we spend our Christmas Eve & Day in a foreign city?
Christmas Eve
We arrived to New Delhi on Christmas Eve, being welcomed by our Air BnB host, the Colonel Surindar.
He was very welcoming, even when we showed up hours early. He had food made for us and showed us pictures of people who had stayed there before, along with revealing a surprising memory about them. He also shared with us places to go, and even supplied us with subway tickets to get around! The hospitality was outstanding.
The first night we took the subway around the city and then hiked a bit to find the Qutub Minar. We decided to just view from afar, as the area was packed and sunset was coming on fast (I did not want to stay out too late after sunset). We admired from a distance and then took a tuk-tuk back to the subway station, after haggling with the drivers for a fair price.
Qutub Minar Factoids
- Qutub Minar means ‘pole’ or ‘axis’ in Arabic
- Construction began in 1200 AD
- The Qutub Minar is the highest single tower in India
- The tower marked the site of the first Muslim kingdom in North India
- It was influenced by the brick victory pillars in Ghazni in Afghanistan
- The iron pillar in the Qutub Minar complex has not rusted after some 2000 years
- The Qutub Minar has been damaged by lightning twice in 1326 and 1368
At the subway station they would completely surround & bombard us, being a blonde woman and a tall man, we stood out like sore thumbs. On the train ride to the Indian Gate, I was able to recall rather quickly why I disliked crowds so much. Bodies shoved together like sardines in a metal tube underground, I was overwhelmed and very thankful when we got to our stop. It was lucky we were getting off there because I doubt I could have fought the crowd to stay on as they all moved and pushed their way out of the tube. Even though there really is not “fresh” air in the city, it was welcome to the crowds of below. We found our way to the Indian Gate, easily catching people taking pictures of us and even a few of them asked.
Indian Gate Factoids:
- Construction in 1921 and took approximately 10 years to complete
- It is said to be inspired by the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris
- It stands 42 meters high and has thousands of Indian soldiers names inscribed on its walls, from the Afghan Wars and World War I
- When India achieved independence in 1947 the great War Memorial was converted into the Indian Army’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
- It is home to the famous Amar Jawan Jyoti, the flame which stays alight 24X7, in the memory of the martyrs of the 1971 Indo Pak War. The flame was unveiled by Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of the country on the occasion of Republic day of 1972
- The India Gate is also famous for hosting the Republic Day Parade in January every year
We tried to take an Uber back from the gate, but it never made it to us. I did learn though that Uber has an interesting policy that if you cancle too late, then you have to pay your next Uber driver to make up for it. We finally hailed a tuk-tuk for a decent price and ordered in pizza for dinner.
Christmas Day
I did not have many plans for Christmas, but I was delighted when I got to talk to a few members of my family and even one of my best friends that I had not heard from in awhile. It was a great start to the day! My one goal for the day was to slackline. It had been nearly a month since I had hit the line and I was itching to be on it again. I will admit, being my last day in the country and not being familiar with its park laws on setting up lines, I was a bit nervous that I would get in trouble. However, I was reassured it would be no problem, and that led Dylan and me to a park to try it out.
We tried to go to the Lotus Temple first, but it was closed for the day, so we admired it from afar and then meandered into the park beside it. It was rather easy to find some trees to set up on, but getting my legs back on the line was another story. It did not help that there was a growing crowd around the line, and I was definitely not used to an audience.
I was finally able to send the line, and the crowd continued to grow. Soon there was easily over fifty people surrounding us, and way too close to the line as well. Whether I was telling them to back away from the line and give the people space who wanted to try it, or even just trying to give them tips on how to do it, they would hardly listen to me. I soon let it go and just enjoyed the moment and happiness of the adventure. It was amazing to see how many people gathered, and how many people tried. It also was a cultural lesson for me, as many of the men denied my help simply because they refused to touch me. You can actually see in the video that one man bailed twice off of the line instead of using my assistance. There was a girl, however, who allowed me to help her the whole way.
By far, the neatest part of all was when a man told Dylan, “it’s a really great thing you guys are doing. Bringing a lot of happiness to these people.” Simply by setting up a line…
For me, that made my Christmas. Spreading stoke, for all to cheer.
We eventually made our way out of the park, wandered around the city for a bit and then made it back to the Colonels for our bags and goodbyes. Traveling through the Candy Cane Forest (check out the video), the airport was a fairly smooth ordeal, though our plane got pushed back a bit. Before we knew it we were in the air and on our way to Malaysia…
It was a bittersweet moment as I looked at the city disappearing below me, fading into the night sky. A country that had been my home for two months, now just memories as the next adventure begins…
