City of Djinns

I've been to Delhi twice before and have never really enjoyed it. But tonight I am celebrating my first successful day in Delhi. Having read William Dalrymple's City of Djinns was one thing that has helped me enjoy Delhi more. Now, everytime I go past some ruins, I have some sense of what I am looking at - or like to think I do. And the idea that there have been eight different Delhis over the millenia, is a romantic one. It really had made a difference to how I've viewed the city. Shoppijng at Anokhi (in Khan Market) helped too. Then there is the contrast to the the hills. I am, I confess, enjoying being in a big cosmopolitan city and not eating egg and dhal and rice 3 meals a day, I must say. Today I had Indian Chinese for lunch (down south of the city in an area which is meant to be one of the incarnations of an earlier Delhi) and good company, which remeinded me how isolated I've felt. The last week was difficult tortuous because I was on my own, so it was me and several servants. Sometimes I three people would stand around and watch me eat my meals, and push bowls closer to my spoon if I lifted a finger. I find the class system in Sri Lanka difficult to deal with, though I had been warned.

Tonight I am staying in a fancy big hotel, but last night I stayed in a lovely guesthouse with a large garden. Usually I’ve stayed at disgusting hotels, which hasn't endeared me to the place either. This place didn't cost more - it just wasn't in Lonely Planet and I heard about it by word of mouth. The couple has been running the guesthouse for 35 years. They have five dogs. One of the dogs was an extremely hot looking Alsatian. Given that it was 35 degrees and very humid at 8.00pm I don't blame the poor thing. Most days its 45 degrees here, but, thank God, it wasn't like that today. Instead it rained, which was nice. Anyway, the Alsatian is very old. The owners of the guesthouse found it wandering on the road, not having been fed and having been beaten. They bought it home and the man who runs the guest house (who I saw but didn't meet - this story is via his wife) locked himself in a room with it for three days, until it calmed down after its mistreatment. They had to deworm it and generally nurse it back to health. It was a year before he could bark rather than squeak. Now he follows the owner everywhere. It is heartbreaking seeing what happens to animals here. I saw a monkey on a chain yesterday, and after all the monkeys romping around the forest in Sri Lanka it was very upsetting. Like seeing a human being chained really. Which is a sad note on which to end what was meant to be an upbeat entry . . .

Posted by Sophie at 12:41 AM