India > Farewell to Delhi

I wake up to sounds outside. It’s half past eight. I hear people sweeping outside. Apparently, a cleaning crew is clearing away the fireworks. That makes things easier. I don’t hear anything inside the apartment yet, so I stay in bed a little longer. Around ten o’clock, I get dressed. I’m the first one in the living room, but the other family members arrive shortly after. Before breakfast, a sandwich and orange juice are ordered. These are delivered to the door a short while later. I find it hard to imagine, but since many people live in the apartment towers, fast delivery is probably easy and not too expensive. Around noon, Ravi arranges a taxi. His price is much better than the taxi I took yesterday — almost three times cheaper. The driver doesn’t speak a word of English and drives quite fast. Within fifty minutes, I’m back at my hotel in Delhi. As I walk to my room, the cleaner asks if he should clean it. That’s not necessary since I haven’t been there. It’s kind of strange that I have a hotel room booked for three nights but didn’t sleep there at night. To make up for it, I set my alarm for five o’clock and lie down for a bit. I don’t feel like doing anything else in Delhi. Around six o’clock, I walk into the Karol Bagh neighborhood. I’m now familiar with the area. I return to the market and shopping street where I was yesterday.

India - Street stalls selling food

It’s much busier today. Luckily, I left my passport, credit card, and large bills at the hotel. If anything gets stolen, I can simply go home. I decide to order some food on the street. I choose samosas because I don’t want a dish I have to eat with my hands. When I ask for two, I get four. They turn out to be sold in pairs. That’s a bit more than I wanted. I order lemon tea from the neighbor and then return to my hotel. While waiting for the driver to pick me up, I get a notification that my flight is delayed by more than half an hour. This becomes problematic for my connection in Frankfurt. A few minutes later, I receive a message that my flight to Amsterdam has been rebooked to a later flight. Instead of nine o’clock, I now fly at half past twelve. It’s neither better nor positive — just more holiday for the same money. At half past ten, the phone rings. The reception informs me the driver has already arrived. It’s Rajesh, the same driver as yesterday. While driving me to the airport, he immediately asks how I experienced Diwali. Due to the delay, I arrive almost four and a half hours early. It doesn’t really matter whether I wait in my hotel or at the airport. Luckily, I can already check in my luggage. Just around midnight, I pass through customs and baggage control.