Created: 18th of February
Updated: 16th of May
Last time, I understood that it wouldn't be pleasant for me to travel alone for an extended period of time in India. Today, my journey takes me to Aligarh. My friend A and his wife M (redacted for privacy) are at M's family in Aligarh, a "small" city (1 million inhabitants) south-east of Delhi. So the first step is flying to Delhi.
Actually no, the first step is to get to the airport in the first place. At this point I still don't have an Indian SIM, so I can't use apps like Uber or Ola (which don't work anyway in the region of Goa), which means I have to ask the reception. Considering I've paid 2300 rupees to go from Dabolim Airport to Agonda, I insisted on paying no more than 1000 rupees for the ride from Margao to the airport. But the guy at the reception refuses to bargain and asks for 1300, insisting that "it's normal price", which I know isn't true. But I don't really have an alternative, I accept and go to the ATM.
The taxi arrives, and the receptionist immediately demands upfront payment... that's not good. A minute in the drive, the driver asks me how much I've paid.
"I paid them 1300", I say.
"They gave me 600", he responds.
New knowledge! If the price isn't clearly displayed1, consider you're being scammed.
On the highway, a truck containing boxes, and resting on the boxes, two men, one sitting, one lying down, both seemingly unfazed by the precarious situation.
When you take a flight, how many times are you asked to show your boarding pass? Twice maybe? Not in Dabolim airport. Here, it's more like... seven times. Seven must be their lucky number, right?
If only they took road safety this seriously.
The flight is about two hours long. Visibility is hindered by a thick blanket of pollution
During the approach, I realize the scale of this city. It is massive. Here's the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
When I step out of New Delhi's Terminal 2, pollution is suffocating.
Task no. 1: find a N95 mask. Easy, and I really feel the difference when I wear one.
Task no. 2: find a SIM card. I ask some employees, whose answers were either wrong or unclear, and in any case completely useless. I'm probably not finding one outside of Terminal 3, and getting in would be a challenge... Aborted.
Task no. 3: finding a taxi to get to Aligarh. It sounds simple, but it is not.
On the ground floor of the multi-story parking opposite Terminal 3, there are two desks for app-based taxis: one for Uber, and one for Ola. I first try Uber. The girl at the desk kindly shares her mobile connection so that I can use the app. It does not work: every course I book is canceled.
Let's try Ola then, the other popular ride-sharing app here. I need to receive an OTP on my phone to register on the app. I never receive it, probably because it's not an Indian phone number. Back to Uber. This time, the girl calls the driver before my course is canceled, and leads me to the car (which is a good thing, because there are so many cars, and it's not clear at all where one is supposed to go, and people are honking even here).
But it's all good, I found a driver in the end. He was waiting while talking to his friend when I got into the car. He asks me to confirm I'm going to Aligarh, and both smile when I say yes, talking in Hindi... I wonder to this day why (maybe because it's not a touristic city at all, and it's three hours away from New Delhi).
In Goa, I truly saw nothing. Here, however, the chaos is on a whole other, almost cosmic level, unimaginably so even when you try. The traffic is insane, the pollution extreme, and the sound of honking is constant. Words just can't do it justice. At least more people wear helmets here.
The night is falling. You see stands with a couple of fruits set up, in front of shining skyscrapers. There's a guy biking along the highway with billboards for luxury apartments in the background.
Two girls chasing each other right in the middle of a four-lane road, and a bit further, some riding bikes. They look to be about eight, maybe ten years old at most.2
Kids inhaling pollution on an old bus, with vacant expressions. And then there's me, in a taxi, isolated with my AirPods, iPhone, and mask.
It's a weird feeling, really. This environment is so different from what my brain is used to, that it keeps making predictions, and fails miserably. After an hour spent just escaping Delhi, there's some quiet time on the highway. The last part is on a long straight road that goes though a few city that I would describe as folkloric, and leave it at that.
As you might imagine, I'm quite exhausted by the time I reach Aligarh, and finally meet A, M and her family. It's nice to see some familiar faces. It feels like I've been here for so long, although just five days have passed since the start of the trip.
When the time comes to pay the taxi driver, he asks me for more money than what was shown on the app. I am confused. I'll find out later on that it corresponds to the tax one must pay when crossing region in a tourist vehicle.
M's family is quite curious as to why I was such in a hurry to come and see A and M. I explain as well as I can, but they can't really understand—of course, they live here and everything I've experienced so far is utterly ordinary to them. How can I explain in words the sheer difference between their country and mine? It's hard to grasp unless lived.
I talk to M on the rooftop. When I ask her how it felt for her to move from India to Europe, she shares how she grew accustomed to it all, but that upon arriving in Europe, she felt relieved, as if a weight had been lifted. She could walk out on the street without worrying that it might be the last time she sees her family. It was the life she had dreamt of.
Noise doesn't stop at night, and the bedroom I'm stying in is by the street. Of course, I have earplugs, but even with those I can hear the barking dogs and the honking trucks (which all have their own special honk, for my enjoyment). As I fall asleep, I dream of the road... and of honks.
Next: part 3
And even if it is, you might still be scammed. I once read a review exposing a restaurant with two menus: one marked with a small star at higher prices, exclusively for tourists! More generally, many tourist attraction cost nearly ten times as much for foreigners. ↩
At this moment, traffic was bad and everyone went quite slow, so it was probably not as dangerous as it may sound. But it's still awfully dangerous and shocking to see. ↩
