Part 4: Conversation with the Owner and Plans to Travel

(Wednesday, 27th June, 1990)

I learn more about the taxi driver from the owner, and experience an Indian metropolis.

Recalling the night before left me depressed and upset. Until the pack was on my back did I dare unbolt my door. I moved quickly down the stairs. Mr Khanna; owner of the New Royal York Hotel stood in the foyer.  He had also been duped. Neither of us would be seeing the taxi driver again.

I needed to

• confirm my flight to Bangkok, and
• my 3-day train itinerary through Rajasthan.

Traffic was noisy, chaotic, and fumy. A Sikh driver was selling me deals in gridlock. A beggar girl perhaps 8 years old appeared beside me, her skin almost black, face and eyes those of an old lady. For a moment I managed two conversations. I fished a coin from my pocket for her. She signed a blessing, and was gone.

New Delhi Railway Station was awash with humanity; squatting, lying and milling around the building. I ploughed through this confusion in search of the first floor offices. In the stairwell asleep on his back was a boy no more than 5; somebody’s son. The train would be leaving Delhi Junction at 18:00 that evening and it was now 13:00.