METRO LÉLÉ

Dear Delhi Lover,

I haven’t been writing for a long time, sorry but I have been traveling lot and I attended some crazy wedding in Hyderabad which is located in South India.

So guys, I have been thinking about my next article and I wanted to tell you about something which is pretty surprising.

Indeed, I am going to tell you about the Delhi metro.

Haha, I see you already with your big eyes ! Metro ? why this silly subject ?!

Well, the Delhi metro is the cleanest I have ever seen in my entire life !

It was quite a shock for me the first time I took it. I was with a group a friends and to tell you the truth I was very reluctant to take the metro. I was thinking I would die of heat, that it would be overcrowded, like in the street of Delhi and like the parisian metro !

But no ! it was really really lovely ! There is AC everywhere, no trashes, people behave very well and there is also a lady compartment.

As everything has their own pros and cons, the bad point is that you have to pay 20 INR if you stay more than 20 minutes in the same station and want to go out of it, which is completely insane ! some days ago, I was with my friend kia in green park station and we were waiting for the train to arrive. Unfortunately for us, it was delayed and therefor we decided to go out of the station and take an auto instead. Bad news, when we ask the guys who stands at the gates to open it for us because we wanted to go out since the tube wouldnt come, he said : no, you have to pay 20 INR to go out of this station. OH MY GOD, we were so angry against him ! Since when travelers are penalised for not being able to take a train that is not even coming to the station ? NON SENSE !

But apart from this small problem, travelling by metro in Delhi is definitely a good experience I would recommand for any traveller that wants to travel for very cheap and be safe at the same time !

Bye

guys and thank you to read my articles !!

Stay connected !

  

HOLI BABY

Tomorrow (6th of March) is HOLI.

For those who don’t know the meaning of this day, please find below a short but interesting explanation I found on internet :

« Holi is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as 'Holika'. The festivals finds a detailed description in early religious works such as Jaimini's Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras. Historians also believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India. 

It is said that Holi existed several centuries before Christ. However, the meaning of the festival is believed to have changed over the years. Earlier it was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon (Raka) was worshiped. 

Celebration of the various legends associated with Holi reassure the people of the power of the truth as the moral of all these legends is the ultimate victory of good over evil. The legend of Hiranyakashyap and Prahlad also points to the fact that extreme devotion to god pays as god always takes his true devotee in his shelter.

All these legends help the people to follow a good conduct in their lives and believe in the virtue of being truthful. This is extremely important in the modern day society when so many people resort to evil practices for small gains and torture one who is honest. Holi helps the people to believe in the virtue of being truthful and honest and also to fight away the evil. »

Source :www.holifestival.org

This day is a national day in India and everyhting is closed. In addition, this is also known as a « dry day » so you can’t buy any alcohol in the country which is a shame because it’s a day of celebration !

Holi is very special in the Indian culture because as said above, its the victory of good above evil. It’s a very happy day, people celebrate, throw colours at each others, and also drink BHANG.

HAHA ! but what is exactly BHANG ?

BHANG is basicaly a drink where you add an ounce of marijuana and yes, everybody has it during holi ! its part of the culture and as surprising as it can sound, grandma, grandpa, teenagers, all the family can drink this receipe !

It is funny how people talk about it because in France it would be completely forbidden because of the effect of the drug but here, its a delicassy that you can even enjoy into pakora(salted kind of donut) or ladu (indian sweets).

Here is a receipe that I found on internet if you are curious : (or even if you want to make it ! crazy you !)

Ingredients

2 cups water

1 ounce marijuana (fresh leaves and flowers of a female plant preferred)

4 cups warm milk

2 tablespoons blanched and chopped almonds

1/8 teaspoon garam masala (a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, and cardamon)

1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/2 to 1 teaspoon rosewater

1 cup sugar

Method

Bring the water to a rapid boil and pour into a clean teapot. Remove any seeds or twigs from the marijuana, add it to the teapot and cover. Let this brew for about 7 minutes.

Now strain the water and marijuana through a piece of muslin cloth, collect the water and save.

Take the leaves and flowers and squeeze between your hands to extract any liquid that remains. Add this to the water.

Place the leaves and flowers in a mortar and add 2 teaspoons warm milk. Slowly but firmly grind the milk and leaves together. Gather up the marijuana and squeeze out as much milk as you can. Repeat this process until you have used about 1/2 cup of milk (about 4 to 5 times). Collect all the milk that has been extracted and place in a bowl. By this time the marijuana will have turned into a pulpy mass.

Add the chopped almonds and some more warm milk. Grind this in the mortar until a fine paste is formed. Squeeze this paste and collect the extract as before. Repeat a few more times until all that is left are some fibers and nut meal. Discard the residue.

Combine all the liquids that have been collected, including the water the marijuana was brewed in. Add to this the garam masala, dried ginger and rosewater. Add the sugar and remaining milk.

For my next article, I will post some of the pictures of the holi I spent in Delhi !

BYE PEOPLE ! and stay connected 

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

For this article, I thought it would be relevant to tell you about my cultural experience in India.

When I say cultural experience I mean the different kind of «cultural shocks » I had to face while staying in Delhi.

Indian culture is nothing like French culture and if you want to survive, you definitely have to adapt. I always say that being in an indian city is like being on a wave. You have to surf with it or it will literally crush you.

In order to prepare you, or at least to make you aware of what you can expect from Delhi, here are my stories/recommandations.

1st story : the organized chaos

Its simple, if you experience being in a car in Delhi trafic, you simply think that you will die in that journey. The rule for driving a car = no rule.

Either you show that you are the biggest horner and people will let you go through the trafic because they will get tired of you horning like a mad person or you just try to go with the flow without getting hit by the cars around you.

So don’t worry, take a big breath, and tell yourself nothing will happen in that big car you are into in the Delhi Streets. Indians drivers are used to chaos!

2^nd story : no access to toilets

a big amount of indian population don’t have access to toilet and that fact creates some weird situations as people making poo on the street. Yeah, you read well : POO !!! My god, one month after my arrival in India, I was nicely walking on the street and then, this child came out of nowhere in front of me, took down his pant and started to poo. Mmmmmh WELCOME TO INDIA !!

So, as a tourist or even a new inhabitant of any city in India, you should get prepared to see and experience such cultural surprises. Those people aren’t freaks, they just don’t have access to toilet and this represents one of the biggest problem of the country.

3rd story : the manners

If you want to adapt to India, forget everything you know about manners.

Let me explain : saying good morning, thank you, please, etc, is not relevant at all over there. People just think it is not useful so they won’t take time to be polite as we know it.

Don’t get me wrong, if you go to a nice restaurant or shop people will take care of you and try to make you fell good but in the daily life there is a tendancy for people not to be polite in the way we know.

So don’t think people are rude just because they didn’t say thank you when you held the door for them or they didn’t say good bye to you or whatever. Its just something people don’t do here. I was pretty upset by people’s manners when I first arrived in India because I expected people to be and act like in France but now I got used to it and I don’t pay attention any more.

4th story : the starring

As crazy as it can sounds, Indians are obsessed with white skin. Its a sign of beauty over here (well if it would be the same in France, I would have been a beauty queen ! I am real mozzarella myself) so if you are blond with blue eyes, let me tell you that you will feel that you are the main attraction in India. People will stare at you and even ask to take pictures of you. So don’t be afraid but know that being white will attract a lot of attention here.

5th story : money baby

In terms of cost of life, things are cheaper here. You can go to very nice indian restaurant and pay 5 euros for your meal ! Amazing !

For a foreigner, staying in India for vacation is really cool because it is so cheap. The problem when you actually live here and have to pay for daily products (milk, fruits, etc) is : « how to pay the good price for goods where prices are not fixed ? »

Some shop owners in Delhi have a tendancy to try to cheat customers. As long as you don’t look like an Indian, people will try to increase the price and make you pay more than you should normally do.

This is true for the rickshaws for exemple. I have to negociate each and every single days the fare of my trips with the rickshaws drivers and sometimes it can get anoying especially when you know the fare and the driver asks you to pay three times this price. This is a characteric of Delhi but in Bombay for example, drivers put directly the meter as soon as you enter their vehicle.

Also, I had this habit of buying coconuts for their juices. I was in the line and i noticed to price was different for me and for other people. So Indian natives had to pay 30 INR (50 cents)and I had to pay 40 INR. The difference is really small but day after day it starts to count.

So, each time you buy a product in a market, always negociate the price because you can be sure people will give the biggest amount they can give you.

THÉ A L'INDIENNE OU MASSALA CHAI

Today, I decided to give you my receipe of the indian tea so called « chai massala ».

Chai massala is known all around india. People have an habit to drink it all day long. With the sweet or salty lassi, I would say that it is the most famous drink in India.

Eventhough the chai is very simple to make, there are lots of different receipes and I’ll give you today my version of the indian tea.

Personnaly, I like it tasty and not really sweet. Most of the indian people I met like it very very sweet, so the firt time I tasted this speciality, oh my god, I almost choked it !

Please find below the ingredients for two tea cups :

2 cup water

1 cup skimmed milk

2 tea spoons of white sugar (don’t use sweetener because you will not be able to taste the flavor of the tea, I tried it and it was a disaster)

2/3 thin slices of Ginger depending of your taste

2 green cardamoms

1 pinch of cinnamon

the receipe :

Put on high flames 2 cups of water in a sauce pan and add step by step 2/3 slices of ginger,2 green cardamoms, and a pinch of cinnamon. Make it boil for three minutes and then add  two tea spoons of white sugar.

Stir the preparation for 5 minutes.

Then add the cup of milk and stir for 5 more minutes. If you like it very gingery then stir for 5 more minutes.

Use a filter, and serve your chai into two different cups.

You chai is ready ! 

EVERGREEN

From now on, I’ll write in English because I realize that there are not only french people reading this blog and everybody should be able to get all the good infos and adresses in Delhi :)

So today, I’ll write about a restaurant that I really like : EVERGREEN

Evergreen is a real institution in Delhi, if you like Indian food, I’ll say that it’s the place to go to enjoy a good, simple and authentic meal.

Eventhough the food in India is very different from North to south, Evergreen succeeded in cooking a various range of dishes from all over the country ! it’s tasty, very clean and cheap : what else should we ever wish for !

In addition, when you enter the restaurant, you notice that, its always full and clients over there are only indians, you can’t see tourists in the place. Thats a good way to conclude that the food there would be very authentic.

A special mention for the paneer tikka (grilled cottage cheese), the chole bhature(fried bread with chickpeas in a sweet sauce) and the idli sambar( fermented rice bread with coconut sauce and green chutney)

EVERGREEN is also famous for its sweets.

Concerning this part, I can't say I am a real fan because Indian sweets are really full of sugar and it is not my taste. But what I can say is that if you like those kind of heavy sweets then EVERGREEN is definitely the place to go. I always heard good feedback about them.

Please find below so practical infos:

Evergreen

Green park market

New Delhi

Meal for two people between 500 and 700 INR (7/10 euros)

Please, check the link below to know more about the restaurant :

http://evergreensweethouse.com

Introduction

Bonjour à tous,

Ce blog est destiné à toutes personnes se rendant à Delhi pour la première fois, ou pas d'ailleurs :)

Je suis arrivée à Delhi en Septembre 2014 et en tant que jeune française ne parlant pas un mot de Hindi, je peux vous assurer que cela n'a pas été facile de s'habituer à cette ville et à la culture indienne. En tant qu'étranger, on se sent perdu et on ne dispose plus d'aucun repère car la culture indienne est vraiment très différente de la culture française. Les codes et les coutumes que l'on peut observer tous les jours sont à la fois intéressants à découvrir mais aussi très déroutants. Donc pour un étranger, pas facile facile de se sentir comme un poisson dans l'eau dans cet environnement.

Mais, bonne nouvelle pour vous chers lecteurs, j'ai décidé, prise d'un élan humaniste soudain et frénétique, de vous épargner les mois de galère à chercher dans votre lonely planet spécial Inde, les bons plans et les déchiffrages presque impossible pour un non initié de la vie trépidante de Delhi.

Vous trouverez donc dans ce blog des astuces et infos qui pourraient vous aider à répondre à des questions du type: "comment payer le bon prix pour une course rickshaw?" ou alors "où puis-je trouver de bons steaks à Delhi?" ou encore "On est samedi soir, où dois-je aller pour passer THE bonne soirée dans la capitale?"

Bref, que vous soyez ici pour voyager, travailler ou buller, ce blog est fait pour vous et surtout pour rendre votre expérience indienne aussi agréable que possible.

Bonne lecture!