Home through a foreigner's lens

This spring, I decided to visit New Delhi to visit my family and celebrate my birthday. My girlfriend also tagged along. She has been to India in the past. However, this was her first trip to New Delhi.

Until now, I had never brought a foreign guest to visit New Delhi with me. I always wondered what they would think and feel when they would see New Delhi for the first time. A lot of the nervousness also stems from all the stereotypes about India that I've heard from Europeans while living here. So I was quite curious about it. 

We talked extensively during her trip about her thoughts about all the experiences we went through. The trip was amazing overall. We spent some time in Delhi, meeting my family and friends and then went to Agra for a couple of days to see the Taj Mahal. An interesting consequence of the trip was that I saw what New Delhi feels like to a foreigner. While some of the things were expected, there were a few surprises. 

The Taj Mahal is an absolute gem. Especially at sunrise.

I'm going to write about a few things (based on our experiences on the trip) that are underrated about Delhi and a few things that we felt that New Delhi can certainly improve upon if it wishes to become more international tourism (at least from Europe, if not other parts of the world). 

Things about Delhi that are underrated

Bakeries

To my surprise, New Delhi boasts of some excellent bakeries. When we compared them to the parts of Europe where we've lived or travelled frequently to (Prague/Budapest/Vienna/Barcelona/Munich), we found the pastries and cakes to be better than a lot of good bakeries. We could only think of maybe 1 or 2 places in these cities that would match the bakeries in New Delhi of a similar price band. 

Even when we compare them to countries/cities in Europe that boast of amazing bakeries (think Vienna, Paris, Belgium & Portugal), the bakeries in the Khan market seem quite comparable to them.

This was something that I just hadn't realized. There's a saying in India, "one's own rooster is valued the same as lentils". In other words, the grass is always greener on the other side. It was one of those moments of realization for me. Bakeries are surely not among the top things that come to people's minds when they think of travelling to India. Hence, if you're ever planning to go to New Delhi, do check out their best bakeries and you'd be surprised. 

The Big Chill Cakery, Khan Market, New Delhi

Jewellery Shopping 

During our stay, we went on a little jewellery shopping trip. Jewellery shopping in India, unlike in Europe, is a whole different experience. In Europe, the whole experience is quite transactional. You will go to a few stores, you'll browse around, and try on a few items. Depending on what you like, you'll request a quote, or you'll order something custom-made and head home. 

However, in India, it's a whole event. While the core transaction of buying jewellery remains the same, there's an added aura of an experience around it. Women will go out with their sisters/friends. They'll spend a whole day browsing about. The jewellery shops will bring out snacks and drinks for the buyers. This is to induce psychological pressure to buy, as well as to keep them longer in the shop. The longer the customer stays, the more likely they are to like something. 

Lastly, there's bargaining and negotiation involved. Since the customers are in a group and buying a significant amount of jewellery, they have negotiating power to bring the price down. On the other hand, the jewellers negotiate from the point of view of having unique designs and superior quality. 

This whole experience turned out to be something entirely different from how things are in Europe. It's probably not meant for everyone but in case someone wants to try some off-beat experiences in India, I think jewellery shopping certainly counts as one. 

Things that can improve

Museums

While in Delhi, we decided to visit the National Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. It's quite embarrassing but in all honesty, I hadn't bothered visiting these places myself in the first 23 years of my life that I lived in Delhi. So the visits were a first for me just as much as they were for her. 

Having gone to museums in London and some others in Europe, it certainly felt that the museums in Delhi are under-invested. The lights were placed at angles that made the glass on some of the paintings reflective. In some others, the glass and frame itself seemed old and foggy, and in need of replacement.

I understand that investment and demand go hand-in-hand. While the quality of art and artefacts was in no way less than those kept in the museums of our colonial masters, the culture of going to museums and delving into our history is probably lacking. It's obvious that India has miles to go before it reaches a point where the masses have enough leisure time to spend delving into its history and appreciating its roots. All that aside, I still feel that we could invest in improving our museums, and while it's something in the future, thinking about developing a culture of going to museums among people as a leisure activity wouldn't hurt either. 

Honking on the road 

I'm not going to say much about this. Those who live in India know. The ones who will travel there will eventually experience this. There's a lot of honking that happens on the roads in India. it's definitely something India as a whole could do better on. There's a lack of basic realization that incessant honking doesn't make the cars move any faster than they're moving.