Republic Day blues

So, one of the reasons I originally planned to come to India right now was because of Republic Day, one of India's two big national celebration days. It's celebrated with a big parade in Delhi, with a show of military might and floats from each province celebrating its respective virtues. By the time I was done planning, though, I ended up with an itinerary that put me in Lucknow, not Delhi, for Republic Day: mostly because of timing constraints, although a bit because Rebecca warned me about horrendous crowds, etc. So instead I'm in in odd situation of being in Delhi the week before RD, which is a little bit like trying to go to DC the week before the Inauguration: huge police presence, high security, and things randomly shut down. Watching the preparations is, on the one hand, fascinating--but it's also highly inconvenient, as I can't get to see some things I want to (major national monuments, not surprisiingly for a planned capital, are clustered on the central parade grounds). It's also making me a little wistful about missing the big event, too. But at least anyone who's worried about me need not worry about my getting crushed in a crowd. No Mecca scenarios here.

There's a man staying in our guest house who arrive in India today, planning to go to Nepal tomorrow--until I pointed out to him the story in this morning's Times of India about how Nepal just had a major governmental crackdown yesterday, and is in a state of uncertain political crisis, with all telecommunications cut off by the King. He's now agonizing about whether or not to go.

On a slightly lighter note, the picture above is from Connaught Place, the major shopping district in the center of Delhi. It was built by the British, and takes the form of two concentric circular arcades, all very decorative--and, now, very shabby--white marble. There is, as you can see, a mixture of western and Indian commercial development; more Indian than not, though. I have spotted only one McDonald's in a day and a half here, during which I've traversed a lot of the city. I do need to try a McAloo Tikka Masala before I go, but I haven't yet made Rebecca join me in celebrating my odd international McDonald's fetish.

Tomorrow, we're going to Old Delhi, which I've been warned will plunge me much more into crowds and narrow streets. Sunday, we have a date with the owner of our guest house to travel well north of the city and look at old Raj remnants: a graveyard of dishonoured statues, removed from their more prominent plinths downtown. He runs tours on the side, and in interested in developing an Imperial Delhi tour; that's of course what I'm putting together, too. He, Rebecca, and I are going to pool our respective expertise to come up with interesting itineraries.

That's all for now, folks.