India-Day 3: Delhi

The first half of our third day in Delhi was used taking care of getting a SIM card, changing money, and buying some train tickets online. These things tend to take longer in a foreign country, and India definitely seemed to be a country that likes paperwork. Being able to buy tickets online was a great feature of the Indian railways tickets compared to China, although, admittedly, it was kind of an adventure to figure out how to buy the tickets online-it’s as if they didn’t want us to find the ‘Buy Ticket’ icon. Also, more odd travel tidbits-apparently a Mastercard from Chase Bank works on the Indian Railways website but Visa from CitiBank doesn’t. Go figure.

In the afternoon we visited Humayun’s Tomb, which had beautiful grounds, an imposing, majestic structure and very peaceful gardens where we strolled around. It was a nice break from the horn, dust, and exhaust filled streets of Delhi. It was, like the Red Fort, a Mughal empire structure, part of the portfolio that makes them the coolest Indian empire. I absolutely loved walking around it, imagining it in all its glory, and taking in the many amazing views that were around almost every corner. One upsetting thing during the visit was a huge pile of trash outside one of the walls, right next to where it looked like there were some further small tombs. I guess that in India the litter creeps all the way to the edge of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

By far the best event of this day was Veer. Veer is the name of a Bollywood movie that we caught at the Promenade Mall-an upscale shopping mall in suburban New Delhi. To preface, going to see a local movie (in a foreign language) might not be on the normal list for tourists, but for us in India it was different. We are both big movie enthusiasts, and neither of us is eager to cross off every place of interest in the guidebook if it means not having fun. Moreover, Bollywood makes more movies than Hollywood every year. Coming from a China, which despite having 1.35 billion people, still imports almost all of its entertainment from Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, I have huge respect for Bollywood. Don’t get my wrong: I love American movies, I just respect that India produces much of its own entertainment-as so many other countries just import American tv and movies. Veer was a Romeo and Juliet love story set against warring factions associated with or against the British imperialists in 19th century India (with bits in Britain). It starred Salmon Khan-who we would later find out is one of the big boys in Bollywood. There was some English mixed in, but it was almost all Hindi. Nonetheless, the plot was pretty easy to follow. Veer truly had it all: romance, song, dance, battles, and even some comedy. The sound in the theater was almost uncomfortably loud which just made the movie all the more intense. If you’ve got any sort of desire to be entertained by Bollywood (although not challenged emotionally or intellectually), Veer is the movie for you. (photo source: http://media.photobucket.com/image/veer%20salman%20khan/420sdna_album/veer-salman-khan-4.jpg)