Ok, so maybe I was wrong. Old Delhi is different from anywhere I have been. I was surprised by New Delhi, but the greenery, openness, 3,4,5 lane roads, everything looking huge behind gated fences. I found the city I was expecting as we entered Old Delhi, with the narrow streets, lined with shops, crazy traffic, and people everywhere. But I was not expecting the disrepair of everything, the dirt, the poverty all over. Parts of the road was torn up, with only dirt remaining. There were cows, donkeys, horses pulling carts, waiting on the side of the road, or just wandering on their own. Most buildings looked like they could collapse at any point in time, and the people just looked so poor.

I had been looking forward to the spice market. We had been one in Seoul, and while I knew this would be different, I had no idea quite how different. No photos were allowed inside, I’m not sure why, trying to avoid documenting the space seems like something they wouldn't have thought to do. The ‘market’ was basically a building with stalls on both sides, huge bags and bowls of spices, flies dive bombing me, a dirty floor, wet in places, and some good, some overwhelming smells.

In one of the nicer stores within the spice market, Khari Baoli in Old Delhi.

All I wanted to do was get out of there, and not have to wonder if this place was the source of the spices in the delicious food I had been enjoying. But the guide asked if I wanted to go upstairs to have a look, and of course I said yes. Why not prolong the misery. He neglected to mention that upstairs wasn’t one flight up, but 4, maybe really 3. The view from the rooftop was incredibly sad. I could see into people’s makeshift homes. The word home gives way too much legitimacy to these partially covered spaces, but if it is in fact where people are living, homes at least seems to give them some respect? Anyway, I guess the poverty I could see wasn’t any worse than what I had seen in Agra and Bangalore, but from that rooftop, I could stand and actually look right into people’s lives. In one corner of a rooftop, multiple tarps had been set up to create a roof, under which I could see one bed with at least two sets of legs, another person on a chair, and some stuff in the corner. That was it. Home. And let’s not forget that it was 102 degrees at 10AM.

Flip Flops & Passports