October 10-11, 2009 – Day 289-290 – Delhi, India

A truly uneventful day (lie: we purchased train tickets) followed by a surprise celebration at India Gate the next!

India Gate

It was Territorial Army Day complete with a show including fancy uniforms and hats, bagpipes and plaid capes, a large twirling scepter and a fair amount of very large guns. We took a seat on the flaming hot metal bleachers and waited for the show that was being set up all around us. Little did we know that it would be a full 3 hours until it would actually begin!

Fancy head gear

In the mean time, 15-20 people came over and would just plop down beside us, sometimes on both sides, sometimes in a group surrounding us. We didn’t realize what was going on til we would see that camera-wielding waving man at the bottom of the bleachers motioning for everyone to scoot closer or saying “Hello! Hello!” to get us to look up. Only maybe 3 times did anyone actually ask us if they could take a photo and one guy, even after we told him we did not want to take a picture with him and his friends, persisted with “Look this way, hello, hello, look, please look, hello, excuse me, come on, please look.” If it had only been a few times, fine but after the 15th person to try to take our picture was very irritating. We just wanted to be left alone to watch the ensuing festivities and have an enjoyable afternoon in the park.

Cricket in the park

Finally, we took a walk from the Gate and sat in the grass in the surrounding park where dozens of young men played overlapping games of cricket. It was fun to watch and a bit quieter than the paparazzi over by the bleachers. When we heard the music begin, we wandered back over to the happenings beneath the Gate and listened to the bagpipers play in celebration of Territorial Army Day. Saben had a nice chat with a couple of guys who explained a little bit about India’s army (all volunteer) and got a kick out of the yellow paper visors emblazoned with “The Citizen Solider” that were passed out among the crowd.

Plaid and bagpipes, not what I had imagined

Having our fill of the festivities, we trucked off for some dinner and a place to relax—home (also known as the Hinudstan Hotel).