New Delhi: The Festival of Colour

We had been winding each other up about India for weeks. Recently we had met a spate of travellers, worn and weary, who carried horror stories of beggers that grab you and won't let you go, men that grab you and won't let go (if you're female), bad transport, evil touts, constant rip-offs and toilet activity on the streets in broad daylight. We began to wonder why we were going at all.

By the time we arrived at Delhi airport at 2am and were frankly quite scared. But we had forgotten that we had already travelled in one of the most dangerous cities in the world (Rio), been ripped off and hassled within an inch of our life in Vietnam and Brazil and already seen the dreadfully maimed beggers in Cambodia and Peru. Delhi was actually easier than we thought it would be as we booked a pre-paid taxi and headed to Parahganj, the traveller and budget centre of Delhi. Our taxi was accosted by some strange men who looked as if they had serious head injuries - or had red stuff all over their heads anyway - but apart from that we got to Star Palace hotel with little trouble and were surprised that the room was no worse than Laos standards and cheaper at 300 rupees or 3.50GBP/night.

After a sound sleep we were woken by cheering only to find that our first day in India had cooincided with Holi: The Festival of Colour, a Hindu celebration to mark the spring and full moon. After a delicous Indian breakfast (potato paranthas and lassi yoghurt drink) we remembered exactly why we had come to India and, feeling brave, we ventured outside to see what the fuss was about.

It's true what they say - you can experience a full repetoire of emotions in the space of half an hour in India. We left the hotel excited and slightly nervous. When the first water bomb hit us we thought what the hell and walked around the streets of Parahganj observing the colourful scene. Everywhere we looked Indian men were covered in powder paint and water (that would explain the men that looked as if they had head injuries at the airport!). Red, yellow, green and gold coated their faces and hands as they shouted 'happy Holi' to one another. We were stopped and politely asked if we wanted to participate which of course we said we did, after all who would miss such an experience? They rubbed paint all over our faces and before we knew it, we were covered from head to toe in paint then hugged good naturedly and sent on our way. We were having so much fun, everyone was smiling and we couldn't stop laughing at the blur of colour as people threw powder over each other. And then some men groped Beth and then another and suddenly it wasn't fun anymore. It hurt and Beth was suddenly ferociously angry at such a violation. She hit out but her fist met air and they were gone. We were frightened and fought our way back to the hotel, subdued and disbelieving. We must have looked like a Picasso painting as the hotel owner laughed uproariously at us as we dripped paint all over his floor and it was so infectious we found ourselves laughing again too. What other country encites such a range of emotions in such a short space of time?

We got back to our room to find the locks on our bags had been picked and our clothes rifled through although fortunately we had left nothing valuable to be taken. For the second time we felt violated and this time very, very angry. The hotel accused us of lying and tried to charge us more money for leaving after checkout time. Beth's pent-up frustration from the morning saw her going ballistic and even the general manager looking scared - a woman shouting at men? They were so stunned (and scared by the time Beth had finished!) we left with ease and checked into the Hotel Namaskar - a really nice hotel and one with a write up in Rough Guide that included the word 'safe'.

Exhausted but refusing to be worn down, we walked to the central area, Connaught Place, with Beth wearing a rucksack on her front. Despite everywhere being like a ghost town because of the holiday, we had a lovely South Indian Thali in the Banana Leaf restaurant and then took an auto-rickshaw back to the refuge of our hotel room.

Our first day in Delhi had left us pretty confused. People always say you either love India or hate it. We had both loved it and hated it today, in fact we had felt a great many things. We decided to write this one down to experience and learn that we have to be extra vigilant about security even in hotels and Beth has to buy some very loose tops but that Delhi can also be a city full of fun, colour and laughter. We slept soundly knowing that tomorrow we would be much wiser.