Prem, was a God-sent in a city where we were feeling 'ripped off'. We had just stepped out of the 'Government Tourism Office of India', after the ten-minute patience we extended to them out of courtesy. It is one of the many such outfits in Delhi and this one a ‘pretend-kind’ and young business like Sikh took us.
Relieved that we did not get conned, we wanted to get out of Connaught Circle and out of the radar of those con men. Prem was standing in front of a nice auto and when we approached him, he understood us and so we were going to board the auto. He kept walking, and away from the nice auto to a rickety one in the back. Hmmm... ah well, we boarded his auto.
After some chat, he took us on a visual tour of the city - for Charlotte's photo shoots. We went to India Gate, some monument here and there and finally took us to our dinner destination. He was such a nice tour guide, kind and honest that we asked if he would take us to the train station the next morning. Since it was too early for him [5.15 am] so we asked if he would pick us up when we returned from Agra [2 days later]. He was such a breath of fresh air truly!!!
When we returned from Agra, we landed at a different platform and building and after much walking around overhead bridges, we figured our way back to where we were supposed to meet Prem. We waited and waited. Charlotte walked around a little but no sight of him. We did have his mobile number but we would need to locate a phone to call him. That extra 30 mins had allowed me to observe those 'trawlers' at work, trying to trick another victim. Thankfully they did not approach us this time. We decided to leave the station and headed down towards the main road. It was a daunting task walking into a busy street with lots of people, typical of a major public train station. We were weary from the lack of sleep and wary of the conmen. God, the master logistician, surprised us!! Just as we were getting overwhelmed, we saw Prem's face from afar. Funny, how we felt such relief!!!
He walked us some distance and then got us on an auto - he had parked his auto some distance away. No idea why. We got off that auto and onto his. The rest of the day he took us to the Parliament, Museums, etc. These 2 Singaporean ladies did not go into any buildings. I had wanted to find a cafe to work while Charlotte visited the sites and the Tower that never rust [??]. We were told by the people at the YWCA
where we had our bags checked, that there was no shopping mall with an internet cafe nearby and that we would not have the time blah blah blah. So I ended up travelling and sightseeing with Charlotte, with my laptop in my backpack heating up in the Sun [thankfully it survived].
We had wanted to see Old Delhi and check out the Chandni Chawk bazaar – hmmm guess not quite our definition of a bazaar. We did see the Red Fort from outside.
Prem did not pressure us but had sincerely requested that we allow him to take us to tourist shops. His honesty was compelling and we had no problem helping him get some revenue.
We had asked that he recommend a place for lunch and we invited him to join us.
The lunch was ok but the luxury of a non-smoking environment eluded us. We had already been exposed to the Delhi pollution, being in an auto all morning. We had asked to move to another table when someone's cigarette smoke was drifting right in our direction.
The waiter, interesting, kept any customers who smoked away from our table. What a pleasant surprise! However, it seemed that most of their customers smoked and he could only turn away so many before the seats were taken up. So, we left as fast as we could to free up the space for the smokers.
I will recommend Prem [we have his number, if it still works] to anyone who might have need to go to Delhi on a shoe string budget.
No comments:
Post a Comment