As we boarded the Air India plane in London, the flight attendant bowed to us and gave us the Indian greeting of Namaste. The airplane had Indian designs painted on the windows on the outside and inside there was Indian style wallpaper and little Maharajahs painted by the exits.

We arrived in Delhi and took a taxi to the Kanishka Hotel, where the people were friendly and kind. The next morning we hired a tour guide, Rasheesh, and went to various sites thoughout New Delhi. There was a great variety of  traffic including three wheel taxis and buses with people hanging out the windows and doors. Women were wearing colorful saris and men were wearing long sleeved shirts. The children were wearing brightly colored clothes. I didn't see anyone wearing jeans or shorts although the temperature was over 100 degrees fahrenheit.

People were literally driving with their horns. This is a necessary element of driving in India to maneuver through the narrow streets and multitudes of traffic and people. On the back of most vehicles there is a sign that commands, "Sound Horn."  

We went to the Birla Temple and took off our shoes to enter. There were marble floors that were very hot on bare feet. There were mats to walk on in the hottest places in the sun. Small chapels with life-sized elaborately clothed statues with fans blowing on them were prevalent.

We seemed to be attracting people as we went by the government buildings and the India Gate. There were wide quiet streets and they were not as crowded with people as those we had driven through. A snake charmer on the grounds whacked his snake now and then to get him to dance. Perhaps the snake didn't like the charmer's music!

We were taken to a carpet shop where it was very cool and staff brought us cold cokes. We bought inexpensive paper machete boxes and ornaments, a Kashmir carpet for our bedroom and various Christmans gifts. (The carpet will be shipped.) There were many men in the shop who were helpful but didn't pressure us to buy anything.

We talked to to the owner about the Sikh relgion where the men wear turbans and this day were handing out "sweet water," water with milk and sugar in it. The owner of the shop said the Sikhs honor all religions, believe in personal responsibility for actions, honesty, service, and courage. He told us they believe it is dishonest to make more than 10% profit on goods sold.

We went to another temple where there were buses, three wheel taxis, lovely children in bright clothes who followed us saying "hello," and "how are you?"

There was a sign on a corner that was continually adding numbers. It was the population of India and on this day recorded 920,000,000.

We retuned through the buses, people and even cows to our hotel. We were tired, hot and there was no water. There was some political problem that the people outside Delhi did not want to release water to Delhi. We ate supper and went upstairs and the water was on! We take showers and read.