🇮🇳 Delhi - Arriving in India

Falling straight in the deep end

After many months of planning, I finally started my travels after a luckily uneventful nine-hour flight from London to Delhi. I say this as I flew with Air India and naturally psyched myself out the night before by reading into the intricacies of their crash in June, the root cause of which seemed to recur in another one of their flights the day before I left. Anyway, the flight was fine, and it seems Air India serve a mean paneer curry.

Delhi’s air pollution is apparent from the moment you land. I’ve known about Delhi constantly topping the charts of the most polluted cities, but I didn’t think it was going to be so visible. You can see it in this frame from a video I took - the city is covered in what seems like mist. It’s going to be hard to take decent photos here:

The hostel I’m staying at emailed me with directions on how to get to the hostel by metro, so I thought to forgo the luxury of an Uber and live like a local. I’m glad I did so, as it was full of slight culture shocks:

• I accidentally sat in the poorly marked women-only part of my carriage.

• There was a pregnancy test advertised on every carriage called “Prega News”, with their slogan being “Means good news!”. Interesting seeing a birth control product implying what emotions a result should evoke.

• I was seemingly the only tourist taking the underground, priming me for a lot more staring during the rest of my trip in Delhi.

• There was a recurring announcement on the train saying not to touch any loose wires or transistors as they might be a bomb.

After dodging a few tuk-tuks and mopeds on the walk to the hostel, I was greeted by the Indian receptionist saying a few popular phrases in a scouse accent. It turns out that the guy on Instagram asking people where’s the best place to get a chicken and a can of coke and EsDeeKid might be some of Britain’s best recent cultural exports.

For my first meal, I asked the receptionist for recommendations, and he suggested a South Indian restaurant down the road. I was tempted by getting something from a street food stall that every street seems to be rammed with, but I felt like I was already on borrowed time having survived the flight. I ordered a vegetarian thali of some sort, which was really good despite not knowing what was in half the pots. I also quickly found that my spice tolerance needs to go up, and it needs to do so quickly. I hope the locals got some entertainment from me sitting in the middle of the restaurant bright red with tears streaming, and I hope I didn’t cause too much trouble to the waiter who brought me a pot of yoghurt unprompted.

It wasn’t too late after I finished with food, so I visited the world’s largest Hindu temple, which was nearby - the Swaminarayan Akshardham. I got on the back of an Uber motorbike to go there, paying 9p for a 20 minute ride. That in itself was an experience, being so close to Delhi’s insane traffic while supporting my helmet with my hand as the one the driver gave me had a broken strap.

The temple itself was very impressive, with lots of intricate architectural details. It also provided refuge from Delhi’s bustle, which I found was much needed. The security on the way in was very tight, and I had to leave my phone and film camera behind, so I didn’t take photos inside. Either way, the temple still looked quite impressive from far away:

While waiting for my transport back, I got harassed by a few incessant tuk-tuk drivers. One thing I had to learn quite quickly here is that it’s not worth interacting with the locals who are trying to sell you something you’re not interested in, as there’s nothing you can say that will make them leave, even after turning the situation sour by saying that they’re wasting their time or that you want them to leave you alone - they’ll only double down. Having spoken to a few people in the hostel later, the consensus seems that the best course of action is to ignore them, as crass as it sounds.

When I was back at the hostel I wanted to get some fruit to snack on, as is my wont while travelling. A local saw I was a little confused trying to locate a supermarket, so he offered to help. After the experience with the tuk-tuk drivers I was hesitant, but since the guy was young and alone, he seemed innocuous. We ended up getting some fruit from a stand and he insisted on paying which was a nice gesture, but also made me feel uncomfortably indebted to him. The food had salt and and some spice on it which didn’t really do anything for the flavour, but I was glad I was having something that might induce a bowel movement. Anyway, we talked about his French studies and future travel plans, after which he swiftly invited me for dinner at his place. I politely declined as I quite like having both my kidneys, but it was a nice gesture if it was well-intended. I gave the guy my number as consolation and got back to the hostel

Later on, I found that Delhi has a serious problem with missing people, with over 800 reported in the first 27 days of 2026. I felt like I made the right choice. The guy (whose name was Prince) sent me a message later referencing some food he mentioned earlier, a good morning message, and eventually a photo of the curry he cooked for dinner. After getting a full night’s sleep and thinking rationally again, I wasn’t too tempted, but I keep thinking about what could’ve been. Prince, if you’re reading this and your intentions were pure, I’m sorry 💔.