Wednesday, October 31, 2007

All I Need to Know About Delhi I Learned from DesiPundit

I had a better day in Delhi yesterday. Found the Red Fort, and observed once again that, like Golconda Fort, wandering around made me feel like I was in a Legend of Zelda game. Guess the designers really, really loved India or something. I mean, with the "rupees" nod and all. ^__^

And I re-wandered Chandni Chowk, armed with one crucial piece of directional orientation: the "food tour" of Old Delhi, written by Rahul and linked to on DesiPundit (which was where I found it). I'm not sure if I found all the places Rahul writes about (in fact, I'm pretty sure I didn't), but I found Parantha Galli and had a sugar parantha (which was okay; the banana in syrup which accompanied it was much more interesting), and I had a very interesting chaat experience with a man who was selling what looked like croissants on ice.

"What are those?" I asked.

He said something which sounded like "dilli vada," though I'm not sure that's even a food.

"May I have one?"

He took one off of the ice and put it on a leaf plate. Then he went to each of his little pots and asked me if I wanted any of the following: chili, ginger, chutney, masala, etc. Of course I said "yes" to everything, because I thought they were all part of this particular chaat experience. However, when I finally tasted it, the explosion of contradicting flavors indicated that I probably shouldn't have asked that it be sprinkled with quite everything the chaat-wallah had on his cart.

Ah, well. Oh, and I'm off ladoos and onto jalebis. Actually, before that, I was off ladoos and onto gulab jamuns, but I had a hot hot hot jalebi fresh from the cooking vat last night and my entire being is consumed with the idea of how I can get another one. ^__^

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I see all these Hindi words, I can't help but think that they sound like words that little kids say when speaking gibberish. They always make me smile. Ladoo! Jalebi! Gulab jamun! Higgeity piggity!

:-D

Patrix said...

Am glad that DesiPundit was helpful to you. If you want, I can put you in touch with couple of Delhi bloggers who would love to take you around unless of course, you wish to explore the city on your own which I admit can be fun too.

Blue said...

Daniel -- The Higgeity Piggity is a very sacred Indian custom. Don't mock it. *__^

Patrix -- Thanks. I'd take you up on it, except that I'm leaving Delhi today (and, with all respect to the city, have never been so glad to leave a place). ^__^

Anonymous said...

Hot jalebis!

Makes funnel cake look like health food, doesn't it? :-)