Text by Patty Simon

Delhi, India

I’ve been to India several times and have grown to love it. The chaos of people, colors, and religions overwhelm me at the same time they are seducing me. It’s like an addict needing a fix. I always want to come back for more.
I was so eager to go back that I went to the airport a day early. This lack of knowing what day it was would continue for several more. I flew 12 hours to Dubai – leaving in the dark and arriving in the dark – connecting to Delhi and arriving at 3 am. It took 18 hours. Dick greeted me with red roses + 1 yellow rose of Texas and then I fell asleep for 11 hours. I was so grateful for the sleep but so regretting the day wasted.
Our guide picks us up and we sludge through the beeping and dashing traffic. I laugh as the driver runs red lights that everyone ignores (lanes also). The traffic is like NYC or LA with one big difference. Not only are there cars and bicycles but bicycle rickshaws, motorized rickshaws, 2-wheeled skinny flatbed carts, bicycle carts and people with padded heads carrying tiny takeout cafés to steel parts for trucks. We change our plans and decide to take the metro which is much faster.
So far my experience felt like any other big city until I walked out of the metro. I felt myself smile as I saw an unbelievable sight.  A mishmash entanglement of hundreds if not thousands of electrical wires are bunched up and hanging off of every  building corner and stretching across streets. The “wires” are the symbol of the new industrialization and overpopulation that this country uniquely possesses. First they brought light and electricity to power light appliances but now they are charging every cell phone and computer and fueling the high tech industry. They mimic the chaos of the traffic found on the streets. I stop and take a moment to watch the incredible number of near misses that happens each minute between everyone – everywhere. Somehow, it turns into a perfectly orchestrated dance of moving forward in the world of globalization.