[ lifestyle ]
Exploring the
Exotic East
An elephant crosses the sunset
in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.
Photo by Ginna Royce.
GINNA ROYCE
The first time I flew over the African continent, a long strip of land the color of a shiny copper penny caught my eye from
the airplane window. I asked the flight attendant what I was seeing, and he told me it was Namibia.
“Well, she just winked at me,” I replied.
I was smitten with Africa before my feet ever touched the sub-Saharan sands of the Dark Continent. That love has drawn
me and my husband, Delbert, back east for countless visits. Recently, we made our eighth pilgrimage to Africa via India. The
Taj Mahal and rare Bengal tigers had been on our bucket list long enough. Despite a carefully planned travel itinerary, nothing
ever really prepares us for the beauty we find in the east.
The Wonders of India
Flying into Delhi at 2 a.m., the smog was visible and stifling.
Just hours later, our city tour began in a Hindu temple where
our guide, Anil, rented socks for my sandaled feet because shoes
were not permitted. We were marked with a bindi, a red dot
applied between the eyebrows on the forehead, which serves as
a constant reminder to keep God at the center of one’s thoughts.
The thick temple walls were covered with carvings, but
they could not stifle the relentless horns blowing in the streets
of Delhi. Cars, tuk tuks, cows and people were all vying for
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limited space. A three-lane road there has five lanes of traffic.
Lines on pavement, Anil confessed, are just suggestions.
In Old Delhi, purveyors of hot, spicy food compete for space
as well. Gol gappa is an on-the-go snack. The cook gingerly
punches a hole in the fried pastry puff ball, adds spicy potato
and black chickpea, then dips the pastry into flavored water
or tamarind chutney with his bare hands. The entire concoc-
tion is popped into your mouth. It’s said that Indian women
will wake their husbands in the middle of the night and beg
for gol gappa.