rainbows in curved air (or curves in rainbowed air)

Hunting Tigers Out in India

.....lives, were actually dying of exposure in the cold streets of Delhi. Delhi seemed quite warm to me, although the Indians would, of course, disagree. One was not aware that we were fast approaching Xmas, as none of the trappings of Xmas commercialism were present in the streets of the capital. Oddly enough my first day was fully occupied by me trying to obtain transport out of the city. Hence here lies the inherent weakness in a life of travel, i.e., once one starts moving and the joy of travel gets into one's blood, one finds it difficult to stop and settle down. The fact that I spent this first day in Delhi trying to arrange transport away from that city, probably serves as an adequate description of that city.

I made enquiries concerning the availability of trains for Bombay. This would become my first limited stop en route for Goa. Distance was becoming an obsession with me, because by this time I had gone 6,000 miles and the distance from Delhi to Bombay added another 1,000 miles onto this total. I was indeed a’ Poor boy a long ways from home'.

My initial impressions of Delhi were mixed. On the one side was New Delhi, with its ultra­modern facades, with its Connaught Circus and flash hotels and Government offices. One could easily imagine oneself in London. In contrast, at the other extreme, there was Old Delhi and I was to grow acquainted with this district, because I had to criss-cross it a number of times on my way to the train station. Old Delhi buzzed with all kinds of life (& death). I recall walking past a dead horse in the middle of the main road in Old Delhi and it was being reduced to a skeleton by some very large and healthy vultures. No one in the street seemed to pay this remarkable (to me at least) event the least bit of attention. On my return from the station, many hours later, after much form-filling, I saw the animal still lying there, hardly recognisable now as a horse, but nevertheless it was keeping the

big birds busy. The sight of these vultures was frightening, and whereas in other more familiar cities, one does not even give the local scavenger birds a second glance. The sheer size of those vultures still haunts my dreams.

Now that I had entered this great city's walls, I was soon prey to many of that city's horde of trained, professional beggars. I was shocked to learn that some of these women actually maimed their own children at birth, so that they would have a successful begging career. One could also rent children, who were already maimed or badly disfigured, for the day, at what appeared to be a reasonable cost. In any case, I had to have a clear policy on begging and I had decided, after long deliberation, not to give to beggars under any circum­stances. This was not because I was mean in any way, but I soon learned that if one is generous to one alms-hunter, word quickly spreads among the others and soon one is surrounded by an angry mob, who would be quick to rob or even kill you for the shirt off one's back. My action was further justified by my witnessing the damage done by unthinking, but caring tourists, who give beggars ten dollars or the equivalent in rupees and ruin the individuals whole way of life, turning the victim to drink or some other, darker evil.

I also had a bad experience with a few beggars. One immediately comes to mind. l had been walking through the bazaar, when staring eyes asked me for some money. He was carrying a.....................