Delhi is a shithole

View of Paharganj: the neighborhood lies in the very centre of Delhi.

A fellow blogger's view of India's capital city:

First of all, let me just say one thing about Delhi. It’s absolutely fucking filthy. I mean, London is filthy, most cities are filthy, granted. But New Delhi is just in a whole league of its own. During monsoon it gets especially worse because of the rubbish sewer systems and apparently non existent waste disposal services. You can imagine how torrential rain does nothing to improve this. Contrary to what you may think about the rain cleaning the streets and washing away the cities filth what it actually does is just turn the roads into muddy rivers of garbage and human excrement and the junctions into swirling cess pits and quagmires of shit, rubbish and grime. Its difficult to imagine why anybody would want to come here. I saw most of the interesting sights in one afternoon drive around the city and frankly that was enough.

My room was a shitty little box with a toilet that didn’t work and a window that didn’t open (lonely planet recommends this place so god knows what the bad places are like) and it was a staggering 400 R’s per night. Compared to my pleasant 250 R’s a night room in Varanasi this was a rip off.

The idea of any more than a few days in Delhi makes me want to cry to be honest and I was so happy to get on that train to Varanasi.
The whole time I was there I didn’t take my camera out of its bag, partly because I was very jet lagged and just wanted to acclimatise and get used to India before I became the intrepid photojournalist and partly because the place just didn’t interest me. It was just shitty, muddy, filthy, smelly streets filled with people trying to rip you off, crazed rickshaw drivers, annoying touts and shop owners who see any white person as pay day.
I fucking hated it. As soon as I got off that plane and the heat and the smell hit me I knew I would hate it. The smell, the fucking smell. Mix, petrol, shit, sand, piss, smoke, filthy water, sewage, rotting rubbish, and miscellaneous pollution together and hey presto, you have New Delhi. I’m no cynic, and I wont be this negative about everywhere I go. But let me get this straight. Delhi is horrible. Just horrible. It’s everything I hate about India all in one place.

(text and photo: Jack Laurenson)

Jack gets it absolutely right. No other place is India is as disgusting as Delhi. Which is why I don't go out: no sightseeing, no visiting places, no shopping strolls, nothing. This shithole doesn't deserve my time.