Mr. Singh, rickshaw driver

Wanting to try and find a cheaper alternative to the taxis around our hotel Bert and I set off on foot across an ENORMOUS junction with no functioning traffic lights to look for a nearby taxi stand. The helpful hotel attendant explained to us carefully how to find it. Twice. We ended up walking down a one way tree lined road by the side of piece of wild looking park with a passover on our left. I inadvertently discovered that the wild parkland was the local 'purification' area when I spotted some naked buttocks being re-clad and then realized a procession of men where busy. (I appreciate that the women are far more discrete about their business.)

As we tried to avert our eyes and look for the taxis (we never did find them on this trip) a rickshaw pulled up behind us. He leaped from his conveyance and started to tell us how the whole city was likely to be jammed with all the festivals going on, the end of Ramadan as well as a Hindu festival, and wouldn't we be interested in seeing some Indian crafts. We are suckers for entrepreneurial spirit and this jovial Sikh, Mr Singh, was a treat. We climbed in and he promptly drove down the one way street the wrong way and navigated smoothly across the unlit junction and sped on to the Indian craft bazaar. We heard about Mr. Singh's relatives in New York City and his cousin who runs a car service out of the center of Delhi, and wouldn't we like to meet him to plan our touring? Mr. Singh was an enthusiastic tour guide, pointing out and naming places he thought we should know. He drove us past Prime Minister Singh's residence and commented on how honest he was and even laughed uproariously when I asked if Prime Minister Singh was also his relative.

We've got his phone number for future reference. I hope we meet again.