Jan 22, still in Delhi

Delhi, so far, has been surprising. On the positive side I expected a lot more hassles walking the streets. There have been some touts, and I did get taken in once, but generally speaking it hasn't been bad. I haven't seen a lot if street kids...not yet anyway.
On the down side it is very dirty. The garbage on the streets is hard to believe. One solution is that in the morning there are many groups of men, homeless as we would say, huddled around small fires, at the side of the street. The fires are just burning garbage.
Another thing is a huge amount of military presence. I took the subway today, and there are security checks, like at an airport, at every station. You don't have to take off your shoes, but you get scanned, and so do your bags.
There are also several pill boxes. These are like sandbags "forts", each manned by a soldier with a machine gun. This is inside the station.
I also went to an indoor mall, and there were metal detectors at each entrance.
They take their terrorists seriously.
Next week is India's Independence Day, and as a precaution the army has closed, and manned several big tourist attractions. One of these is the Red Fort. I was quite disappointed.
I did visit a couple of temples. You have to take off your shoes, but in one you also had to take off your socks. I have to say that marble floors are very cold in 10 degree weather.
These Hindu temples are very colorful and garish, and the idols are even more so. It reminded me of some of the outlandish churches in Mexico.
My one experience with a tout was also "fun". I took the Metro to Connaught Place, the upscale shopping district in central Delhi. As I exited the station, a man approached me and as we talked he told me that all the stores were closed, it's Sunday, but there was a mall which was open, and a "tuk tuk" could take me there for 20 cents. I took his word, a mistake. The cab took me to a mall, which turned out to be a place where they sold Indian garments, jewelry, and carpets. It's one of those places, where, as soon as you enter, you get a salesman, who never leaves your side. It is similar to the "carpet factory tours" in Turkey and Morocco. High pressure salesmen. I finally escaped after half an hour, still carpetless, but I had the guy down from 535 dollars to 275.
Afterwards I took another cab back to Connaught Place, where everything was open.
Live and learn.
Tomorrow I am off to Varanasi, which should be an interesting experience.