New Years 2005, I was in Delhi, with two travelling companions - Jen, who I've known since I was 12 and Kelly who lived with me in South Africa. Kelly and I had been travelling about for 2 weeks, and Jen had just arrived in Delhi, 2 days after the Tsunami. Their stay overlapped for about 3 days, and then Kelly went home, and Jen and I continued tromping about.
But who's kidding. What you really want to know about is the juicy stuff. Well, to set it up, my relatives in Mumbai weren't too excited that we were spending New Years in Delhi. They are quite harsh on the folks from UP (kind of like we are about rednecks or something). The men up there are known to be fairly uncouth.
With this in mind, we set out to find a place to celebrate New Years. I vetoed the free celebration in Connaught Square, because free means lots of young men with nothing to do but drink and grab a handful. Many of the hotels, since it was just a few days after the Tsunami, cancelled their New Years celebrations; ostensibly because they were in mourning. If they really wanted to do good, they should have just donated everyone's 5000 -10000 rupee cover charge. So, we didn't go to the hotels, because we may be american, but I can't afford a $100 to $200 party. Plus, Kelly doesn't drink, and both Jen and Kelly are vegetarian, so they can't take advantage of the buffet and open bars. We found a place that cost $20 cover, and was outdoors, in a park. We figured this would be a reserve price high enough to keep away the repressed rural guys, and would attract a crowd which would have seen white people before.
Boy, were we wrong. We ventured onto the dance floor, only to be immediately surrounded by several men. So, we moved away - back towards the food and drinks. But, evidently, this was a sign that the blonds were playing hard to get. So, the men (mostly short, too tight pants, some definite B.O. ) came to us. It took a lot for them to take no for an answer. We looked around, thinking - who did they come here with? Aren't there other women for them to harrass? And then we realized... the man to woman ratio was about 5:1; we were the only women who had come alone; and there is no way in hell that they would try the antics they were pulling on us on their country-women.
We weren't really having much fun, but didn't want to leave before midnight. Besides, I had promised the sweet old man named "Punditji" who was the caretaker at our guesthouse that we would call the driver to take us home. And, it wouldn't really be fair to have the driver not be able to be with his family at midnight, would it? So we persevered. In fact, we became quite stubborn, and decided that we WOULD dance, dammit. So, near midnight, we ventured back on the dance floor. Well, as the clock struck, so did I. In my thrust upon role as body guard of the blonds, I saw Kelly being pulled into the throng by several men, and reached in to pull her out. Then, Jen was being swallowed, so I tried to help her. Someone grabbed at me. Someone groped. I punched. They were not expecting that! And, there is nothing like starting out the year with some violence.
The girls were quite upset. We retreated. And then, the owner of the party sent word that we could go into the VIP room. We thought that this would be a chance to relax, get away from the filth. We went, and quickly realized that being invited to the VIP room meant that the owner and his cronies didn't have competition for our attention. We were trapped! After a suitable period, where I had a drink, we said that we needed to see if our driver was here. We hadn't actually called him yet, but anything to get away from the clutches of these guys was good. We called the driver, and then tried to lay low. But, a few very persistent chumps wouldn't let us be. They tried to divide and conquer, which meant I was running from Jen to Kelly and back. Lucky for me, I wasn't exotic enough to receive the kind of attention they were. That, and I know a good number of Hindi cuss words. :)
The owner comes out to speak with me. "It seems you are having some trouble", he says. "You think? Are you blind? This sucks!". "Ok. Well, I want you to have a good time, " he says. "We are leaving just as soon as the driver comes. In fact, maybe we can take a taxi." "No no. Don't leave. I will help you get these men away from you." "Oh, really? How will you do that? We aren't coming back into the VIP room." "I will send one of my men to watch after you." "We are still leaving, but go ahead. Send one of your men."
And that is how, for the last hour of our 2005 new years celebration in Delhi, we had a police escort. He used his baton to keep men at bay, and we danced. He had the best job in the house.
