Delhi, not for the faint-hearted...

...or for the conventionally respirated, we'd been led to believe. Delhi, most polluted city in the world, China-you-ain't seen-nothing territory, if you go to Delhi, don't go out, if you do go out, try not to breathe, and so on.
Well, let's start with a positive.
Arriving on the overnight flight from Heathrow into Delhi's  Indira Ghandi airport all of those warnings seem well warranted. The skies are thick with smog, reducing visibility to next to nothing, very much like our arrival into Beijing last summer. But once we've been transported from the airport to our hotel close to the downtown area of the city, things seem to improve. Its polluted, sure, but unlike with Beijing the skies are clear enough for you to be able to see the sun amidst a bit of blue. Also unlike with Beijing, no one much seems to be wearing masks - although this may be more to do with India's cheerful sense of fatalism than any confidence in the air quality. As for Delhi itself, well, we're only there one night, so its no more than a snapshot of a snapshot, and our experience is limited to a short trip into said downtown (the wealthier, more conspicuously middle-class area of the city).  Here the YouTube  - or apparently, nowadays, Tiktok - generation are much in evidence, one park we walked in filled with yoof busily photo-snapping one-another skateboarding / breakdancing / generally goofing around for their various postings. Unsurprisingly, the usual high street brands (you may spot M&S below) are also all present and correct and the prices - by the relative standards of India - are sky high. That said, we still manage to find a restaurant to serve us a fantastic Thali meal, more than we can eat delicious vegetarian food for not much more than a tenner between us. Included  in the price the compulsory wearing of (depending on your point of view) either very traditional or deeply silly hats - featured in photo montage below.
Elsewhere and otherwise, all the cliches of big Indian cities are ticked - a noisy, chaotic stew of horn-blaring vehicles and people, the world in a seemingly perpetual motion spin of trying to earn or spend a buck. Plenty of money, but plenty of abject poverty too - even in this more affluent part. Arriving back outside the metro station for our hotel Saturday evening, we discover that the noise and bustle we'd encountered so far was but the warm-up act: Coming out of the subway we emerge into what feels like the third circle of hell - a gridlocked mess of traffic driving into one another from all directions, drivers with hands permanently pressed against horns incessantly blaring out. One night in Delhi - no time at all, and at the same time, also quite long enough.
Right next morning we are picked up by our driver for the drive to Jaipur (280km, around 4 hours on a quieter Sunday). It is - for the most part - a fairly unlovely drive through flat open country sprinkled with urban sprawl - shops and stalls, gas stations, lorry parks, restaurants, hotels and just about any other way humanity can think of to scratch a living. The road is good - in the sense of well-maintained - the driving, bad. Most of the way there are three lanes to the highway, and there are rules, but the problem is, everyone seems to be driving according to their own personal set. Keep right, keep left, straddle the mid-point of two lanes - its all good. The only real shared rule appears to be liberal use of the horn, whilst use of the indicators - for any purpose vaguely related to signalling - is very much frowned upon.
Early afternoon we arrive in the pink city - Jaipur. From where, more later...

Not many photos from Delhi - just random shots, taken on the hoof (silly hands aside).