Delhi metro takes me around town.

I was dreading Delhi by the time I left Rishikesh as I was ill and tired and worried about the pollution and my arrival at Paharganj was not helped by the delay to the flight and the fact that the promised onsite cafe had been closed by Government decree and the only place remotely okay in which to grab a tea was Mc Donalds.  My hotel seemed dark and depressing and dangerous, but attempts to find out from Booking.com as to what my rights were as a result of their misleading description resulted in me almost being asked to leave.  Booking.com did not answer my question, instead they went against my request and just asked the hotel to cancel my booking. Furious with their incompetence.  Luckily some of the safety issues were resolved and once Om was found, it became clear that opposite him was a good cafe and that he was only minutes down the road, the area became doable, but at first the dying rats and the more aggressive wild dogs worried me. However, a nice meal with Om and his girl sorted me out, but unfortunately she was ill after that.   Meanwhile I have discovered how much I like going round Delhi on my own. The extended metro meant that yesterday I could get up to the parliament area and have a look around aspects of the building even if I could not get inside. It was green, the day warm but with a nice breeze and overall it was a brilliant day for example lunch at the

Craft Museum excellent and the actual museum itself amazing.  There were craft workers there and I felt sorry that I did not feel I could just buy and buy but inside the museum too it was a delight from huge terracotta horses to huge skinny statues that looked like beings from Dr Who programmes to elephants in all shapes and sizes and from serious to comical.   There were also lots of styles of wall art.  I did not get back to my hotel till 6.   Om had a late tea with me and it was just nice to be in his presence.   Then today back onto the metro, with a long and restful stop at Connaught Place were I began to go red under the sun and was subject to a pleasant and extended series of questions from two young men who wanted to know how to progress their careers - as if that was something I had the knowledge to help them with. Then it was up to the Red Fort just to sit and admire it followed by an extended walk through the local market area, which proved very disappointing in terms of sales items, but interesting to just walk through, but the highlight was the lunch stop at a place called Haldiram's which was very lively, cool and busy and where I got a lovely like lunch of aloo tikka.  Much better than the McD one of the day before!  I sat in the small Mahatma Gandhi park after where every patch was a cricket game, but did not stay long as I was shattered.  Back through the metro,  everyone has to go through security at each station, and it is wonderful that the women's queue is always shorter than the men's ones. There is even a woman's carriage and a ladies seat in each carriage, which is nice sometimes to use.   At RAvik Chowk there are lots of cafes too so one can get refreshments on route.  And it is clean.