The Festival of Paint Throwing
Indian music is annoying in two ways.
Firstly, it can be incredibly annoying. Secondly, and perhaps even more annoyingly, you suddenly realise that you actually quite like it.
Anyway, that was not the main event today. Jackson Pollock would have absolutely loved Delhi. There was paint everywhere. Vivid orange, red, purple, green, yellow and blue covered the streets, the people and, before long, us!
All because today was Holi – the famous Festival of Colours in India.
Holi is an ancient Hindu festival celebrating the arrival of spring and is associated with the triumph of good over evil. It is also a time when people come together to play, laugh, forgive and forget.
And, most importantly for us today…
Throw enormous amounts of coloured powder at each other. And unsuspecting tourists. Nobody was safe.
We Tried to Avoid Holi…
At the beginning of the day, we weren’t entirely convinced that going outside was a sensible idea.
We had heard about the paint throwing and thought we would play it safe. 
So, naturally, we decided to venture no further than the hotel reception to use the computer.
Completely safe…or so we thought.
The security guard spotted us, started laughing his head off and promptly ran up the stairs threw a load of coloured powder over us.
So much for hiding indoors!
After that and the shock, we thought:
“Actually… this could be quite fun.”
So we decided to go out and experience the Holi Festival in Delhi properly.
Paint, Paint Everywhere
Our first destination was India Gate. 
Sure enough, we were soon attacked again.
This time, however, we were ready for it.
Well… slightly more ready.
Everyone was laughing, throwing colours and generally having an absolutely brilliant time. Before long, our appearance had become considerably more colourful.
At this point, there was really no point worrying about keeping clean.
We had lost that battle.
Completely.
Then We Met a Cobra…
We then walked towards Connaught Place, one of the main commercial and business areas of Delhi.
On the way, things became even more interesting!
A man approached us carrying a basket. 
He sat down in front of us and lifted the lid.
Inside was a cobra.
And it was not a small, friendly-looking snake.
It was sitting there in full strike mode.
The man then asked me to hold the basket before placing a much smaller – and rather pathetic-looking – snake around Dad’s neck.
Naturally, this seemed like an excellent time for photographs.
We even asked a passing soldier to take some pictures. We passed him our phone camera, that is why we didn’t get the best quality photo, which is a shame.
I’m not entirely sure what was going through his mind.
Dad Gets a Holi Makeover
When we finally reached Connaught Place, the Holi celebrations were still in full swing.
A couple arrived in a tuk-tuk and the woman immediately came over to Dad and gave him a rather enthusiastic dusting of bright yellow and red powder.
Dad was now looking considerably less like himself.
Children were also getting involved in Holi in a big way.
Their favourite tactic seemed to involve throwing water balloons at unsuspecting people before disappearing behind a wall and collapsing into fits of giggles.
We were repeatedly hit.
Apparently, being tourists made us an excellent target, I guess there was no surprise really!
A Different Side of Delhi
On a more serious note, I was already beginning to notice just how different parts of Delhi could be.
The Connaught Place area felt very different from some of the places we had seen.
There were litter bins.
Zebra crossings.
Traffic lights.
Green spaces.
And, perhaps most surprisingly of all…
No cows wandering around.
Delhi is a city of incredible contrasts, and even after just two days, I was beginning to see how quickly the surroundings could change from one area to another.
Back to the Hotel… Completely Exhausted
Eventually, covered in enough coloured powder to start our own paint shop, we made our way back to the hotel.
We were absolutely exhausted.
So we did the only sensible thing possible.
We went to sleep for the rest of the day.
Tomorrow, however, things get a little more serious.
I need to be on top form because at 10am I am being picked up to meet Aspiration International.
And that is where the real purpose of my trip to India begins…
To be continued…Or you can read day 1 of the Indian trip