Delhi Tour

Finally, at least 7 hours sleep last night. We were so tired after our tour that we just showered (lukewarm for some reason), ate some snacks and turned out the lights by 8:15 pm. Although I was awake for about 4 hours during the night and Anita for about 2, we didn't realize it was morning until 7:15 am. We awoke to the smell of garbage burning. Even in our room, it can be quite strong sometimes. Other times the air pollution doesn't seem too bad although the air could never be described as clean.

Our driver, Misra, picked us up about 9:15 yesterday morning. First we drove through the congestion of Old Delhi to the Jama Masjid or Jama Mosque, the largest mosque in India. It's basically a big walled courtyard that can hold 25,000 people, with a mosque-looking backdrop on one side (first 2 pictures).

Next, we went to the Red Fort, built by one of the Mughal emperors, Shah Jahan, from 1638 to 1648. The British exiled the last emperor of Delhi and took over the fort in 1857. The red colour, common to a lot of the old monuments and buildings here, is due to the sandstone construction. Protected by 18m high walls and a dry moat, the fort is huge. Some original palace buildings are left inside but some were destroyed by the British who then built barracks to house their army. It was in front of the main Lahore Gate that Nehru first raised the Indian flag of independence in 1947 (pictures 3 & 4).

Our next stop was the Rhaj Ghat, the site of  Mahatma Gandhi's funeral pyre in 1948. There is a simple black marble slab inscribed with his last words, "Hai Ram" (Oh God), and a perpetual flame. The whole memorial is very understated and tasteful (picture 5). Afterward we drove to the National Gandhi Museum where we wandered through rooms with many pictures, documents and artifacts from Gandhi's life, including the simple, bloodstained clothing he was wearing when he was shot. Gandhi is revered here although the museum is a bit rundown like almost everything else in this part of Delhi. We have no doubt that they would spruce things up a bit all over Delhi if they had the money.

Our next stop was the Jantar Mantar, an astronomical observatory built in 1725. It's a collection of odd shaped buildings all constructed precisely. It's not much to look at so we didn't even take a picture. Outside, however, we got a picture of Anita with some local girls (picture 6) or rather they got a picture of Anita with them. If you want to feel like a celebrity, come to India. Near the train station or in Pahar Ganj, we avoid conversations on the street because we know we're likely to get scammed somehow. In other places, however, people come up to talk to us presumably because we're foreigners and they don't see that many that they can approach. Four times yesterday either Anita or I were asked to pose for selfies with local people. Other times people just struck up conversations with us. They don't want anything other than to talk. This happened to us a lot in Southeast Asia too. Maybe they just want to practise their English with native English speakers but a lot of people here speak very good English. Or maybe they're just friendly and curious about foreigners. Either way it's fun.

Our next stop was the Lakshmi Narayan Hindu temple. Built by a wealthy industrialist in 1938, it was inaugurated by Gandhi as a temple for all castes (pic 7). It's a bit weird to see swastikas all over but the swastika and the "Aryan" concept of progress toward perfection have been present in India for over 8,000 years. The Nazis just stole the idea and symbol and perverted them for their own use. 

After seeing the temple we drove past the government offices, the presidential palace and down the wide boulevard toward the India Gate monument. The further south you travel in Delhi, the nicer it gets. Old Delhi and the Pahar Ganj seem to be the worst places in the city. Other neighbourhoods, with streets laid out by the British, are fairly nice. However, on abandoned construction sites or under highway overpasses, you may still see homeless families living a very meagre existence. It seems that most of the 25 million people in Delhi are doing fine but there is definitely a very impoverished underclass.

Our next stop was Humayun's Tomb (pics 8, 9, 10), built in the mid 16th century for a Mughal emperor. Again, it was huge and very beautiful and impressive.

Our 2nd last stop was the Lotus Temple, the Bahai house of worship built in 1986. It's a beautiful building but on a weekend, the local crowds that file into see it are unbelievable. When we got the chance, we cut out of line and left. It was actually kind of scary.

Finally, our driver said he had to take us to the Dili Haat craft mall. We agreed but said we weren't going to buy. We stayed about 5 minutes just to humour him and then he drove us through the crazy traffic back to our hotel. We saw a lot of Delhi for the small amount we paid. Great, exhausting day.