From chaos to chaos

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On Saturday, we flew to Delhi on Air India and arrived safely. The World Cup Final was a huge event that day and although the mood was pretty subdued after the Sri Lankans big scoring first innings the mounting joy as India pared back the runs was great to be part of. At the scoring of the winning six, crackers went off in the streets and the men in our hotel hugged each other and shook hands with us!

Today, Sunday, we looked at the Red Fort which is part of a walled city built by Shajehan, the Mughal Emperor of the 1600s, and also visited his huge Muslim mosque just as it was closing for midday prayers. This guy also designed the Taj Mahal...what an architect! I looked at the national art gallery and then the crafts gallery as Mike waited patiently outside then we visited the” Smriti Gandhi” site together. This is the house where Gandhi spent his last year of life and was ultimately shot in the garden during an evening prayer. We saw many posters adorned with Gandhi's photos, mottos and speeches and visited many rooms of the house.

They were all moving, including the story of his last 48 hours. It was most poignant standing in Gandhi's actual meeting room which consisted mainly of one white mattress in a corner, a few cushions, a low desk and a cotton weaving machine. We saw a framed collection of his earthly belongings (probably only a dozen) including his beautiful round glasses. In his bedroom next door was a bed made of a plank of wood with a white sheet on it, next to a doorway with a glass window in it. Just outside on the path leading to the prayer garden raised in clay, we could see a line of footsteps depicting the last walk Gandhi took before his death. We thought of Mac and how he would love to see this. It was truly moving.

(Mac, hope the exams went well (M))
(Brian, no signs of the mud floors as yet (M))

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Comments

[Terry]

You two should write travel books. I can ALMOST hear the noise, picture the scene but can't quite smell it. Take care and stay safe. Be careful at the ashram Annie. Look forward to the next episode.

[Carla Steadman]

Off on another adventure, have a wonderful time! Keep the blog coming.... Carla x

[Sankhanil Goswami]

Correction
I love to read travel blogs from around the world. I found yours to be quite interesting....but The Father Of the Nation is Mahatma Gandhi and not "Ghandi". It must have been an inadvertent mistake but please correct it if possible.