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Published: January 15th 2009
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We spent a good 5 and a 1/2 weeks in Delhi. To avoid boring you all to tears, I'll forego covering the entire duration of the stay in a blow by blow account. Instead, I have given below some of my thoughts on India as a whole and then some impressions of the amazing sights we visited in Delhi and Agra with lots of pics attached for your delectation. I'll cover Ladakh and Mumbai in separate posts.
Thoughts on India: Often an impenetrable mystery and recurrently a galling curiosty, India can be a complete and monstrous enigma. Never have I been so exasperated. Never have I been so frustrated. Never have I been so perplexed as I was in India. And yet, for me, there was something utterly irresistible about India. Like a treasure trove filled with precious gemstones, India is rich in culture, spirituality, hospitality, diversity and exquisite architecture. And if earnest enough to see past the double-crossing touts, the crooked scams and the epidemic poverty and deprivation, India will astonish and take your breath away like, I imagine, no other place in the world can. Interestingly, I reckon it will be one of the first countries I will
return to after my trip's end.
Sights of New Delhi: I never actually stopped to take in these magnificent buildings properly. I only ever whizzed past them in the back of a careering auto-rickshaw. The buildings here are all of the British Raj era and while distinctly British looking they do incorporate traditional Indian architecture. The proportions are big and everything is remarkably well laid out even incorporating pretty tree-lined boulevards. The nearby Cathedral Church of the Redemption, which I attended one Sunday morning, is of similar style. The english-speaking service was surprisingly busy! I got chatting to some of the congregation and was even invited to join their choir but sadly had to decline given how short my overall stay in Delhi would be.
Sights of Old Delhi: (1) Red Fort and Lahore Gate - it was quite exhausting wandering round this 17th century fort built by Shah Jahan as a residence for the royal family. Dizzying scale. Enormous amounts of gates, courtyards and chambers. Intricate inlay detail. The Prime Minister of India famously addresses the nation from Lahore Gate each August and so it's a location which emanates a lot of national pride. (2) Chandni Chowk
- not for the fainthearted. Take a brave pill, clutch tightly to all personal belongings and venture in to one of India's busiest markets. I went down the main bazaar on a cycle-rickshaw which left me feeling a tad conspicuous but from my elevated position felt distinctly more safe from dastardly pickpockets. I'm not much of a fan of markets and so needless to say I did not hang around. (3) Jama Masjid - this is an incredible building. It's the largest mosque in Asia and really quite stunning. I did feel a little scammed here having to pay an entrance charge, a camera charge, a looking-after-my-shoes charge, a here's-some-cloth-to-cover-exposed-flesh charge and then to top it all off some young whipper-snapper asks if I could take his photo and then demands payment. All very exasperating.
More sights of Delhi: (1) Raj Ghat - a nice change from Old Delhi, this is a memorial to Mahatma Ghandi in a peaceful garden setting. It's the place of his cremation. Serene moments of quiet contemplation here were slightly undone as a bird in flight emptied its bowels on top of my head and all over my rucksack - yuck! (2) Lakshmi's Temple
- I found this Hindu temple particularly intriguing. Full of colour and diversity and the very many wide ranging deities, I spent a good while here soaking up the atmosphere and observing the traditional worship. Unfortunately photography inside the temple was not permitted. (3) Humayun's Tomb - dramatic complex of tombs where I got chatting to some random old man called Lal who explained to me the fall and rise of the Mughal Empire and the significance of the tombs. Of course, once finished his lecture he demanded payment for his time - aaarrgghh!- but he was actually quite good company and seemed to know his stuff so I didn't mind all that much. (4) Lotus Temple - definitely a highlight among highlights. I had to queue some considerable time in burning heat to get in - came home at the end of the day rather pink! This is a Baha'i place of worship - so it's all very ecumenical and was amazing to see so many people from various backgrounds here worshipping in their own way. The dimensions of the building are immense. From the outside it appears like a closed lotus flower but from the inside the ceiling
has the appearance of an open lotus flower. Absolutley sublime. (5) Qutb Minar - at some ridiculous hour in the morning (6.00 am, as I seem to recall) my Harvard friend, Nic, and I headed off to catch Qutb Minar in the light of dawn. At 72.5m high, the Qutb Minar is the tallest minaret in the world. It stands in an impressive complex of monuments and buildings which includes an iron pillar which is considered good luck if you can stand with your back to it and wrap your arms behind it and make them meet. Unfortunately, there's now a fence round the iron pillar due to its popularity and so Nic and I didn't get the chance to try our luck.
Sights of Agra: (1) The Taj Mahal - waiting to get in was an event in itself. We stood in a ridiculously long queue a bit tense because of the crush of the crowd - I ended up wearing my rucksack in front of me to avoid pesky hand grabs. Then the heaven's opened and it rained in true Indian monsoon fashion - an absolute deluge of rain soaking us through to the bone. Fortunately the
rains didn't last too long and had cleared by the time we entered the complex encompassing the Taj Mahal. Built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, it was breathtaking to behold. Utterly other worldly, I was left feeling surprisingly emotional - something I didn't think architecture was capable of. It was like it had fallen out of the sky, somehow tumbled out of heaven. Truly, more beautiful than words can describe. (2) Agra Fort - India's most important fort. It was the seat of power for many of India's Mughal emperors. Again, as with so many of the sights in India, the proportions are staggering. I particularly enjoyed the view from the fort across the Yamuna River over to the Taj Mahal.
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