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Published: July 22nd 2014
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Day 3 - Old & New Delhi - Salaam Baalak Trust and Jama Masjid Mosque
I was up at around 6am after not sleeping very well! I have been awake for three days now due to the problems before I left. I am so tired, but was scared that I slept through the alarm!
I didn't go for breakfast due to still not having any Rupees yet. Anker reassured me that I can get some later today! I will feel better when I know I have useable cash with me!
Salaam Baalak Trust
As a whole group we set off in 4 taxis to visit a Planeterra-supported project. It is estimated that 400,000 children live and work on the streets of Delhi. In most cases, their families are too poor to provide for them, they have run away from abusive home environments or they are orphans.
Planeterra's New Delhi Streetkids Project supports over 5,000 of these street children through strategically placed contact points, shelters and a health post set up by a local partner organisation. These youth centres provide clothing, food, healthcare, education, counselling, recreational activities, job skills training and job placements. Through Planeterra's partnership with Salaam Baalak Trust, scholarships
are made available to young people who once lived and worked on the streets of Delhi. By funding vocational training in trade schools and universities, and making job-placements based on each child's individual interest, we can help break the cycle of poverty and give these youth the opportunity to create a brighter future. Many of these adolescents have been fully-trained as tour guides and lead exciting tours through the enchanting inner city streets of Paharganj, the New Delhi railway station, and The Old City.
Afterwards, an orientation walk took us through Chandni Chowk, one of India's oldest and busiest markets, or explore the history of the Sikh religion at the important Gurduwara, (Sikh place of worship), Gurdwara SisGanj. We strolled through Gold Street, Food Street, Connaught Place and various other streets.
My only job was to get to Macdonalds to meet with Anker; I got so excited over getting a Costa iced coffee that I didn't notice Macdonalds next door! I ended up so far in the wrong direction!! I asked an Indian man to call Ankur from his mobile phone to ask him to wait for me..... I had quite a long walk back to meet up with Anker,
but I did make it in the end!
We also paid a visit to the Masjid-i-Jahan Numa, commonly known as the Jama Masjid (Great Mosque) of Delhi is the principal mosque of Old Delhi in India. Masjid-i-Jahan Numa means "mosque commanding a view of the world, " whereas the name Jama Masjid is a reference to the weekly congregation observed on Friday (the yaum al-jum'a) at the mosque. Commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and completed in the year 1656 AD, the Jarna Masjid is the best-known and largest mosque in India; its courtyard can hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers. The mosque houses several relics in a niche in the north gate, including a priceless copy of the Qur'an written on deer skin.
The Sikh holy site of Gurdwara SisGanj stands at the site where the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was beheaded in 1675 on the orders of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for refusing to accept Islam. Before his body could be quartered and exposed to public view, it was stolen under cover of darkness by one of his disciples, Lakhi Shah Vanjara, who then burnt his house to cremate the Guru's body. We eent into
the kitchen area where the Sikhs feed everyone who comes....for free! We had a go at making chapatis, and where shown the huge cooking vats, before passing through the huge food hall where lines of people sat eating their free meal.
After the sightseeing, we made our way back to Hotel Perfect to get ready for our first night train. We will be taking an 8 hour overnight sleeper train to Bikaner.
Tonight at 7pm before we set off we will be going for a group meal.
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Dimitri
non-member comment
Day 3
Bit of cutting and pasting from the brochures there Leesal. Lol.