I was awake before the alarm which we had set for 8.00 as our Delhi tour wasn’t due to start until 10.00, but I had slept pretty much solidly for 6 and a half hours which should keep me going today.
Breakfast done we were down in reception for 10.00 to meet our guide, Jay. An Indian from just outside Jodphur, he spends the winter guiding in Delhi, then returns home to help on the family farm for the rest of the year.
Delhi is a city of 17 million and India a country of 1.3 billion. I find it hard to compute those sorts of numbers. It struggles with its air quality although it has a good metro system that opened in 2002 and all the buses run on some sort of natural gas rather than petrol or diesel. There are just too many other dirty vehicles! Being driven on the roads was an experience. Apparently you have to be 18 before you can drive and you can take your test in only a month after getting your licence! It costs about £60. However, I’m not sure there are any rules of the road!! People cut in and across with impunity and at times it is real heart in the mouth stuff!! Our guide called it functional anarchy, an apt description!
Our first stop was at a mosque. The Jama Masjid, it is the largest Mosque in India built in 1650. From here you could see over to the Red Fort built in 1638. This took 10 years to build, the mosque just 6 but there were 5000 labourers. It is constructed from sandstone, marble and black granite, all of which needed to be brought in from various parts of the country.
We had to remove our shoes and I had to wear a long robe and then we were allowed in. Most of the mosque is in fact in the open air and just a small part covered which is where the royal family would have gone for prayers.
From here it was onto a rickshaw. Now that is an experience. The seats aren’t padded and the roads are potholed. You must keep your elbows in and hold on tight to your phone. How your ‘driver’ manages to pedal for 3, weave down narrow side streets stuffed with people, other rickshaws, tuk tuks, scooters, cars and things on the side of the street I will never know. At times I thought there just had to be a collision and at other times we just ground to a halt as it was a complete log jam. But it was fun. I don’t think our photos and videos begin to capture what it was really like!
Next it was to Humayuns tomb. Built in the 16th century by the widow of Humayuns, the second Mughal Emperor, it is thought to be the forerunner of the Taj Mahal and is the burial place of members of the royal family. It was in a lovely peaceful setting and was very beautiful.
Lunch at a nearby restaurant was a vegetable curry for me and a mushroom madras for Geoff. The hope and intention is to stay vegetarian whilst in India, which along with a number of other precautions will hopefully keep us healthy!
Next to the Sikh temple.
I know almost nothing about the Sikh religion but it seems it is a very simple religion based on faith, unity and equality which means looking after the poor. To that end Sikhs will give a percentage of their income to the Temple and the Temple then provides a meal each day to anyone who wants it regardless of wealth, belief, culture, class or anything else. This is put together by volunteers every day and in Delhi they feed 10,000 daily. We had a look at the kitchen and communal dining area. I’ve never seen anything like it!!! The biggest pots and pans ever, to say nothing of the piece of dough that was being cut up for flat breads!
Then into the temple where we had to be completely bare footed, I had to cover my arms and heads had to be covered too.
In contrast to what appears a simple faith the Temple was very ornate. Having washed our hands and feet we followed people in. No photos allowed here. A lot of gold leaf made it shimmer and it was such a contrast to the big kitchen that we had just been in. I’m not sure how I felt about it. The 10th and last Guru declared that there should not be an idol and that the scripture should be what Sikhs live by. This is now housed in the temple underneath a piece of cloth.
Our last stop was at Mahatma Ghandi’s home for the last 144 days of his life and where he was assassinated. It was another oasis of calm in this crazy city. We would have liked more time here as there was so much information but we had been sightseeing for 6 hours and had just about had enough.
So it was back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before dinner, another two different vegetarian curries and then an early night!
Tomorrow sees us meet up with the HF group that we will be travelling with in Rajasthan for the next 10 days.
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