So, the first stop on my Indian tour was New Delhi. Starting from Hyderabad, I took a flight out to New Delhi (domestic flights are so cheap it's a crime to not make use of it) and began my journey. One thing that proved to be a slight problem upon arrival was the language barrier (again...). Although I am Indian, I don't speak Hindi fluently, let alone Telugu (one of the main languages spoken in Hyderabad) fluently. I do know some words and can definitely manage a conversation, but it was interesting at how many people in Delhi, being the capital city, still spoke Hindi and would not even try to speak English, even when they knew it would make the communication between myself and the person much easier (just another frustrating mannerism you have to accept). Either way, language was the least of my worries, after stepping out the airport, I realized that I just landed into a burning hot oven. Upon arrival, Delhi was a cool 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees F) and I don't think I've felt that dry of air before. The temperature is actually what shortened my time in Delhi, b/c there is no way I plan on making my way through Delhi in this heat.
So, upon arrival at my hostel, I decided to plan out my trip. First night out was a nice little trip to the neighborhood of Karol Bagh. Plainly stated, it's a cool market that is pretty big in size and has almost everything you need from electronics to the latest baby diapers. Myself and a girl named Helia from my hostel probably had more fun on our way back as we went through about 3 different auto-rikshaws in our quest to make it back to South Delhi. I had more pics from the trip, but this is the only one that survived...
Picture taken in our musical rickshaw (he played the latest bollywood hits) at around 2 AM searching through central delhi trying to find someone who knows how to get to our hostel which was in southern Delhi
The next day I decided to head to a major tourist/historical site very near my hostel named Qutb Minar. This place was awesome to visit for a couple of reasons. The main one being it is ancient, originally built in the 1100's, there is amazing architectural prowess and talent shown from the then ruling dynasty, the Mamluk dynasty. What's also interesting is the foundation that Qutb Minar was built on and how the Mamluk Dynasty basically set forth a tradition that was very common throughout the other places in India in regards to Muslim architecture. So, to start, here's Qutb Minar from a distance...
Got here around 8AM so I could beat the heat, but it was already about 38-39 C (not-fun degrees F)
Upon arrival, I got a taste of pretty much what to expect in terms of how foreigners are treated at major tourist sites. The price to go into Qutb Minar is about Rs. 10 (10 Rupees), but for foreigners, Rs. 200. This is absolute bull if you ask me and at the time I made sure that was understood, but first I tried to make my way through as an Indian, after all, I look the part. Here's a quick descrip of our convo (myself and the ticket guy)
me: ek ticket (1 ticket)
ticket guy: ten rupees
then I hand him 10 rupees
ticket guy: where are you from? (asks this question in Hindi)
me: Delhi
ticket guy: where in Delhi? (in Hindi again)
me: Karol Bagh (this is the only neighborhood I've been to so far, so thought it would work)
ticket guy: blah balh balh (something in super fast hindi, but saying it pissed off and I got the point)
me: fine, I'm from the US
ticket guy: 200 rupees
me: That's pretty pathetic, but here you go asswipe (said in fast English, he didn't care b/c all he cared about was the 200)
So, it was a rough start that morning, but I kind of knew that would happen. I looked at it as an opportunity to practice becoming more Indian so I don't get blatantly ripped off like that...later on I learned a simple technique that would help, i'll explain in another post (I need suspense in this blog so I can get some of you back).... Anyways, Qutb Minar, check out a quick wiki descrip if you'd like. Prior to becoming the Qutb Minar, it was actually a temple built by the Mauryan Empire (about 200 BC) and had some amazing architecture. Once the Mamluk empire had come into India though, this is the same empire that was spread all the way to Egypt at the time, they had built upon this temple area of the Mauryan Empire and made Qutb Minar. You can see the rough techniques of the Muslims of this time when you look at the architecture left over from the Mauryan empire because many of the pillars had Hindu gods carved into them and currently they're faces are chopped off , the work of various Islamic empires. So, here are a few pictures from my visit
If you look closely, you see this is a carving into a pillar of the Hindu god Saraswati. It's amazing because this carving could date back to around 300 BC. Saraswati's face though has been chopped off, the work of the Mamluk Empire. A tradition done by the many Islamic dynasty's that made their way through India.
This is an iron pillar that in on the Qutb grounds. First off, this was casted by the Mauryan Empire, so we're talking some year BC. What's amazing is how exactly they casted this iron pillar and how there has NEVER been an rust formation on it. It is definately an engineering marvel and was also explained to me by my tour guide that god may have placed it there. Right. Anyways, there's also a myth saying that if you stand with your back towards the pillar and can circle your arms around it, it is great luck. This activity has been stopped now though b/c with all the people attempting this stupid myth, rust has formed on the lower portion of the pillar as a result of human sweat.
On the iron pillar is some inscription. This is written in the language of "Pali". This language is ancient. Not spoken anymore.
Looking good
Short video from the grounds
The following days I just made my way through Delhi seeing some of the major markets as well as catching a few of the famous sites located in this capital city. Here are a few pics
This is the Lotus Temple in India; it's of the Baha"i faith. My auto driver was a very enthusiastic man, speaking to me English while on the way here and telling me how he would drive me around all of Delhi if I'd like showing me all the major sights. One thing he failed to mention was that the temple is closed on Mondays and once we reached and I started to question him, he spead off...so here is my paparazzi version of the Lotus Temple, as a friend called it, "India's answer to the Sydney Opera House".
Red Fort in the area of Chandni Chowk. This fort was at one time the capital of the Mughal Empire when they were in India. I was more interested in this area, as it is in Old Delhi and has extremely rich culture. The Chandni Chowk market is AMAZING. Everything you could possibly want is there and its a mixture of all types of Indians; Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, etc.
A monkey just crossing the street in the middle of the market...a few feet in the air
This is one of my favorite videos. So, I'm taking this video in front of Red Fort (the old headquarters for the Mughal Empire) and looking towards the busy market place of Chandni Chowk. All the cars are turning into the market and then coincidentally, you see an elephant walk in front of me. It's just crazy to think that this is what it was like maybe 500-600 years ago as well, as this was the capital of India and you may have had hundreds of elephants, camels, horses all walking across what was then a busy marketplace as well.
Chandni Chowk
India Gate
India Gate - made to commemorate all the fallen Indian soldiers during the time they were fighting against the British empire. If you look closely, you will see the names of some of these soldiers on the structure
So, after spending a good 4 days in the oven that was Delhi, I caught my first train and headed towards Amritsar, Punjab.
Chandni Chowk
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