As mentioned in our India Intro page, we arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport via our Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur around 10:00 PM and were met by a representative of Cox & Kings for our drive to The Lalit, our hotel located in central New Delhi.
While one (very) large city, there are distinct differences between Old Delhi and New Delhi. The first was the ancient capital of the Mughal Empire and is still full of ancient landmarks, customs and behaviors while the other is more modern with its roots in the British colonial occupation of the 19th and early 20th century and now rushing full bore into the future.
We found it ironic that like the British, the founders of
the Mughal Empire were foreign invaders; primarily from Mongolia and claimed linage from Genghis Khan. Over time, Persian
and local Indian coalitions and culture were added to the royal family mix through marriages.
As we set out on our day long tour of the city the next morning we got our first look at Delhi in the day light. The heavy air pollution was still present and on the drive we discovered that traffic in Delhi is crazy!
There are too many cars, too many scooters and too many pedestrians including (mostly kid) beggars walking through the middle of the street and approaching cars as they wait for the too long lights to change. Most drivers do stop for the red lights but that’s about the only traffic rule they follow. It’s common to see cars rolling and edging their way into intersections as the only way to make a left turn. It was fascinating to observe the strategy of car drivers working their way forward inch by inch carving out a sliver of space with each move to eventually force their way far enough into the flow to finally make the turn into bumper to bumper traffic.
I won’t go into huge detail of what we saw on our tour of Delhi. You can find that in a wide variety of sources. But we did hit many of the high lights beginning with Old Delhi’s Red Fort, an ornate castle and fort of the Mughal Empire. From there we took a rickshaw ride through the narrow winding and dark alleyways of Chandni Chowk; a mixture of the ancient market and residences.
From there we visited the incredible Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in the world built by Shah Jahan; the 17th century Mughal emperor best known as the builder of the Taj Mahal in Agra, where both he and his (favorite) wife (Mumtaz Mahal) are buried. It was easy to see some of the similar architectural influences between Jama Masjid and the Taj Mahal.
As we entered one of the gates to the mosque, we made a small donation for the use of a wrap to cover our legs and at another point in our visit paid a small tip to a custodian to open a door for a peek inside a room that most visitors don’t get the chance to walk through.
This mosque is extremely impressive and attracts not only
foreign tourists but also locals who dress in their finest and most colorful saris to visit and pray at the mosque.
From the ornate grandeur of the Jama Masjid we traveled to the beautiful simplicity of Raj Ghat, a memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. It features a black marble platform that marks the spot of Gandhi’s cremation and is left open to the sky while an eternal flame burns at one end. As at Raj Ghat, we were impressed with the full families all wearing beautiful clothes as they paid their respects.
After lunch at a very nice local restaurant that our
guide suggested we made an attempt at buying a sim card for our cell
phone. The first shop we stopped at suggested another that we should visit. We had brought along a photo copy of our passport as well as the original and obtained the card. But unlike most other countries in the world where we’ve traveled, we needed to wait till the next morning to call a number to activate the card. More on that later.
From the phone store we drove past the India Gate and the Presidential Palace on the way to the Qutab Minar, a 234 foot high fluted minaret built of intricately carved red sandstone in the 13th century. Our last stop of the day before heading back to the Lalit was Humayun’s Tomb built nine years after his death in 1565, by his first wife Empress Bega Begam. This building also shared some similar Mughal architectural features with the Taj Mahal.
All-in-all, it was an excellent introduction to India in general and specifically Delhi but it was a long day and we were happy to veg out at the hotel for the rest of the day and evening. We wanted to be ready the next morning for our drive to Agra and our chance to see the Taj Mahal at sunset.