Touring New Delhi

3rd February 2018 – Touring New Delhi

After a south Indian style breakfast which consisted of a rice pancake with a vegetable curry, we were picked up by our driver and met Raoul, our guide for the day.  Before leaving the hotel we admired the preparations for an engagement party that is apparently happening tomorrow.  A tree by the entrance to the garden had been decorated by parasols and all sorts of hanging ornaments and looked fabulous – gave me some ideas for home!

The Red Fort

We then merged into the inevitable traffic jam and slowly made our way to the first stop – the red fort, which was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal dynasty for 200 years until 1856.  It is enclosed by a huge sandstone wall and was surrounded by a moat which is how it got its name.  Within the walls there are a series of pavilions (most of them undergoing restoration) which would have been connected by water channels.  Nowadays, each year on Independence Day of India, the Prime Minister makes a nationally broadcast speech from its ramparts.  Some of the detailing within the pavilions undergoing restoration was really stunning.  We got some tantalising glimpses of trees and flowers – when the work is finished, it will look fantastic.  We came across a huge group of young school children all in smart uniforms, which are mandatory.  They formed a long crocodile and were so well behaved.  We obviously looked very English as they all waved and shouted hello - they were very endearing.

The monkey highway

We then split into pairs and went on a rickshaw ride around a few streets and alleyways of Old Delhi which was great fun.  We started off crossing a very busy road being hooted all the way and then driving down a major road which had various temples and churches from a cross-section of religions plus a McDonalds before taking some side streets. We dodged motorbikes, street vendors and pedestrians as we zoomed along at a surprisingly high speed whilst staring in disbelief at the myriad of wires that hang everywhere which form the monkey highway. 

Halal butcher

Jama Masjid

All too soon, our ride was over and we found that we’d been dropped off at Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India.  It was built between 1644 and 1656 and has 3 great gates, four towers and two 40m high minarets made of red sandstone and marble.  The courtyard can accommodate 25,000 people and does so just twice a year.  There are 3 domes on the terrace flanked by 2 minarets.  On the floor inside, a total of 899 black bordered spaces are marked out for worshippers.  Almost any attire was acceptable for male visitors whereas women had to put on huge long floaty gowns to cover themselves up.  I had to pay extra for my camera but it was worth it as it was really impressive and very photogenic.

Raj Ghat

After retrieving our shoes, we made our way back to the car and were taken to Raj Ghat which is Ghandi’s cremation site located in a huge park, which was very peaceful.  You can either view it from above which gives you a better view of it, or get closer on the level below, which involved removing your shoes.  We opted for the 1^st option and looked down on it. A large rectangular black marble platform open to the skies is flanked on its 2 longer sides by 2 white marble walls which are the same height as the platform.  On each corner of the platform are circular floral decorations made up of circles of yellow marigold flowers with red flowers within them.  At one end of the platform, an everlasting flame burns on a raised post protected by a simple lantern casing.  It’s a simple but effective memorial to a very great man.

View from exiting the mosque

We then rejoined the traffic and learned some facts about New Delhi. Unbelievably the population has grown from around 1 million people in 1947 to around 21 million in just 70 years.  Every day, around 3 million cars, 5 million bikes and 1 million trucks take to the roads in New Delhi – no surprise that it’s so polluted then.  We really noticed it and have all been coughing and sneezing, and, in my case, wheezing as well.  It made us realise us how we take the clean air where we live for granted.   Having said that, a pleasant surprise in New Delhi is how green it is – there are trees everywhere and in the old colonial area, lots of beautifully landscaped roundabouts and pavement areas.  I hate to imagine what the air quality would be like without the huge green lungs of the city.

Humayan's tomb

Our next stop was the Humayan’s tomb, which is the first of the grand dynastic mausoleums that were to become synonyms of Mughal architecture with the architectural style reaching its zenith 80 years later at the later Taj Mahal.  Humayun’s Tomb stands within a complex of 27 hectares which includes other contemporary, 16^th century Mughal garden-tombs.  It was built in the 1560’s, with the patronage of Humayun’s son, the great Emperor Akbar. Persian and Indian craftsmen worked together to build the garden-tomb, far grander than any tomb built before in the Islamic world. Humayun’s garden-tomb is an example of the charbagh (a four quadrant garden with the four rivers of Quranic paradise represented), with pools joined by channels. The garden is entered from lofty gateways on the south and from the west with pavilions located in the centre of the eastern and northern walls.

A tomb in a side chamber

The mausoleum itself stands on a high, wide terraced platform with deep vaulted cells on all four sides. It is surmounted by a 42.5 m high dome clad with marble with 4 smaller domes on each corner adorned with glazed ceramic tiles. The middle of each side is deeply recessed by large arched vaults with a series of smaller ones set into the facade.  On each side of the main dome is a large building topped by a single smaller dome which, bizarrely,  seemed to be the only unrestored or cleaned part of the monument.

Another tomb in the complex

Inside, there is a main Octagonal shaped chamber where the sultan is buried and then there are side chambers where up to 150 members of the family are also buried.  Large arch shaped vents in the walls were covered by slatted screens which made the interior cool and also very peaceful.  Embarrassingly, whilst we were there, a strange American religious cult surrounded the sultan’s tomb and started singing some strange chant, which echoed around the chamber in an eerie way – we thought it disrespectful and quickly left and instead, enjoyed the silent tranquillity in a nearby chamber with 2 tombs which was devoid of other tourists for a short while.

We then walked around 3 sides of the main dome on the platform catching glimpses of domes from other tombs in the complex with black kites constantly wheeling around in the skies.  From this height, it was possible to appreciate the series of water channels linking pools and fountains together.

India Gate in the distance

We then hopped back into our car and had a quick tour of the legacy the British had left when they moved the capital of India from Calcutta to New Delhi.  We drove by large colonial style buildings designed principally by Herbert Baker, a South African architect, but also by Sir Edward Lutyens, which today house various government departments.  At one end of the grand avenue is the Presidents palace and at the other end is India Arch, a memorial to Indian soldiers who died in WWI.  Apparently, we were lucky today as we could see India Arch from the top end of the avenue by the President’s Palace, as quite often it is impossible to see, due to the smog.

Qutub Minar

After a short stop for a late lunch where there was a snake charmer just outside the restaurant, we then drove to our final stop of the day – the Qutub Minar.  This is an incredible 73m high minaret made up of 5 tapering storeys.  The diameter at the base is 47 feet and it narrows to just 9 feet at the top.  There is an internal staircase (which no longer allows public access) made up of 379 steps.  It was started in 1192 and another 3 storeys were added in 1220.  In 1369, lightening destroyed the top storey so it was rebuilt and another storey added.  The main building material is sandstone but some marble was also used.  Each storey is a different shape.  The lowest one is a rather awkward mixture of rounded pillars and sharp pointed sections with parts of the Koran carved into it, the next storey is all rounded, the one above that all pointed, then a marble section topped by a complete mix of all styles. 

Beautifully carved pillars

The minaret is set within a huge complex of other monuments and buildings, which after the Taj Mahal, is the 2^nd most visited tourist attraction in India.  With the little time we had left, we had a quick look at the remnants of the earliest mosque in India and the remains of some impressive gateways.  There were also a series of carved sandstone columns which looked very picturesque in the late afternoon sun, and we admired the skill of the craftsman who had created them.

We got back to the hotel at 6.15pm, so it was a long day – far longer than the 5 hour tour mentioned in our itinerary – not that we were complaining!  We declined the invite of the local Audley team to go out for dinner and instead ate in at the hotel.

When reviewing the day, we all had different highlights.  Mum’s was the rickshaw ride, Chris enjoyed the Qutub Minar best and my favourite was the mausoleum and gardens.  We all agreed though that we’d had a fascinating day with enough of a mixture of things to see and do to give us just a taster of what New Delhi has to offer.