Following a late morning orientation session with our guide, Ajay Paliwal, (in the company of the other five remaining stalwart and intrepid travelers signing on with Overseas Adventure Travel’s “Heart of India” tour program this time around) and a light lunch in our hotel, we set out for our first half-day seeing the sights here in Delhi.
Ajay’s approach is to immerse us in today’s India as fully as possible. So our first taste came via a short ride on the city’s fairly new subway system (no photography allowed; metal detectors and bag search at every entrance; a unique electronic token fare system) to Chandi Chowk, a bustling market area at the heart of Old Delhi.
Here we boarded bicycle rickshaws for a brisk ride through the quarter’s narrow streets and alleys to the foot of the steps leading up to the country’s largest mosque, Jama Masjid, where we shucked out shoes to wander through the walled complex in the few minutes before the call to early evening prayers.
Then off we went by bus through the Muslim quarter to Raj Ghat to visit the site where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated following his assassination at the hands of a bitter Hindu fanatic.
Dinner this evening (a truly delicious range of Indian dishes!) was at the drolly-named Lazeez Affaire restaurant.
The following photo collage illustrates, the afternoon proved a rich and varied introduction to contemporary life in Old Delhi. The sunny, cool weather unfortunately didn’t keep the pollution at bay; the crowds of people everywhere, however, were surprisingly orderly, cheerful and (aside from the constantly honking horns) quietly going about their daily business everywhere we went. the desperately poor didn’t seem quite as desperate as might be expected under the circumstances (and, in fact, many are “professional,” even making a fairly good living at what they do day after day to make ends meet).
We should all sleep soundly tonight (if the pounding disco beat from the hotel’s popular lobby club permits it, that is)…
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