delhi

on sunday, I went to see india's capital along with steffen, who works at our plant in the village of dhankot until the end of june. since the april heat scored record highs in delhi (highest temperatures recorded since 1890!), we decided not to set off until 2 p.m. a taxi picked us up at the guest house in gurgaon and drove us to the first sight, humayun's tomb (app. one-hour drive, 500 rupees).

in terms of motivation for building, humayun's tomb constitutes the exact opposite of the taj mahal: humanyun's widow had the tomb built after his death. as far as architecture (and timing: 16th century) goes, the tomb is actually considered a precursor to the taj mahal. just like the taj, humayun's tomb belongs to a legacy of mughal monuments in india. humayun in particular was known for importing persian ideas and style into northern india.

the visit to the tomb also generated my favourite picture of this weekend; maybe you are able to tell without referring to the picture descriptions.

after the tomb, we went to the old part of delhi, successfully fending off the rickshaw driver's attempts to take us to "very good shopping" places. our goal was the 'jama masjid of delhi', the largest and most important mosque in india. and guess what, we are herewith coming back to the taj again since this mosque was also built by the mughal emperor shah jahan. we were right in time for the evening prayer and, therefore, denied access. we were to come back one hour later though.

the mosque surely is a place worth seeing when you are in delhi. however, do not expect the silence and peace of other sights. jama masjid is a publicly accessible building at no entrance fee (just as any church in germany). therefore, especially as a foreigner, you will find many people begging here. and if you stroll - as we did - around the area surrounding the mosque, you understand why.

this is 'old delhi', often offering perceptions from the middle ages: children wash themselves in the streets, workers take a nap on the sidewalk, and dirt and bad odors are ubiquitous. walking through the streets there I was to realize once more that I cannot just point my camera at everybody and everything. looking at the few pictures I took in old delhi, simply keep in mind that I did not take pictures of the worst things. this is not a 'vacation'; a sightseeing tour to old delhi is not a walk in the park from a mental point of view, at least, not for the average and maybe new-to-india tourist.

at the same time, I do not want to leave you with a biased impression about old delhi. you can explore this very interesting part of delhi without having to fear any harm; I would even claim that it is a much safer place than the subway system in paris, for instance. moreover, the world-famous and reportedly best non-vegetarian restaurant of delhi hides itself in these alleys ('karim's'). we had perfectly seasoned chicken and lamb there. I will definitely go back next time; to both old delhi and 'karim's'.

for the last part of our visit to delhi, we went to the commercial centre of delhi, the 'new' new delhi: connaught place. steffen knew a nice rooftop bar where we sealed up the day's experiences with a descent pint of tiger beer.

ti-bob