Lotus Temple (New Delhi) : The World’s Most Visited Building

One of the best things about staying at Hari Piorko Hotel in New Delhi is the broad 360-degree view of Pahar Ganj and the Main Bazaar Road from its rooftop. You’d be surprised by just how much of New Delhi’s characteristics that you’d actually see by just standing there and watching things go by. It’s like reading the first chapter of a book that probably carries NEW DELHI for the title on the front page or something.

It’d be our first day of exploring New Delhi. Once we are out on the streets of Pahar Ganj, we promptly made a deal with a Tuk Tuk driver and agreed to pay a total of INR800 to take us to 6 of New Delhi major attractions – The Lotus Temple, Humayun Tomb, Lodi Park, Gate of India, Rajghat (Ghadi Memorial) and the Red Fort to end the day with. On the Tuk Tuk driver’s suggestion, we started off the day by going to the Lotus temple before all.

The Lotus Temple is without doubt one the most significant landmarks in New Delhi and it’s very easy to see why people are attracted to come this very uniquely-shaped building. As a city that depends so much on the existence of centuries-old buildings and over-sized tombs that were inherited mostly from the Munghal era to keep the tourism going, the Lotus Temple at least gives some modern elements to its architecture.

To tell the truth, I din’t know the existence of Lotus Temple before I searched on major attractions in New Delhi a week or so before my trip to India. Taking after the shape of a lotus, it is certainly one of the most spectacular architectural designs that I’ve ever seen.

The ‘petals’ remind me very much of Sydney Opera House in Australia – only smaller in size. Admission to the building might be free (was it?) which is quite rare in a country like India but I gotta tell you that it was so hot when we went there and I felt like I was melting as we proceeded slowly towards the entrance. Being the most visited building in the world with an average of 10,000 visitors per day, it is almost impossible to avoid getting into a long slow-moving line of people which makes things even worse for visitors. It was 10 am and the sun was already at its full intensity so getting into the temple had proved to be not an easy task.

To make things even worse,  visitors would be asked to take off their footwear half way through the queue and the shoes would be bundled up into a sack together with dozens others so imagine how daunting it would be to get them back again later. And imagine walking barefooted on the damn burning concrete! Ouch ouch ouch! They did put some kind of linen mat but still there are certain parts of the walkway that is not covered so they really burn.

Thanks God I’m not the kind of person that throws away everything after a single use. I got this at the entrance to the Taj Mahal (included in the ticket) and sensing that I might wanna use it again soon, I had kept it safely in my possession and true enough, my sense had proved to be right 😀

Visitors to the Lotus Temple are allowed to come in group by group and there is a prayer session that you are free to join once you’re inside. Of course they wouldn’t force you to join so all you have to do is shut the hell up and wait until you’re ALLOWED to get out.

Photography is not allowed inside the temple so I’ve got no pictures to show to you. But then, just like most other iconic buildings in the world, the beauty of Lotus Temple can only be seen when it is visualized as a whole and not quite when you’re in the INSIDE.

I don’t know why but they  actually provide a mat on the walkway to the entrance so that the visitors wouldn’t burn their feet on their way in.

Once you’re out, you’ll have to bear walking barefooted on the hot concrete floor because they don’t provide any mat on the way out – or at least until you’re back to your shoes. It really was like a case of ‘habis madu sepah dibuang’. Grrr. LOL.

So – yeah, you might want to visit The Lotus Temple if you want to see a different side of architecture in India which is known mostly for its heavily walled buildings and large patios and open courtyards and all.

Our next destination would be much more interesting to go not only for its architectures but most importantly for its historical values.  Bearing the reputation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, I knew it was not going to disappoint me.