Visiting DELHI Attractions

Let’s put my posts on Bangkok on hold and return to New Delhi for a moment. It doesn’t feel good to leave it hanging just like that when there are still so many things to tell about this wonderful city.

My last post on India had been about my trip to The Lotus Temple and it was good to finally see something of highly modern and futuristic architecture in New Delhi.It was just our first destination of the day and we had at least a few more places to visit all bundled up in the 800 rupees as agreed upon by the Tuk Tuk driver. Our next destination would be a UNESCO World Heritage Site so you know how the excitement is always there for me whenever I’m heading to a place with such a high reputation.Whenever you’re traveling in India, you have to bear in mind before all that most if not all of the Tuk Tuk drivers think that all tourists are stupid and they have the smarter asses. The driver took us this stupid building in the middle of a roundabout and declared it The Humayun’s Tomb.But then again, the smart travelers would do some research before traveling while the stupid ones would just pack their bags up and think that they knew everything (ouch!). I would have simply fallen into the net if not for my travel buddy Audrey who then gave the Tuk Tuk driver one of her smirking looks and said ‘NO. It is not (the Humayun’s Tomb).

Thinking that he could never win over the highly knowledgeable Audrey, he drove us off to the Humayun’s Tomb – this time the real one.HUMAYUN’S TOMB is another one of quite a number of notable structures that India has inherited from the Munghal’s tomb extravagance in the past.

If Taj Mahal was built by the king to be the resting place for her wife, Humayun’s Tomb was quite the opposite where the wife commissioned the construction of it as a resting place for the already DEAD king. Of course it was then become her resting place too, together with numerous other subsequent Munghals.The very first thing that I noticed when I first arrived there is the redness of the whole complex. It reminded me very much of the entrance gate and the mosques that flanked the Taj Mahal on both sides.The architecture is highly Islamic with a large dome in the middle you might think it is a mosque when you first see it. The building itself looks a lot like Taj Mahal and so is the story that it bears. I wouldn’t say I was wowed by The Humayun’s Tomb more than I was by the Taj Mahal but just by thinking that there are at least 160 bodies of royal family members laid buried under those red stones kinda sparked goosebumps all over me.The windows were set in a way that allows natural lighting and air circulation work on their own. It’s  amazing how it was cool inside the monument despite the fierce sun on the outside.Next in our list was the Lodi Park. Bear in mind that there are dozens of parks all over New Delhi and Lodi Park is only one of them. Of course people don’t come here just for the park.What makes it stand out is the existence of centuries old buildings. This ancient mosque here was built as a gateway during the period of Lodi Dynasty – whatever dynasty that was. There are too many of them I can’t even tell which and which. LOL.The building might be small with a perimeter of only about 25m x 6m but the inscription and Arabesque stucco decoration on its walls mesmerized me with its intricacy and details.Less than a hundred yards away from the mosque is another old building which I later found out was a tomb monument. Also built in the Lodi era, the building looks more like a combination of Hindu and Islamic architecture.It’s been centuries since it was built so it came as no surprise that it has now weathered a lot. The tombs are still there but most of the pavement has peeled off leaving only rubles and stones that was probably what it was made of once.Saying good bye to the Lodi Park, we returned to the hustle and bustle of the Delhi roads towards our next destination. I might have heard about it a lot but it wasn’t the same when I saw it in real. There are hundreds if not thousands of children risking their life in danger by begging on the busy roads of Delhi every day. Some of them would do gymnast stunts, sometimes somersaulting in the middle of the road and if they were lucky some of the passing motorists would think that they deserve some pennies.

With so many of them all over Delhi, I couldn’t help but thinking what does the future hold for them. I’ve always been bad in saying no to beggars – and even more so when they are children so I was so glad that Audrey was there to say ‘Don’t look! Don’t look!’ whenever my eyes began to take focus on them. LOL.But seriously, India should start thinking about doing something for them, probably by cutting down on its military expenses and use the money to help the kids instead. With its own share of poverty, I don’t think Pakistan would wage a war on India anytime soon. 😀

INDIA GATE is such an imposing building. The building itself is not really something that you’d drop your jaws looking at but the symbolism that it carries probably makes it one of the most iconic structures in India.I can probably liken it with our Taman Tasik Titiwangsa in KL where people would come in droves – only in much bigger scale – and it doesn’t seem to be a place that runs out of visitors all day long. I have a lot to respect the mostly local visitors there for because they seem to be enjoying their time ‘basking’ under the scorching sun of Delhi.Seriously, I could almost feel my hair burning even when I was only there for less than 15 minutes or so.

Next up was the RAJGHAT. Known for its eternal flame – it was the place where the body of Mahatma Ghandi was cremated. Being known as a humble leader, Mahatma Ghandi wouldn’t have wanted to get cremated and charge people to visit his ashes. The management seemed to have ‘seen’ it and there was no admission fee to Rajghat.Still they can always find a way or two to get something out of the visitors without openly declaring it a charge. They’d ask you to take your shoes off and put them in one of those stupid boxes and charge you for it. They wouldn’t even let you carry your shoes in your bag so there’s no way you can make your way in and avoid fishing some rupees out of your wallet.Oh well, it’s not that we were being stingy but then they way they ‘force’ the visitors to pay something that is probably unnecessary irked us in some way and we decided to just look at the eternal flame from the surrounding platform.You know how there are only a handful of people who had lived and changed the world like forever and Mahatma Ghandi is definitely one of them. He might be known for so many things that he had done all throughout his life but of course he’d forever known as the man who had united the people of India and subsequently brought independence to the country.SO – done with Rajaghat, it was time to hit into The Red Fort – another UNESCO World Heritage site in New Delhi. The Tuk Tuk driver had been trying to get us into visiting some textile shop but of course we’d say no to it every time. When he became so insistent, we decided to give him a chance – once and for all. Besides, we really needed a break away from the scorching sun. July is certainly a frying season in New Delhi.Of course we didn’t want to stay at the textile shop more than necessary. I was pretty sure our presence alone would grant the tuk tuk driver the commission that he desperately wanted so we went out as quickly as we came in.Then what happened next was quite unexpected – although it didn’t come as a surprise considering the not-so-good reputation of Tuk Tuk drivers in New Delhi. Just when the Tuk Tuk was about to reach the entrance gate to The Red Fort, the Tuk Tuk suddenly shuddered to a stop – konon kononya lah. He tried to start it over and over again but it wouldn’t go off. He looked at us and shook his head in what appeared to be a mix of disbelief and apologetic.He told us he needed to send his Tuk Tuk to a workshop immediately and that he couldn’t continue bringing us and that he was sorry bla bla bla. He offered a discount of 100 rupees so we only paid of 700 rupees out of the agreed 800 rupees. Of course we knew for sure that his Tuk Tuk was OK and that he wanted to disengage from us as quickly as possible – probably because he had already counted everything including the commission he received from the textile shop and he’d get more profit dumping us now than use more of his fuel to send us back to the hotel later. Since we had basically covered just about every place that we wanted to go to that day, we just gave him a shrug and agreed to pay him 700 rupees. Quite expectedly, he waited until we had walked further away and then off he went, dashing back into the traffic – probably to go back to his hungry children or something. LOL. (We managed to get a Tuk Tuk to take us back to the hostel for 60 rupees so we actually saved 40 rupees)The sight of long lines of people at the entrance to The Red Fort had suddenly become a drawback of some kind to us. It wouldn’t be long before five so we didn’t want to get into any of those lines only to be shooed away half way through our tour later. We decided to spare it for another visit – probably on our last day in New Delhi.Another place listed under the major attractions of New Delhi is the Jama Masjid Delhi. Located within a walking distance from the Red Fort and close to the ever bustling Chandni Chowk, you might be choked at the sight of crowds and people and all the vibes and characters that they carry with them.There were certainly a lot of activities going on and some of them were worth stopping to watch for.This wrestling here was obviously meant for male audience and as much as I wanted to keep watching, I had to bring Audrey away before the audience shifted their attention to her rather than the wrestling. LOL.The street leading up to Jama Masjid Delhi was certainly one of the most crowded streets that I’ve ever been on. It is so representative to the fact that India is the most populous country in the world – second only to the 1billionsomething China.With so many people cramping up in such a tiny street, it is probably a perfect place for the thieves to carry out their pick-pocketing activities and true enough this guy – who was probably caught stealing or something – was made to march barefooted in his underwear.Getting into the mosque requires a little bit of restrictions so you can’t just go there in skimpy dress and expect a smooth entry. Being a holy place for the Muslims, it didn’t come as a surprise to me when a bunch of tourists in short pants and sleeveless T- shirts was denied entry. The security guards seemed to be already agitated by their presence and even  more so when they tried to talk their way in.The crowds and tight security had suddenly become a turn off to us and we decided not to pursue any entry to the mosque. Besides, Audrey didn’t seem to be in favor of staying there longer than we already did so we returned to the streets and become a dot or two in the crowd of people.By then it was already quite too late to continue touring the city of New Delhi so we decided to call it a day. We had at least a few more places to go within one and a half days that we have left in India – only then we could get a stamp of “INDIA : MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”. Heh.It had been such a long day but all the things that I had seen and experienced has changed my perspective of New Delhi – that it is certainly worth spending a little bit of your fortune traveling to.