Delhi: Day 4

January 6, 2010

Our fourth day in Delhi was also our last, which was definitely cause for some mixed feelings. Delhi had been amazing so far, and we had only scratched the surface of things to do and experience in India's second-largest city (in terms of population, that is. Delhi claims over 12 million residents, which makes it three times larger than LA!). However, although we could have stayed in Delhi for weeks, there was much more ahead of us. Like I mentioned last time, Zack, Andy, Grayson and I decided to stick together for the day. Brief outline: we tagged along with our professor and saw New Delhi, the part of the city built by the British in 1930, then went to Connaught Place-a HUGE business, financial, and commercial place- for several hours before visiting the Mahatma Gandhi museum and then having dinner at an Italian restaurant.

With the blog in mind I took some pictures of our living arrangements in the morning before we left.

My two bags with their contents strewn randomly around. This was my corner of the room.

The two beds that were next to each other (so cute, i know), the closet and the window out to the (very small) balcony.

The rest of the room.

Our first stop was New Delhi. On the way there we took two rickshaws. The rickshaw in front of mine (which Zack was in) actually collided with a scooter at one point, knocking the poor woman who was on it off onto the ground. The driver of their rickshaw looked at her, spit, and then kept driving. Our driver stopped, got out, and helped her to her feet. She was fine but a bit shaken up and dirty.

New Delhi is very different than the rest of the city, with very British architecture and just a feeling of...well, modernity (even something that's now over 70 years old feels fresh compared with the centuries-old sections of the city).

The fog was still pretty thick, but you can just see the buildings in the background.

It's India, so of course there are carvings of elephants EVERYWHERE.

Although it's British-build, you can still see the influence of Mughal architecture on the structures.

This guy had a monkey on a leash and was letting people take pictures of it and him. However, as all the other people who had some gimmick so you'd take pictures of them, he wanted money for it. I therefore just snapped a photo from a bit further away and zoomed in lol.

The archway on one of the buildings had a REALLY interesting inscription on it. It reads:

"Liberty will not descend to a people...

"...A people must raise themselves to liberty. It is a blessing..."

"...that must be earned before it can be enjoyed."

So basically that's the racist British saying "You dark-skinned folks need to prove that you can handle ruling yourselves without killing each other before we'll think about it." Keep in mind that this was built about 15 or 20 years before India was granted its independence in 1947.

As we were walking away from the government buildings, we came across one of my favorite sights from the trip: a regiment from the Indian army. Not just any regiment though: a mounted one. "Well that's not so special," you might say. Well this was a Legen...wait for it...DARY regiment because they 1) were mounted on camels! and 2) had the most ridiculously awesome mustaches ever.

Just look at them-there is no way that you can argue this is not completely awesome haha

Could you imagine trying to organize a regiment like this in America? Nope, me neither.

The camels were pretty big-I hadn't seen any in person aside from at a zoo, so this was pretty neat to have them just walk down the street next to us.

Awesome camels, awesome mustaches.

You'd think that this couldn't get any better, but it most certainly did. Not only was there this portion of the regiment: there was also a mounted BAND that was following them. I took a video to get some of the music they were playing:

The guy banging away at the drum at the end is my favorite :)

This is the spot where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated. They keep the flame burning 24/7 as a memorial to him. This was a very solemn place (understandably so). Gandhi is George Washington (father of the nation), Abraham Lincoln (liberator of the slaves/Dalits), and John F. Kennedy (tragically beloved son) all rolled into one for most Indians.

Right nearby the memorial is a museum dedicated to Gandhi. This is one of the statues on the grounds commemorating one of Gandhi's many walks.

Little statue of Bapu himself (Bapu is an affectionate Hindi name that is slang for "father").

They had quotes by Gandhi all over the place-some of them prompted some serious reflection. Like this next one:

That's some pretty serious company to associate yourself with.

This was my favorite painting in the museum. I just love the colors, the balance, the everything.

This was a rather ordinary painting until you read the caption:

Definitely changes the character and mood of the painting.

A lot of the things that Gandhi said reminded me of Christian values and beliefs. You could very easily make this saying the title of a sermon that used 1 Peter 3:15 ("but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give a account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence") or 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 and discussed living life as an example.

This turned out kinda blurry because they didn't allow flash in this room, but they had one of the bullets from Gandhi's assassination in the museum.

Again, thought-provoking.

The four of us (me, Andy, Grayson, and Zack) outside the museum. The inscription on the statue that our feet are covering says, "Whenever you are confronted with our opponent, conquer him with love."

After leaving the Gandhi museum the we tried to get a rickshaw but just couldn't find one for the life of us. We also had a group of four or five guys follow us for about a block. It was a bit disconcerting. As Andy put it later, "It isn't India if you don't go to the Mahatma Gandhi museum and then find yourself scared for your life as soon as you step back out onto the street."

After about 40 minutes we finally happened upon a gas station where DOZENS of rickshaws were gassing up, so we just waited on the other side and hopped on one. On the way to dinner we had a crazy conversation with some fellow commuters, but I'll save that story for tomorrow since it gets even better due to a discovery we made the next morning. For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant right near the restaurant from the previous night, and it was delicious. Pizza and beer was definitely the perfect way to end the day.

Yum.

Overall, this one definitely one day that I can point to as a highlight of the trip. The way everything came together, the camels, the Gandhi museum, the slight terror at being followed...and really just the fact that we were on our own in India and had a really successful day all played into making this a day I won't soon forget.

Tomorrow: the promised random-and-awesome-conversation-in-traffic story! a story I FORGOT to tell about the first day in Delhi! Zack makes a stink about something! oh, and a little something called the Taj Mahbal...or Taj Majal...or...something like that.