A Day Out

For the last several months, we have spent our weekends huddled closely around the air conditioner looking for any excuse not to go outside.  We have limited our ventures to necessary shopping and the occasion restaurant, but even that is a sprint from the car to the shop.  This weekend, though, the weather broke and we thought we would venture out of the apartment and see a little of this city we call home.


Delhi has three distinct personalities.  You have the antediluvian section know as Old Delhi which was built around 1650; the 1930s British Capital designed by Edwin Lutyens; and the New Delhi of the 1960s onward (that is where we live).  We decided to explore Old Delhi.
Old Delhi is the creation of the Moguls who ruled India from the mid 1500s until around 1850.  These master builders came down from Afghanistan and conquered Hindu India bringing with them several hundred years of Muslim rule. The current city of Delhi began to take root in the mid 1600s.  At its peak at the end of the 17^th Century, the old city was described as the most beautiful city in the world and the Red Fort, the Mogul Emperors’ palace, was said to be the grandest in Asia. Unfortunately, several cultures have had their way with the city and it has lost a little (read all) of its luster.  

Now the old city, which once was graced with beautiful Havalis, or Mogul Mansions, and brightened with elaborate gardens, now is just a mess of narrow streets and menacing alleyways.  The once meticulously maintained residences of the Mogul elite have now deteriorated into cramped boarding houses and their inter-gardens now just another place to dump trash.  If it sounds depressing it is – at least on the surface.
As you walk through the teaming streets, your eyes, every now and again, catch reminders of the grandeur that was once Dilli.  Between two molding concrete structures, there may be the façade of a 300-year-old Havali which once housed the advisors to the Emperor.  Although in complete disrepair, the ornate carvings on the outer wall are visible.  It is like a treasure hunt to those who are willing to look.  My wife is not one of those people.

The day in the old city, to her, was like root canal.  Hot, crowded and dirty, there was not much of interest in the 30-minute walk through the ancient labyrinth of lanes.  The street width changes from 8 feet wide to 5 feet wide to 3 feet wide in some sections, but the flow of humanity does not.  There are people selling, cooking, spitting and watching.  It can be a little overwhelming and, if you are not into history, borderline disgusting at times.  

We started our day being dropped off at the main intersection that is nearest the Jama Masjid.  Built in 1656, the mosque is the most well known in Old Delhi and is a great example of Mogul architecture. It, like most of the more prestigious Mogul buildings in Old Delhi, is made from Red Sandstone and is adorned with a huge amount of dentiform (had to look that up) archways. You do not have to pay to enter, as it is a working Mosque, but you do have to pay 200 Rupees ($4.50) to take pictures.  Since I am a hugely cheap bastard, there are no pictures of the inside of the mosque.  It is, though, very peaceful considering it located deep in the epicenter of all the hustle and bustle of the old city. 

Free Picture outside the Mosque

We then walked through the old city to the Red Fort.  We weaved our way through the small streets passing through neighborhoods which all sold similar items.  First a small jewelry district in which the shops were peddling gold and silver, then a group of sweets’ shops and finally a spice market of some kind.  The smells were a combination of mold, body odor, fragrant subcontinent spices and, well, the occasion pile of shit.  OK, maybe Olga has a point.

Chandni Chowk leading up to the Red Fort

We arrived at the Red Fort through the Kashmir Gate (ok, it is actually the only way into the palace, but I thought it sounded more impressive than the tourist entrance).  We paid our 250 Rupees ($5.00) and headed for the highly trained and infinitely committed security police.  If I may digress for a moment.  No matter where you go in India from Shopping Malls to Hotels to Tourist sites, you encounter the security police.  These are clearly the officers deemed too slow or too lazy to work the taxing job of airport security.  As you approach, they slowly rise to meet you looking into the abyss as they pat you down like a 13 year old on a first date.  At the Red Fort, these crack troops even have you walk up a small set of two stairs, so they can pat your ankles.  The freighting thing is that these guys are armed to the teeth, although their machine guns have little red plastic caps on the end like the toy guns of the 1960s.  I don’t know whether to be frightened or to offer him some caps so his gun can make noise. 
Once inside the fort/palace, the cacophony of noise that is Delhi disappears and you end up taking a very nice stroll through centuries of history.  There is a bizarre mixture of beautifully decorated 17^th century, marble structures intermixed with dilapidated, bureaucratic, 1920s British Army buildings.  Apparently, the British used the fort as, well… a fort and to make it useful, they needed to make some room by demolishing some of the historical, mogul buildings.  It is kind of a crime, really, but it is not like the Indians are climbing over each other to maintain what is left.  Despite this, the Red Fort is a very calming place as it is still retains the feel and atmosphere of an old world respite.

Entrance to the fabled Red Fort

An excellent example of dentiform archways 

(Makes sense now, doesn't it)

The emperor's apartment

Lovely combination of the 1720s and the 1920s 

Remnants of British Imperialism

All in all, it was a good day with nice weather (and by nice I mean not 95 with 98% humidity).  Apparently, though, we picked the right day, because the very next day at the exact time, two terrorist shot up a busload of Taiwanese on the street outside the entrance to the Mosque.  Hum?