Though it was extremely hot (average 37-38 degrees) it was mostly very dry, so bearable and quite pleasant at times (we will come to the great big flood later).
Alessandro's description of Delhi captured it best - a perfect blend of chaos and calm: it all just seems to work, somehow, and people are very friendly and open too. It's hard to pick the best moments, here are some of the highlights.....
Humayoun's tomb. This was the precursor for the Taj Mahal and in some ways is just as beautiful -perfectly proportioned, calm, quiet and set in lovely and now restored gardens. A real gem. Humayoun was a very cultured emperor - he introduced crafts and Persian artistry to India: when he was asked by the rulers of Persia what he would like as a gift, he requested 100 families of craftsmen - apparently this was how carpet-weaving was introduced to India. What an enlightened man.
Qutub Minar. This is the enormous sandstone minaret that rises above Delhi, built to commemorate a Moslem victory over the Hindus. The Moslems built a mosque over the site of the temple and used the old columns in the complex of the minaret. This theme of layers of history recurred again and again - it reminded us of places like Palermo, Cairo and Istanbul.
The old city. This was an experience - we drive through the lanes of old Delhi, and what a riot. Anahita will never forget seeing a monkey eat a banana on the back of a bicycle. We saw boys riding bikes with hundreds of egg boxes balanced on the back, thousands of vendors plying their trade.
All this on the steps of the Jama Masjid, Delhi's huge mosque able to hold 20,000 at prayer. Watching the tuk-tuks weave their way through the lanes was quite something. Old Delhi was called ShahJehanabad until the British arrived and decided it was too complicated a name.....it might look a little medieval to us, but billions of dollars of commerce are conducted in Old Delhi still. Shah Jehan was the richest man in the world in his time.
Katayoun asked 'who's the richest man in the world today and where does he live?'. When she heard it was Bill Gates she said 'so Seattle must be the richest city in the world'. Not quite....
The Red Fort. It is hard to describe the scale of this. We only saw the small residential quarter, but most of this is closed or hidden for military use. What we did see, inspite of the midday heat, was beautiful - even though we knew most of the inlay, jewels and carving has been plundered. It's also such a shame that the British tore down many of the pavilions to erect ghastly red-brick barracks for the garrison. What a pity....
British Delhi - The British did leave a positive legacy too. The legal system, the gloriously stately official buildings - the majestic line from the PM's residence to India Gate. It reminded us - physically and atmospherically, of Washington DC. It was really lovely walking around at dusk watching Indian families having their picnics on the grass and buying snacks at the stall. On a more humorous note, the British can be credited for some of the wonderful bureaucracy in India. A particular favourite is a magazine called 'Bureaucracy Today' - advertised on a roundabout! The civil service is alive and well in India.
The Tuk-tuk. The best 300 rupees we spent (this is about £4) was on a tuk-tuk ride from our hotel to India Gate via Connaught Sq and back. All four of us crammed into the back being driven by the delightful Mr Singh at breakneck speed in a vehicle that seemed made of rubber. The smells in the air, seeing everything so close, experiencing the Delhi bustle was just brilliant. Bear in mind that lane markings and giving way to the right are 'just a suggestion' and that drivers in Delhi 'need good brakes, good horn and good luck'. The hotel was a bit worried for our safety as the porter negotiated a rate of 100 rupees - which we trebled with a tip on our return. We recommend this.....
The Bookshops. One of the things we have done in every city has been to visit a bookshop. In Delhi this was Bahrisons in Khan Market. It was a lovely place - crammed with books but boy did they know their stock. The shop is the size of a large car, but there was a mezzanine, 6 staff and a motorbike in there (in addition to the customers). We bought so many books they had to be posted back to us. Such fun. We have picture of the girls with Mr Bahri himself. Anahita got a book about Einstein here - Katayoun got a book about meatballs!
The great big flood. We had been warned about the possibility of monsoon rains in Delhi. As it happened, the monsoon has been light and we had mostly dry weather. However the heat had been building....one minute we were in a shop, the next it felt like someone had emptied a gigantic bucket over the city - literally sheets of water for about 90 minutes. It was so bad that cars were wading through 2 feet of water, people were soaked to the skin, tuk-tuks were breaking down all over the city. Cars in ditches.The traffic lights went out over Delhi, trees came down, it was gridlock. In all of this we never heard a single aggressive voice from anyone. Things just got sorted out eventually and everyone was unfailingly polite and calm. Of course we had planned to have dinner with Himraj, Alessandro's old friend - but after spending 2 hours moving 100 yards, we gave up. The girls' reactions were interesting: Katayoun - 'this is awesome - never seen anything like it!'; Anahita - 'are we going to die?' ....... (She was quite serious.... - and added to the earthquake induced fear of elevators, toilets and trains, we now had deluge.....) Unfortunately, we had to cancel our trip to Agra - worried we might not make it back due to traffic - but we had a lovely extra day in Delhi instead. Just an excuse to return for Agra and Rajhastan.
Old friends. We were lucky to have our old friend Himraj, living in Delhi. We met him and his lovely daughters for dinner and drinks, and his suggestions for shopping (or at least looking) were great! It was also nice for the girls to feel that they know someone in Delhi....but for us it was great to see Himraj and catch up.
Shopping or not..... We were so overwhelmed by the choice of sarees and jewellery that Nina was almost unable to choose anything. But it was a lot of fun looking anyway. We did buy some clothes, shawls and a couple of sarees. The uncut diamonds from Rajastan will have to wait. Himraj, thank you for the book recommendations also!
Our hotel. We stayed at The Imperial - probably the best hotel we have been in this trip. It was built in the 1930's as a hotel, and has the most fantastic collection of engravings and miniatures, not to mention beautiful old rooms and great service. We enjoyed cooling off by the pool, Nina and Alessandro had memorable head massages for £10 and the food was superb. Katayoun and Anahita filled their pockets with a different sweet every day from a bowl at the door. And of course the scent of jasmine every time you entered was really evocative. If anyone is going to India, stay there!
Thanks Kito for a great recommendation.
Leaving Delhi felt premature - we had far too little time - but we will go back. We decided that from now on we weren't going to bother with 2 week breaks in the Mediterranean - but we would just fly direct to Jaipur....
Of course we very nearly didn't leave Delhi, since the driver got stuck in a traffic jam at 3am (not kidding - about 100 trucks and a lane closed).
The driver was calling all his friends asking for help - he spoke furiously in Hindi thinking that we couldn't understand - unfortunately he used words like 'flight', 'miss' and 'help' several times which slightly gave the game away, inspite of his insistence that it was all OK! We did make it, and got lucky too with an upgrade....much needed.
More from our next stop in Dar and Zanzibar.....