India Day 3 -
Woke up reluctantly this morning! Could have kept sleeping but we had a 9:00 am departure!
Busy day and it will be a long night as we are attending a New Year's Eve party in the hotel and will be dancing and partying till about 1:00 AM!
We started out our day seeing New Delhi, the part of the city built by the British in the early 20th century, including their Houses of Parliament and President's house. There was all kind of security fencing going up as Obama is scheduled to visit at the end of the month and they are already battening down the hatches to be sure that security is in place when he gets here!
After that we went to a museum about Mahatma Gandhi, which is on the grounds of the place he was living when he was assassinated. We toured the grounds and saw the very spot where he was killed, which is now a quiet and meditative park. Then we went in the museum which was wonderful, with pictures and scenes from his life and lots of quotations from his work over his lifetime and artifacts. The bedroom he was in in the last months of his life, including the day he died is in that building and they have artifacts like his glasses and his watch (which stopped right at the time of his assassination - 5:17 PM) and his walking stick. It was a lovely museum and a wonderful tribute to him and his life's work. We spent quite a long time there and enjoyed it a great deal.
From there we went to a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Qutab Minar, an example of Indo-Islamic architecture from the 12th century, with a spectacular 234 foot high tower made of ornately carved sandstone, the ruins of a large mosque built during the 12th century and a steel pillar from a VIshnu temple that is 1600 years old. The whole site is really fascinating and our guide was terrific in pointing out how the Muslim architects who built the structures had taken Hindu architectural pieces and converted them for their buildings (defacing images of gods/goddesses and people so that they would be appropriate for a Muslim prayer space, for example.) The place was teeming with schoolchildren on field trips and we had a great time talking with a school group of 7th grade girls who were adorable in their uniforms and very exuberant and talkative and excited to engage us foreign tourists!
After that we went to lunch at an Indian/Chinese restaurant, which was an experience. Chinese food with an Indian flare! We all decided, however, that we prefer plain old Indian food to that particular fusion. And from there we went to a place where there are vendors of artisanal crafts from the state of Kashmir. Kashmir is a place of considerable tension and violence between Pakistan and India, so tourism isn't allowed there. The kashmiri artisans and craftspeople have gotten permission to sell their crafts in various Indian cities since tourists can't come to them. We saw some beautiful silk carpets, silk scarves and jackets and dresses and artwork. I couldn't resist a gorgeous silk, embroidered jacket.
Then we wound our way back to the hotel and got here a little after 5. The traffic in Delhi was horrific today (its never good, but the holiday and the partying that will be going on this evening is causing greater than usual congestion today!)
Tonight we're going to some festivities here at the hotel. There will be Bollywood singers, a belly dancer, buffet with unlimited drinks and traditional Indian singing and dancing. We're looking forward to the experience of an Indian New Year's celebration. I'll tell you about that tomorrow, as I doubt I will be up to blogging when I get back from that party, given that we have to be up and around early tomorrow! So details to follow!
Pics today include the site of Gandhi's martyrdom, shots of me and Tracy at the Gandhi museum, one standing beside the "World Peace Gong" and shots of the Qutab Minar and the young Indian girls who posed for many pictures for all of us! They were really enchanting kids, very bright and laughing and engaging.
More tomorrow night, from Jaipur!
Happy New Year!
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