Touring Delhi Day 1 – Alan

After arriving Saturday night, Susan and I had a late dinner and then off to bed so that we would be ready for our first day of touring in Delhi. We met our guide in the lobby at 9:00 a.m. and walked out into what was already a hot day but was predicted go up to 111 Fahrenheit! Our guide, Vineet, had lived in the USA for about 3 years over a couple of different visits, one to the University of Virginia. When we first started planning the trip I was not particularly interested in going around with a driver and guide, Susan was adamant that we would need the service and after the experience, I am extremely glad we did it!

Delhi is the capital of India so our first stop was to see the government buildings and the home of the president, from a distance of course!

Our next stop was a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi and it was the home of a prominent family where he spent the last 4-5 months of his life. Our guide was very interested in Gandhi and spent a good amount of time telling us about the stories of his life as we sat outside the steps of the rooms where he slept and had his meetings while overseeing the partition of India and Pakistan. What struck me as I heard about his life was how interested he was in building model communities via his ashrams. One of his most simple but powerful ideas was that the people should learn to spin their own thread so that they could make their clothes. At one point before India’s independence a member of the royal family was greeted by a huge bonfire of clothes that had been purchased from England. He wanted the people of India to be self-reliant and to source their materials locally. At the age of 78 he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist that felt that Gandhi had gone too far by welcoming any Pakistani that wanted to move across the partition and live in India.

Our next stop was the largest Sikh Temple in Delhi. Our guide took us to a visitor center where we left our shoes and hats and donned a head covering. Have you ever walked on the beach on a hot day where the sand burned your feet? Well, being barefoot and walking around on the marble outside the temple was like that if not worse because we were standing in a line waiting to enter the temple!

Here again we found the focus was on community and there was a number of ways that people can contribute. One way was to purchase a type of sweet food made of wheat flour, ghee (clarified butter) and sugar. A person would purchase the food in one location, take it over to another stall, and give half of it away. The part that was given away was then offered to people as they exited the temple. Another interesting aspect of the temple was that it offered a meal to anyone that visited. The meal looked great and consisted of a lentils, curry with chick peas, and chapati (bread). Our guide asked us to guess how many people they fed in a day and i guessed 5,000. He told us that on a busy day they could serve over 20,000 people! We visited the large kitchen where many people were volunteering their time to cook the food and clean up after the 20,000 guests. Inside the temple there is a main alter where they keep their holy book out during the day and there are attendants that have this huge feather that they periodically sweep across the book to keep it clean. People wait in line to pray at the alter and then move off to the side where they can listen to men singing the traditional prayers.

Our last stop of the day, was a large Hindu temple that was finished very recently, 2006. It took over 10 years of planning and additional 5 years to build. We were not allowed to bring cameras or cell phones into the temple so I do not have any photos to share, but imagine the opulence of a cathedral in Rome and multiply by ten! Again we had to leave our shoes before entering but this time those with socks (Susan) were able to leave them on. That definitely would have helped as I was left to scampering around on the relatively cooler white tiles! We did purchase a book about the temple that has a number of pictures that we would be happy to show you the next time you visit. There are a number of different branches of Hinduism each with their own lineage of Gurus. This particular lineage has a significant number of followers and through donations was able to build a magnificent temple. The exterior of the buildings that make up the temple are covered with carved sandstone and inside the carvings are often made in marble with embedded jewels. This temple was really more for display rather than a place of prayer, but it showed the extreme dedication that the people have to their Guru and their religion.

By this time we were thoroughly exhausted by the heat and touring and headed back to the hotel for a shower and a nap. We had dinner inside the hotel in a restaurant called the Spice Route. They had designed the restaurant into nine different sections that were supposed to represent nine different stages of life. We happened to be sitting in the central courtyard section of the restaurant which they told us represented health and well being. A good omen I think!