A Day in Delhi . . . .

When the weekend comes around here, we find ourselves to be at a loss for things to do. Of course, we spend the Sabbath resting, but on Sunday, we find ourselves itching to explore. But there is only so far a person can go on foot.

Several Sundays back, a group of us (Nick, Amber, Justin, and Eric) decided that we would venture into Delhi for the day. Nick and I had never been there, so naturally we were excited to do some siteseeing. Justin called to hire a taxi for the day, and they said that we would be picked up at 11:30 am. Well, we all gathered and waited for the taxi. After thirty minutes, the taxi still hadn't arrived. Justin called to inquire after the driver. He told the man on the phone that he had ordered a taxi and it had not arrived yet. The man replied, "What is the problem?" Justin said emphatically, "The taxi has not arrived yet." The man again asked, "What is the problem?" Finally, Justin was able to get across that we were still waiting for the taxi. The man said that one was on the way. Well, after an hour and a half, the taxi finally arrived. We piled in and tried to explain to our Hindi speaking friend where we wanted to go. As we turned toward Delhi, we thought we had been successful, until the driver turned around and headed back towards home. "What was happening?" we asked. The driver just kept saying, "one minute, sir." He then turned onto a dirt road that took us to a place none of us had been to before. He stopped in front of a shop, and went inside. Soon another guy came out and got in the car. We had switched drivers to one that could speak English. And when I say could speak English, I mean a few words of English!

And so we were off, careening haphazardly through the crowded streets. Nick somehow was able to explain to this guy where we wanted to go. We went first to the Lotus Temple. It is a place for people of all religions to gather for prayer and meditation. It was built in the shape of a lotus flower. The architecture was amazing.

The Lotus Temple . . . .

From here, our zealous driver took us to the Red Fort and then the Friday Mosque, which is rumored to be the largest mosque in India. It was an interesting experience to go in a mosque, and to watch Muslims pray. It was very methodical.

The Friday Mosque . . . .

The Red Fort can be seen throught the arch behind the trees!

Finally, we went to Raj Ghat. This is the place where Ghandi was cremated and a memorial has been erected in his honor. Basically, it is a large park. But we went only to honor Ghandi. When we arrived at Raj Ghat, we found our first snake charmer. Of course we had to give him some rupees so that he would work his magic. However, after watching for a while, we decided that it is all a scam. The snake was clearly abused and was not into being charmed!

The Raj Ghat. . . The black slab in the center is where Ghandi was cremated. And there is an eternal flame burning.

After paying our respects to the great Ghandi, we decided we should head home. It had been a long, hot day, and since we couldn't really communicate with our driver, it was easier to just go home.

All in all, it was an enjoyable day. We learned that Delhi isn't that exciting. It is a very dirty city and very over crowded. There are still a few things that we would like to see while we are here, but we figure we have plenty of time.

At the Raj Ghat. . . .

The whole crew. Eric is in the yellow, he works for ADRA, and is from Argentina, and Justin is in the green. He works with us and is from Tennessee. And yes, we are barefoot. Any place deemed a holy place requires you to leave your shoes at a shoe check.

Another ruin that we saw beside the road on the way home.