Sunday, April 11, 2010

India Gate / Qutb Minar / Lotus Temple / SHOPPING!

As I sit here eating my DELICIOUS food from the Sagar Ratna Veg Restaurant in Defence Colony, I decided it'd be a good time to update my blog with a little sight-seeing activities. First off, let me tell you what I'm eating because I am in heaven right now. I have on my plate butter naan (bread), dal (lentils), and a lady finger (okra) dish which I don't know what it's called but it's heavenly.

Friday, Rahul and I spent the evening visiting the India Gate in the central part of Delhi. The place is a common pick nick area for Indian families and I was the only non-Indian, that I saw anyway, the whole evening. India Gate was created as a memorial for all the Indian soldiers who fought in WWI and the Afghan War. It's a grand memorial, with the names of fallen soldiers inscribed around the whole gate. I tried really hard to get a good photo of some names but my camera needed a tripod for the “night mode” and flash does not work at night in India. In the center of the India Gate lays the tomb of the unknown soldier; or in Hindi, “Amar Jawan Jyoti”. The flame at the tomb burns year round. Rahul said that the President of India comes every year to light the flame but Wikipedia does not mention that so I'm not sure which is correct.

Very near to the India Gate is an empty canopy. I asked Rahul what it was for as it looked to be 10 times as ancient as the gate, but he had no idea. Wikipedia says it used to house a statue of King George V, which is now housed somewhere else. Again, my pictures weren't so great but this was truly as amazing as the India Gate. There was a moat surrounding the canopy a beautiful garden surrounding the moat. We decided we'd come back again during the day some time to get better shots. My Lonely Planet guide book should have mentioned that place.

We visited the Qutb Minar and the Lotus Temple today. It was 41C (106F) today and all things considering, I survived the heat fairly well.

We set out for the Qutb Minar first. Spent about an hour/hour and a half there before I got so parched that my head was starting to hurt and we decided that it wasn't worth getting heat stroke. Honestly, this place is amazing! I thought the Qutb Minar was just a pillar...maybe surrounded by a garden, but it's housed around an ancient house or mosque (I'm not sure which one or if both). There are several tombs of rulers within this complex.

Firstly, I want to point out the price difference to get into this place. Rahul paid 10 Rupees ($.22USD). I paid 250 Rupees ($5.50USD). Rahul got mad over the huge difference but really, it's only $5.50 to visit the largest brick minaret in the world. Not only that, I can see why they charge that. No Indian would pay 250 to visit the Qutb Minar, but EVERY foreigner would. And they do.

The Qutb Minar stands at 72.5 meters (238 feet) tall and is slightly slanted to one side. I don't think it has to do with poor design like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Most minarets built near structures (the Taj Mahal is another example) lean out from the main building so that if there is an earthquake and the minaret falls, it won't ruin the building. The structure took three rulers and 193 to complete. If you look at the minaret, you can see where each ruler added to the piece and their distinctive styles. There was also plans to build another, bigger minaret within the Qutb complex, but it never surpassed 12 meters. This too slightly leans. The Qutb Minar Complex is the most visited Indian monument, surpassing the amount of visitors to the Taj Mahal every year.

This complex was amazing. Every piece of wall featured hand carved detailing. I feel sorry for those who had to do this kind of work, but it's stood for over a thousand years and will stand for some time longer; they've done an fantastic job! Even the Qutb Minar has hand carved writing featuring piece of the Qur'an. Yes, it is an Islamic piece of art, but minarets tend to be Muslim =) No one is 100% sure why this one was created but historians believe it was either a pillar of victory for the Islamic rulers of the area, a watch tower, or just a simple minaret to call prayer to the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque.

After we found paani (Hindi word for “water”), we set off for lunch at Ruby Tuesday. Yeahhhhh, I know. Not very Indian of me. Then, we visited the Lotus Temple, or Bahai House of Worship. We didn't get to the inside of the building. There was a huge line to get in, the heat was causing a severe headache, and I figured I could visit when most Indians were working (Tuesday – Friday, Monday the place is closed). I did get some good pictures of the outside. Even when I go back, pictures of the inside aren't allowed so it's not like you'll be missing out on much until then. The Bahai House of Worship is open to all religions due to the Bahai faith which has no religious denomination restrictions. However, some restrictions to this temple are that you can only chant/read scriptures, and sing only with a choir, not a band. There are no altars and no sermons can be performed from any Bahai House of Worship (not just the Lotus Temple).

Once we left the Lotus Temple, we set off to do some shopping for the week. I grew tired of listening to “You're shirt may be too revealing, can you pull it up?” Rahul took me to a shopping area that I had apparently been to before but didn't recognize. It's not far from my apartment, only a couple kilometers and across the highway. While trying to find a place to park, I spotted a store which said it sold Dupattas (Scarves). I said the word out loud because it sounded like it'd be fun to say. Du-pot-ahs. Rahul said they would most definitely have the scarves which I sought. He didn't see the store sign so I'm glad I decided to be foolish or we would have been all over the place trying to find a dupatta. We found a plain black dupatta for only 110 Rupees ($2.62USD). It needs to be stretched out a bit but it will be perfect for wearing over my shirts so I don't have to worry about offending anyone or making some Indian pervert horny. I wanted to get one or two more because of the price but Rahul told me to wait to see how well it holds up. If it's good, we'd come back and get more. Then we did some grocery shopping. The fruit/vegetable stand was a mere fraction of the cost of the Defence Colony market; same with the milk, toilet paper, and other foods. After market shopping, we ordered food from Sagar's to be delivered, bought some water, and came back to my place.

It was definitely a productive day / weekend. I enjoyed every bit of it.

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