Delhi weekend pt. 1

Dalvir was kind enough to take John and I on a whirlwind tour of Delhi sights last Saturday.
I woke up really early, like 4:30 and talked to jenny and bebe for a while. By the time Vinod arrived at 8:30 i think i was ready for a nap. We met Dalvir, his wife and Deepak, one of the developers, at the office around nine. Dalvir had selected a list of suitable sights- first up the Bahai temple. Some people call this thing the lotus temple, and it does have an organic kinda look. Of course it bears a strong resemblance to the Sydney opera house, though i don't think they are related. The outside has really nice grounds. Things are beginning to flower- the dahlias in particular are really brilliant and have HUGE flowers. Anyways the temple was spectacular and super peaceful on the inside. Inside (only viewable sans shoies) it's a single symmetrical open room with nine entrance that vault up to a central opening. It recalls the pantheon in rome in how that big space is simultaneously fulfilling and belittling. Though they ask you to keep quiet, there were some guys replacing a lightbulb with a ladder and the echo was a nice sound with a super long decay. A beautiful building.

Next was Qutab Minar, a brick tower built in the 12th century as a tower of victory for the Muslims. It is surrounded by picturesque ruins. And boy did we take some pictures. I think that Dalvir's wife was ready for us to get a move on, but John and i were really enjoying the place. At the base of the tower is the ruins of the mosque in India as well as some tombs, all with lots of intricate carvings. The tower itself was super tall, I'm sure the view from the top would have been amazing, but it's gotten a little leany these days and they not longer allow people to go up.

After all our exploring we were getting a little hungry so we headed into Connaught Place for lunch. We picked Volga, a respectable indian joint. Since we were hoping to go to Dalvir's Gurudwara, at hte bequest of his wife, later we went veg. Mali kofta, mixed vegetables etc. Pretty good. Took a quick walk thru the park in the center of Connaught Place. BTW - Connaught Place is in the central part of New Delhi. It was built by the british late in their reign. It's basically 2 concentric circle roads with 6 spokes (really a giant roundabout) and everything has columns. Lots of shops, including the tailor who is make my suit- but more on that later.
When we were ready to leave it turned out that vinod's car was at the back of a completely parked parking area. the attendants had to push or find the key and move like 8 cars to make room for us to get out. It seems like this must happen all the time. Entertaining for me and Deepak , but a maasive hassle.
Then it was on to the emporiums- state run craftshops, each dedicated to a different region (like epcot!). We really only spent real time in the kasmir shop, which just happened to be the first one we came to. John looked as some expense rugs (8k and i don't mean rupees) and that was about it.
I was already wearing down a bit when we headed for Bangla Sahib, Dalvir's Gurdwara (a sikh temple) where he goes every Sunday. While this was not something i normally would have done it was really great. We had to take off or socks and shoes (and it was not warm), roll up our pants and cover our head with a handkerchief before entering. Besides the temple which was nice, (although the light board above the entrance was distracting), there was a great reflecting pool (probably 150x150 ft) where people bathe when it is warmer. As the sun went down it was really beautiful. John commented that he really felt like he was somewhere different. No doubt about it. One of the main tenants of Sikhism is doing the acts of god one of the main things they do to fulfill this is feed people. They showed us around back the kitchen where they prepare huge meals in vats 6ft across. It certainly felt a lot different than any church soup kitchen i've ever been too. The took us into to the service and a prayer was read. for 20 minutes. There was some chanting and big taiko style drum that really startled me when it was first played. It was a really great thing to have Dalvir share with us.

I was almost completely asleep by this point and slept till we got back to the restaurant in Noida, chaz bizzare. It's a indian theme restaurant with lots of mismatched antiques and a buffet made out of an old car. Cool but i was almost too tired to care. I was soooo happy to get home and crash.