Delhi at night
November 7th, 2008One of the benefits to staying at this hotel for so long is we get the hotel car for 4 hours. We employed it to “take us to anything lit up at night.”
Which brought us past Red Fort – a giant fortress that looks as though it takes up 1 square mile, Parliament and the President’s house and the Ambassador (car) parking lot, Old Delhi (a predominantly Muslim section of town where they were rocking to wild music), Lotus Temple (below)
Cinderella’s Palace
and India Gate.
Delhi is an amazingly complex city with very distinct sectors. Driving around it is clear just how much history exists beyond the distracting autorickshaws and cows. There are tall western skyscrapers housing foreign banks in a financial district. The Indian Stock Market looks like it is falling apart with it’s economy. Together, I think the two sets of buildings are a physical analogy of the world economy. Parliament and the President’s house are in an eerily desolate area of town. Traffic cleared to a trickle as we approached except for the Ambassador cars – the state vehicle. The buildings are unmistakably English in architecture, and the roads surrounding are remarkably european with roundabouts and all. Old Delhi is where I’d send you to buy a flying carpet or see a snake charmer. The more formal stores are not high-tech as in Nehru, but actually Indian artisan crafts – lots of music stores. There are bazaars down alleyways. On our particular night, the area was lit up in what appeared to be a celebration – women in sparkly dresses, men in pious looking modest white suits. Music screeched out from behind walls. Outside one of the major Sikh temples, Sikhs streamed in and out in plain clothes with turbans and some in military dress. Sikhs are first saints and second warriors. Traditionally, they held positions guarding royalty and elite. Then back to Nehru Place, where the movement is more utilitarian – people are simply coming through on their way to buy appliances or fabric, eat or watch a movie.