Jodhpur to Delhi
My journey started
after breakfast with a chilly tuk tuk ride to the airport along almost empty
roads through the more modern part of town. The airport looks more like a
railway station than a typical airport. And it doesn't open until 0930 so I had a
sweet, milky tea at the little cafe outside. The only other passengers here are
a couple of backpackers, guess they didn’t realise it would be closed either.
Although the airport opened at 0930 it was after 1000 before the check-in
counter opened; I could have had another hour in bed! Nothing much to do in the
departure lounge and then walked across the tarmac to the plane, an ATR-72, a turbo-prop, which was pleasantly quiet inside. Jodhpur is a
military airbase so outside, the air was pierced by military jets screaming
overhead and we were warned not to take photos from the plane. The in-flight
magazine shows a different India from the one I have experienced, of luxury
home interiors, glamping safaris,
up-market fashion and lots of gold jewellery, but also of astrological
and "vastu" services; vastu
seems to be the Indian equivalent of feng shui. The flight was fine; we even got
a sandwich and a Kit Kat. I'd heard stories of bad behaviour on Indian flights
but everyone behaved impeccably. Delhi airport was a pleasant surprise too,
well up to international standards and it was great to have a man with a board
greet me at the exit. The drive out of the airport started well, along a well
maintained expressway, could almost be Changi, but the further we progressed
away from the airport the more standards regressed to those of the rest of
India finally coming to a crossroads between two narrow streets close to the
hotel where vehicles from all four directions blocked the junction and proceeded to sound their horns.
Surely it wouldn’t cost much to institute a one way system? Like the last
hotel, the Amax Inn is hidden down an alley too narrow for a taxi or tuk
tuk to reach but once inside it is quite pleasant and the room even has a
window to the outside world. It is in the Paharganj area of Delhi which I chose
based on the fact that it is claimed to be the “Backpacker” area of Delhi. I
suppose I imagined it to be like the backpacker area of Saigon, or even Agra,
with plenty of cheap but clean places to eat offering banana pancakes and other
non-Indian food. I have decided there is a limit to how much vegetarian curry I
can eat. As someone on TA put it ”If U R below 35 and
adventurous then the Eclectic Bohemian PaharGunj would suit you just fine, with
additional advantages of being v close to both the Main Rail Station as well as
the happening Connaught Place, with all its brilliant restaurants, pubs, night
clubs and shopping, right in the middle of New and Old Delhi, just 3 kms from
the latter”. OK so I might be a bit past the 35 mark but otherwise it looked
good. Venturing out of the hotel I realised it was nothing like Saigon or even
Agra, but a grid of narrow, potholed streets packed full of honking tuk tuks,
cheap and not so cheap hotels, grim and
not so grim restaurants and what feels like a sizeable percentage of Delhi’s 18
million inhabitants. According to TA there are three recommended restaurants in
Connaught Place so decided to walk there down “Chelmsford Road” named after a
British Viceroy, past Delhi’s massive railway station, and a “railway colony”
which I later learnt provided much sought after rented homes for senior railway
officers. There is a lovely, if rather romantic and flattering, description of
Chelmsford Road in:
written by a well-known
Indian writer Mayank Austen Soofi. I do wonder how anyone can write the
oxymoronic “Though it is traffic-heavy due to its proximity to the railway
station, it remains silent and serene”. The
only way it could seem “silent and serene” would be if he was stone deaf and
stoned. At the end of Chelmsford Road there appears Connaught Place, an
elegant, white neo-classical circle, two concentric circles really, of shops,
restaurants, bars and cinemas, a vestige of the Raj and named after Prince
Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. It was built in the early 1930’s to be the commercial centre of the New
Delhi Colonial capital and is claimed to be modelled after the Royal Crescent
in Bath, which I think is a bit of a stretch of the imagination. Different
colour, different shape, different function and different height; no I can’t
see it. But it is by far the nearest I have seen to a modern commercial centre
with big brand shops such as H&M, Marks and Spencer and many options for
eating and drinking. Almost immediately I found Veeda, one of the restaurants
which gets a good rating in TA so decided to go there for an early dinner. The
décor is very opulent, with many silver mirrors hanging on the walls, but
rather dark with walls in reds and oranges. I had the chicken Makhini again,
partly so I could compare with the one I had at the Oberoi in Agra. The Veda’s
was tasty but with more sauce and less chicken. The accompaniments weren’t up
to the Oberoi but, at 1000 Rupees, the meal was a lot cheaper, although still
expensive by Indian standards.
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| Connaught Place |
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| Connaught Place |
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| Connaught Place |
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| Choice of Hotels in Paharganj |
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| Opulent Veeda |
Delhi Day 2
After breakfast walked
out of hotel and almost had to fight off the tuk tuk and rickshaw drivers. It’s
strange but I didn't encounter any hassling in Kolkata or Darjeeling but it
seems to have got progressively worse since then. So often it starts off with a
friendly "Where are you from?" but then the hassling starts. I find
myself being very short with people; I know they are only trying to earn a
living but when I have been approached
half a dozen times in a few hundred yards my patience wears out. I crossed over the tracks leading into New Delhi Station
which all seem to be electrified. I still can't get over the lack of
development here, people drying cow dung on the railway bridge to use as a
fuel, horse and bullock drawn vehicles, trash everywhere. Noticeable that
almost everyone on the street is male.
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| Downtown Delhi |
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| Downtown Delhi |
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| Downtown Delhi |
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| Downtown Delhi |
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| Drying Cow Dung |
My first stop was Jama Mosque which is
enormous, probably the largest in India, but I didn't think it was particularly
beautiful. The man selling tickets seemed to think it was his job to be
unpleasant. There is no sign showing any ticket counter and he has nothing to
show he has any official status so naturally I walked past him towards the sign
that said "Ticket Counter" only to be shouted at. I was expecting to
see an impressive prayer hall but it doesn't seem to have one. Somewhat against
my better judgement paid extra for a ticket to go up one of the minarets. I
guessed there wouldn't be much of a view because of the smog but the ticket was
only 100 Rupees so I went for it. It's not for the claustrophobic since it's a
narrow dark spiral stairway up to the top. As expected, there wasn't much of a
view; I could see the Red Fort through the haze but not much else.
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| Jama Mosque |
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| Jama Mosque |
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| No unaccompanied women allowed up the Tower!!! |
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| View of the Red Fort through the Smog |
From the
mosque made my way to the Red Fort which is massive but not as much to see as
in the one in Agra. Delhi's Red Fort was captured by Nadir Shah in 1747 and
later many of the fort's marble buildings destroyed by the British following
the Indian Mutiny in 1857. Later it was
used by the British and Indian Armies and part of it is still occupied by the
army. Security is tight and it's a bit unnerving to see manned machine gun posts in the
grounds. Many of the white marble palaces have been roped off so it isn't
possible to see the inside detail close up. Think if I had come to Delhi first,
I might have been impressed but it was a bit of a let down after Agra, Jaipur
and Jodhpur. There some museums inside, none of them very well presented but the
one on India's fight for independence was interesting since my only knowledge
was about Gandhi and vaguely knowing that there had been an Indian Mutiny in
the 1800's. What the museum showed, remembering always that history is written
by the victors, was continuous strands of struggles for independence almost
from the beginning of British rule. Gandhi, influential though he was, was just
one of a whole line of agitators for independence. Sadly the pan Indian unity
of Hindus and Muslims fell apart resulting in partition which has blighted the
sub-continent ever since.
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| Entrance to the Red Fort |
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| Entrance to the Red Fort |
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| White Marble Building in the Fort |
From the Red
Fort I found my way to the nearest Metro station where, after a long queue to
get through a security check, I bought a smartcard for 150 Rupees and got a
train a few stops to Rajiv Chowk in the centre of Connaught Place. The Metro is
pleasantly civilised. I found the Smokehouse Deli where I had Spaghetti
Carbonara since I was craving something non-Indian. Both quality and quantity
were excellent but prices were comparable to UK. Walked back to the hotel.
Delhi Day 3
Got a tuk tuk to India
Gate, built as a war memorial after WWI. Obviously a popular gathering spot
and surrounded by plenty of grassy open
space which attracts hundreds of wheeling kites, the feathered kind.
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| India Gate |
From India
gate walked to Purana Qila, another fort, older than the red fort, dating from the 1500's. Found a massive bastion and gateway and the
remains of an ancient mosque dating from 1561, Khair Ul Manazil, along the way.
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| Khair Ul Manazil |
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| Still Drawing Water from the Well by Hand |
I was looking for it on
Google Maps when a passer-by asked me if I needed any help. For once, he wasn't
trying to sell me anything and when I told him what I was looking for he
pointed out that I was standing right outside it. I wasn't expecting it to be
on the second floor with an entrance through a fashion shop! It's an
interesting place which
obviously attracts the young, affluent crowd. The loud, modern music wouldn't
be my choice but I guess it sets the scene.
Started with a tiny
amuse bouche of strawberry mouse presented on a dry-ice platter. “Eat it like a
shot” the waiter told me.
The vegetarian dhosa
was delicious but not very filling so I followed it with lamb kebabs, not like
any kebab I've had before. Definitely filling, rather heavy, lamb mince stuffed
with cheese. Finally a candy floss mouthful to finish. The bill was delivered
on an old typewriter. Quite expensive at just over 1000 Rupees.
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| Novel Way to Present the Bill |
Delhi Day 4
Walked to New Delhi
Metro Station, the nearest to the hotel, which doesn't seem to have any convenient
entrance. Took the Metro to Qutub Minar Station and then a tuk tuk to the
actual monument of Qutub Minar. Sad that two taxi drivers nearly came to blows
over my fare, just 50 Rupees, about $1. Admittedly I am sure that both of them
saw it as a chance to sell me something else. The site is well looked after, set
in pleasant gardens. The tower, “Minar”, from which, presumably we get the
English word “minaret” and the Malay word “menara”, was built between 1193 and 1368 and has been
patched up several times since. The 73 metre tall tower is impressive even today when we are used to
tall structures and must have struck awe into the people who saw it when it was
new.
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| Qutub Minar |
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| Qutub Minar |
The complex includes the ruins of a mosque and madrassah along with the
famous steel pillar that has survived over 1000 years without rusting away. The
pillar is generally accepted as dating from the 4th or 5th century and carries
an inscription praising a King Chandra.
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| Tomb inside the Qutub Minar Complex |
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| The Iron Pillar |
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| Inscription on the Iron Pillar |
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| Translation of the Inscription |
As a one time member of the Institute
of Metals I would have hoped to see a bit more information on the metallurgy of
the pillar. According to Wikipedia, the iron of the pillar contains high levels
of phosphorus which leads to the formation of a corrosion resistant layer of iron
hydrogen phosphate hydrate about 50 micrometres thick. While it would be nice
to attribute this to the skill of the iron smiths I suspect it was just luck.
And of course we have no evidence of the possibly hundreds of pillars that
turned into piles of brown rust!
Again the gardens seem
to be popular with young couples. Very pleased I didn't try to fit it in
yesterday because it was definitely worth a leisurely visit. Got a tuk tuk and
the Metro back to Connaught Place where I found Zafran, another restaurant that
gets a good write up in TA but the doorman told me it was closed between 3pm
and 7pm and suggested I try nearby United Coffee House which turned out to have
an interesting menu. Unfortunately the mutton in the Rogan Josh was mostly bone
and they claimed not have any of the local beers in small bottles. So, given a
choice of a small, expensive overseas beer or a large bottle of local beer I chose
the latter, only to find, when I got the bill, that it cost much more than
twice that of a small bottle! So definitely not impressed with United Coffee
House.
Last Day in Delhi
Checked out of the
hotel at noon and travelled by tuk tuk to the National Rail Museum in the south
Delhi district of Chanakyapuri. This part of Delhi is a different world with
well maintained, wide tree-lined avenues, and, in the case of Shanti Path, the
main spine, the wide road is flanked by even wider lawns and gardens. It's home
to many embassies, mostly hidden behind high fences. It reminds me of Canberra
in the extravagant use of space. Were planners in the early 20th century so in
love with the, then novel, motor car that they assumed that would be the only
means of travel, without calculating that even incredibly wide roads would not
be able to carry the traffic? There are supposed to be some luxury hotels in
the area but I didn't see any of them. Nor did I see a single shop or restaurant
so, while the area looks beautiful, it's totally sterile.
The National Rail
Museum was a delightful change from the monuments and palaces. It’s well laid
out and was very pleasant to walk around in the warm sunshine, looking mostly
at the well-preserved old steam locomotives,
many built in Britain. Inside, there are quite a lot of exhibits and
information but more history would have been useful. Railways advanced rapidly
in India creating the possibility of long distance travel for ordinary people
and helping to form a national consciousness. Electrification started in the
1930's so progress was pretty good. Then according to one of the information
boards the railways were nationalised between 1924 and 1944, by the colonial
administration and not, as I had imagined, in post independence, socialist
inspired India. There was no explanation of why. Another board tells that the
WWII caused a lot of damage as locomotives, rolling stock and infrastructure were removed to support
military aims. can't help feeling nationalisation created an enormous
bureaucratic monster that is still stuck in the 1940's. Was amused by some of
the then and now photos; the now doesn't correspond to anything I saw. The
"Executive Chair Class”, only on a few designated services, is described
as "Business Class" but is what most people in Europe would regard as
standard. A restaurant car is shown with a detailed description of what it is,
needed because no such thing exists on Indian trains. In fairness, millenials
in Britain have probably never seen one either. Later I found a website written
by an Indian railway enthusiast which provides far more information on the
history of the railways. http://24coaches.com/
There were lots of
groups of school children, most in smart uniforms, who were obviously delighted
to travel on the little narrow gauge train that runs round the museum and
wave to the funny old westerner with
white hair. After my fill of trains, I got a tuk tuk to Connaught Place,
stopping off to look at the impressive, Raj era Secretariat Buildings, the
heart of India’s Government. One can’t help wondering whether modern India is
essentially the old empire under new management, a sentiment echoed by https://24coaches.com/what-is-the-indian-railways-real-problem/
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| Little Train Delighting the Schoolchildren |
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| Real Steam Locomotive |
When Britain was the Workshop of the World
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| The Impressive Secretariat Building |
At Connaught Place I
eventually found the Smokehouse Deli again, the best of my dining experiences.
The spinach and ricotta ravioli was tasty and the service impeccable. Then back
to the hotel and a car to the airport, a long, and mostly slow, drive in bumper
to bumper traffic.
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