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  • Day 12

    Delhi

    March 5, 2020 in India ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Nowhere showcases the vast contrast that India represents more than its capital Delhi. Kolkata (Calcutta) was India’s capital city during the years of British rule, until King George V and Queen Mary visited and the Delhi Durbar was held in their honour. Every Maharajah in the country attended and the King/Emperor announced that the capital city was to be Delhi in the future. It is regarded as one of the best ever kept secrets in India, as it came as a complete surprise. All I can say is it would not happen today!! The British then set about creating New Delhi as a suitable seat of power for the sub-continent and invited the young architect Edwin Lutyens, together with Herbert Baker to design the new city. There are wide tree lined avenues and grand governmental buildings, including the seat of Parliament and the Viceroy’s residence of some 360 rooms, now the Presidential Estate. The architecture is a clever blend of Imperial with Indian influences and the whole effect is impressive and yet familiar to the British eye. The Presidential garden is open to the public for one month of the year and we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. It is very parks and gardens, with lots of water, but an amazing riot of colour in true Indian style. There are wonderful roses, stocks, freesias, sweet peas, giant dahlias, hollyhocks, violas, tulips, antirrhinum, in fact all sorts of ‘English’ flowers that were astounding to see in an Indian setting, plus beautiful sub-continental counterparts, all of huge proportions!. It is the best garden we have seen thus far, but then perhaps it should be!
    A pilgrimage to Raj Ghat, Mahatma Ghandi’s cremation site was de rigeur. It is movingly and simply marked with a low table of black marble, flowers and the eternal flame, surrounded by immaculate lawns and gardens. Obviously, it is a place of supreme importance to Indian citizens and there were many paying their respects to the Father of the Nation.
    Old Delhi is not so comfortable to the western eye, but must be seen to appreciate the vast differences both across the country and this city of 22 million. We took a rickshaw ride through the alleys and could only pity the wiry ‘driver’ entrusted with pedalling Lesley and I through the area. It is dark, filthy and teeming with people, dogs, scooters and the occasional cow! In short it is a city within a city, with a life of its own. Amazingly, normal life of a sort is lived amongst these backstreets. Electrical cables are festooned like garlands overhead and the sky only just visible through them. There are shops of every description; fruit and vegetable carts, street food being cooked and eaten, flower sellers and the beautiful sari shops set amidst the grime and squalor. People appear cheerful despite the wretched conditions and I suspect would not take the prospect of change easily. I sense a deep tradition throughout India and an equally deep resistance to ‘improvement’.
    Lunch was taken in an atmospheric Indian ‘Bazaar’ restaurant in the old quarter. It boasted a four poster bed converted into a table and chairs, a vintage car and a collectible juke box to name but a few decorative features!
    The afternoon saw us visit Hunnaman’s tomb, a precursor to the Taj Mahal built some hundred years earlier. It is an impressive piece of Mughal architecture, without coming close to the Taj of course, but you can see the origin of design.
    The day finished with a visit to the Sunder Nursery close by. This is in fact a garden of some 30 acres, which had fallen into disrepair. A huge amount of restoration has been undertaken, largely financed by The Aga Khan Foundation. There is still work to do, but it is looking beautiful and a great green space for the population to enjoy, which they clearly do.
    As you can tell this was a long day, but it did give us an overview of this complex and fascinating city and it is fair to say everyone was tired on finally returning to our hotel around 6pm, but it is amazing what a restorative G&T can do! It was time to pack up once more and be ready to move on. Some friends are heading home at the end of a spectacular two weeks, but some of us are heading to the summer capital of the British Raj, Shimla. Tomorrow will be a long travelling day and we expect delays due to a storm of biblical proportions during the evening. We have witnessed a touch of the Monsoon according to Sudhir our guide. I will be back in touch from Shimla.
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