After the cool, calm and quiet of Ladakh, Delhi was a shock to the system. The daily maximum temperatures around 7°C in Uley and Leh switched to 37°C in Delhi. True, the air was not as thin down on the lowlands; instead it was thick with the pungency of city life. The tranquil soundscape of the mountains became a cacophony of beeping vehicles. After the flight from Leh, we had lunch then we took the afternoon off – luxuriating in flowing water, flushing toilets and other mod-cons that were in short supply up in Uley.

Next day 6 of us headed into Old Delhi on the metro. The metro here is not what you might expect. It isn’t a relic of the British Colonial period, as much of India’s rail infrastructure is. This is brand new. It is run by a state-owned company (unlike here where the once state owned transport infrastructure was sold off to private companies). Wikipedia declares it to be the 12th longest metro system in the world (252 km), with the 16th largest ridership (1 billion per year). But these statistics may be out of date. Stations were being opened whilst we were there. It is clean, smooth, fast and cheap (eg Connaught Place to the airport ~20 km was about AU$1.20 with trains every 15 minutes).

First stop was a major Sikh temple Gurudwara Bangla Sahib. Here we joined a fascinating tour. Sikhism is a religion that arose in the Punjab region around the 15th century AD. Fundamental beliefs include “one creator”, divine unity, equality of all people, and it fosters striving for social justice for the benefit and prosperity of all. Flowing from this they provide free food for any who need it.   The tour took us through the kitchens where they prepare this food; we were told they fed 25,000 people every day, so the scale of the kitchens was amazing.

The complex also houses halls of worship where texts from their holy books are read/sung, study rooms, there is apparently also a school and a hospital here. It was certainly bustling with life. Unfortunately the timing of our visit was out of sync with the timing of the meals. I am sure the full dining hall – thousands of people – would be quite a sight.

From the Sikh temple we headed onwards towards Connaught Pace (detouring via a couple of shops as one of our party wanted to purchase some gifts to take home). The shops were, as always, interesting. We were wafted indoors, taken up to 4th floor, where there were floor to ceiling stocks of Pashmina scarves and the like. There were about 5 staff on just that floor. We were the only customers. On the way out we looked on the floors below.. same story. lots of staff, few, if any customers.

Connaught place to my mind has connotations of British colonial grand architecture. What we found was a circular traffic jam with some rather tired, colonnaded, low rise buildings. For “one of the largest financial, commerical and business centres in New Delhi … that houses the headquarters of several noted Indian firms” (Wikipedia) it was rather a let down. The highlight there was being accosted by trinket sellers, desperate to sell us things… anything… We decided to turn the tables and hassled the hawkers, trying to get them to purchase our tourist maps – look – two maps, only 50 rupees, what a bargain … . In the end they backed off, perhaps hoping to avoid catching whatever madness had apparently afflicted us.

From CP we headed on to visit one of the market areas near Chandni Chowk. What a place. It is a veritable maze of tiny shops lining a network of arcades. Crowded, claustrophobic, chaotic. Thank goodness for GPS or we would never have got back to our station.

Next day Jill and I headed in to Old Delhi intending to explore Red Fort and visit some more of the markets. We trundled to the Metro and got ourselves to Chandni Chowk station, about 500 m from the Red Fort. We tried to evade the endless calls of cycle rikshaw and tuk tuk drivers to avail ourselves of their services. It was as if walking was a crime against humanity.

Reaching Red Fort was easy, though even by 10am the air was thick with haze. Red fort is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was built around 1639 and served as the main residence of the Mughal emperors for the next 200 years.

The red sandstone walls enclose 100 Ha of gardens and palaces of various eras, many of which are in disrepair or are being worked on. The impressive entrance gate/tower complex takes you through an arcade of small shops selling tourist trinkets before one reaches the expansive gardens.

There are remains here of what would have been extensive water features – ponds, fountains etc, none of which are now functional. It must have been a very different place in its heyday.

By the time we had circumnavigated the complex, admired the arches, marble inlays, sculptural elements etc, the mercury was hovering in the high 30s. We espied a new metro station, just outside the red fort gates. Given the choice of melting in the markets, and a nice airconditioned train back to the hotel, we decided on cool, relaxation and a bit more time to pack for our 11:30 PM flight.

This last image serves as a contrast to the usual street dog photos. This spherical beast was probably just a  teensy-weensy little bit over-fed.

More photos at

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eriK6yzoU3Yx2yUe2

That’s all for this trip. Hope you enjoyed the ride.