Bright Eyes

I don't know if this counts as a roll or not, but it's Thursday evening, I'm back from my tabla lesson, my mouth is still on fire from the chili garlic noodles, and I feel like writing some more. So here we go.

Okay, I lied, maybe tomorrow morning.

Totally tomorrow morning. I got sucked into, of all things, the last hour of Babylon AD. Can't explain it.

Right, so, I realized last night when I started this one that the one I wrote earlier yesterday was about stuff I did with James, but it didn't really talk much about James and I. Well, that's because I don't actually plan what I'm going to say, I just kinda write. You may have noticed that.

The other reason though is that were I to write just about my time with James, it would come across as an Artist's Way exercise gone bad as you'd just see the words "awesome, fun, laugh, auto-rickshaw, random people picture, hilarious" repeated down the page however many times I could do in twenty minutes. Which by the way, given copy/paste, would be alot.

So it'd be that or you'd hear me babbling on about different daft "incites" I've had along the way, or more likely all the questions I continue to ask myself on what am I really doing here, what will I do when I get back, what do I think I'm getting from this experience, and crap like that. And really, you've heard enough of that from me already, and more importantly, James had to deal with it all once, do you think he wants to relive it when he checks out the blog. I'm not that mean. And no, I'm not the only one who talked, James is good at that too. But the stuff that doesn't fall under the "awesome, fun, laugh, auto-rickshaw, random people picture, hilarious" category really isn't for me to share. He's a contributor to the blog. He can write his own stories and tell you what he chooses.

But trust me, James was here. I've got the pictures to prove it.

This is a temple to Hanuman Mandir. That monkey is over 100 ft tall.

James and I noticed it the first time on our way to our cooking class, and then after the class we went for a walk and checked it out closer up.

This is the entrance.

We didn't get swallowed by the monkey, so I can't tell you what it's like inside. Oh, and yes, James and I took a cooking class on his last full day in Delhi. More on that another time.

This is Ahinsa Sthal, and a statue of Lord Mahavir. Ahinsa means non-violence, which I just learned now.

Actually, I learned it about 10 hours ago, but then got caught up in a wonderful conversation for a couple of hours and then went off to meet Minati at Lodi Gardens to play the ukulele. So sitting there on the grass playing songs and along comes a fellow selling chai. Seriously, all parks should have these. Everywhere.

Anyway, now I'm back and it's about 24 hours since I had started this blog entry, so maybe I'll actually get through it this time.

James and I came to this what I think of as shrine, though I may be wrong about that, after our time at the Qutb Minar, which you've already seen.

This by the way is a post on temples, shrines, and such. It's far from comprehensive of all the holy type places that James and I saw, heck it's not even comprehensive on the ones I am showing you, which means it's likely a fraction of a percent of how many holy places are in Delhi, and will win a total of zero educational awards. And I was actually thinking about this yesterday, how I've not seen nearly as many temples and such as I thought I would have. So I plan to make up for that a little bit in this my final week in Delhi. So expect Return to... or Beneath...  or whatever something down the road.

This is St. Stephen's College in Old Delhi. Or at least it was at one time or another. Now it's apartments. Why did it make it into this post? Well, I'd titled the picture St. Stephen's so just added without looking and am now hoping you'll agree with me that a former church run educational institute counts.  Heck, if the ruins of a 15th century Madrasa count, then this can to.

Oh, and besides, you can see James in this one. See, told you he was here.

As I mentioned, this is in Old Delhi, and one of the many spots we stumbled upon as we wandered around the neighbourhood. One of our running comments to each other was "Ya, but can you imagine what this all looked like back in the day when it was all shiny and new?" And go for it, take a look at the picture above, or any of them really, and try and imagine what it all looked like when it was first completed.

It's kinda mind boggling. And that's Delhi for you, mind boggling, just with way more dice.

This is a look down one of the main streets in Old Delhi that leads up to the Red Fort. Wanna play "count the temple"? There's a lot. I'll try and visit some of these over the next week I suspect.

This is Jama Masjid, a mosque built in the 1650's. Took six years. Six years. The courtyard holds up to 25,000 people, and does so pretty much every Friday.

We sat in the courtyard for awhile just kinda relaxing and soaking it in. Along came a young gentleman who sat and chatted with us a bit, wondering where we were from. That happens alot. And oddly enough, it happens more with two of us than it does with just me. Maybe it's James.

Ya, it's James.

Yep, you're able to climb one of the minarets.

Which is good, as James likes to climb things. Before meeting me in Delhi he had a day or so stop over in Dubai, pretty much for the sole purpose of going to the top of the Burj Khalifa. You know, that place Brad Bird made Tom Cruise climb the outside of?

Simon Pegg rocks by the way.

So while this minaret is nowhere near as high, given that you are climbing stone stairs in your sock feet (no shoes on in a mosque), you're really happy that that is the case.

This is a shrine by Chandri Chowk metro station in Old Delhi. There are many shrines like this all around Delhi, and Agra, and Jaipur, and I'm assuming wherever you can find a banyan tree.

They start as little offerings left in a crook in the tree. And over time, little offerings turn into a little hutch in the tree, into a small hut along side the tree, to a large marble building encasing the tree.

You actually know where the above and below shots are from. Lodi gardens, and the mosque that is there. You've already seen plenty of pictures of it though, so instead I thought you'd prefer a broom and a cat.

By all rights you'd think the next picture should be of Margaret Hamilton, but no, it's our lunch in Dilli Haat. While for some food can be a holy experience, and this meal was certainly no exception, it's just here because this is where we ate between Lodi Gardens and our next destination.

Actually, Dilli Haat was a destination, but more about that another time, and besides, I already showed you it.

That's a deer.

That deer is one of the many in the aptly named Deer Park, which is right beside Hauz Khas village whih conveniently has the Hauz Khas complex in it.

The Hauz Khas complex is a mosque and madrasa and I'm assuming a few tombs thrown in for good measure. Built at the end of the 13th century Hauz Khas means Special Tank, and refers to a large water resevoire, a portion of which is now a lovely lake surrounded by some nice park land.

So remember in the last entry I mentioned James and I running across a traffic circle near Humayun's tomb to get into Nizamuddin? Well, that was so we could wander the neighbourhood, and to find the Nizamuddin Dargah.

Which would be that.

Actually the white building with the cool dome is the dargah, which is a shrine to a 14th century sufi saint. Behind it (the big red building) is a mosque.

It's a fascinating place. Many come to offer gifts and to pray. To reach it you actually once again need to remove your shoes, and then walk through what feels like a Marrakech souk where every stall is selling strings of flowers, or bolts of fabric as gifts at the shrine.

And now we're back in Jaipur.

And it's time to visit the monkey temple.

Which is not actually a temple to Hanuman like the one up top. The temple itself is the Sun Temple. Jaipur has a temple to the sun, wind, water, amongst others. This one is an unassuming temple at the top of a hill overlooking Jaipur that apparently offers a great view of the city at sunrise or sunset.  James had been there for around sunset, I at that time was, as you may recall, unconscious at the hostel. But, luckily for all of those who like pictures of monkey's James liked it so much that he wanted to make sure I saw it, so that's where we went the next day.

So now for a whole lotta monkeys, and a little bit of temple.

Oh, and goats.

You know, I don't know that I got a shot of the temple.

Huh.

A Tomb With A View

This is Humayun's tomb.

Actually, it's part of the wall around Isa Khan's tomb, which is part of the larger complex of Humayun's tomb. It's one of those things that happens when James and I went "what's over there?" and swung to the right when we entered, as opposed to just flowing forward along with everyone else.

Yep, that's us. Tourist rebels, living on the edge and swinging to the right like angry conservatives.

I'm not sure what that meant.

Humayun was one of the Mughal Emperors who died and was buried (conveniently in that order) in the mid-16th century.

Isa Khan, whose wall is above, and whose mosque is below, and whose tomb is below that, was a noble who fought against the Mughals earlier in the 16th century. Figure that out.

Anyway, this is was one of the places in Delhi that James and I took the time to go and see. We saw it the day before we went to Agra, which worked well, as that sad bus station was nearby so we'd gone and bought our tickets and then headed here. After here we wandered around another neat neighbourhood and to a very colourful shrine that more than compensated for the sad bus station.

Oh look, there's James.

That's just a random bike. There are a few of those in this entry.

Above is mosque, below is tomb.

And just before going inside we should pause and look at the cute puppies playing on the lawn.

Those of you on FB may have seen some dog pics from James being posted. I may also at some point include some pictures of the many, many dogs I've seen roaming around Delhi. Remember the cats in Marrakech. Well, that's dogs here. Lots of dogs.

They're very friendly, and lots of them look like Santa's Little Helper. And yesterday when I went to Dilli Haat for a bite to eat with Sue, one of the women staying in the same apartment that I'm renting a room in, the dog that sat by our table outside, upon receiving a morsel of food, did the most remarkable thing...

This is where on FB you'd now be forced to click the link to read the article to find out how incredible this dog really is only to be bitterly disappointed, but mostly in yourself for having done that one more time even though you promised yourself that you'd stop.

Well, I'm saving you the click, but likely not the disappointment.

There's a type of naan that is stuffed with a mince. I've told you about Dilli Haat before (you may recall some very colourful pictures of people dancing), and the food. Well, Sue is originally from Hyderabad, which is the capital of Telangana, a state in south India. She lives in Penang Malaysia now, and had come for a friend's wedding.

Anyway, to make a long story not longer than it actually is, we found a food stall for food from Hyderabad and got a yummy mutton biriyani and some chicken korma, and this stuffed naan thing. We did a good job of gobbling most of it up, but there was a bit of the naan left that I refused to eat despite Sue insisting I was a man (which is true by the way, but I'm not sure how relevant to the argument) and that therefore I could eat this last bite.

Well, the dog was male too so acted as my proxy. Apparently though the dog is a pickier eater than I as it ate up all the mince insides and left the bread lying there on the ground.

Apparently if you are a dog in Delhi than the adage "beggars can't be choosers" does not apply.

His loss mind you, the bread was great.

But that was yesterday. Meanwhile back at the tomb...

After Isa Khan, James and I successfully continued to avoid the main attraction of Humayun by wandering around this part. Most of the time was spent wondering what the space was used for.

Big open area, surrounded by walls with rooms and alcoves lining them. Gateway at either end.

At least one, if not two wells.

Old bike rusting away in a corner.

It turned out to be a market. Now, was it more fun wandering around trying to figure out what this space was, or would it have been better to walk the normal path and therefore had seen the sign that said what it was before entering, and therefore enjoyed knowingly walking through it?

I'm not going to answer that question.

This is Humayun's tomb.

And this is Humayun's tomb a couple of minutes later with a water feature in the foreground.

And this is James and I in a hotair balloon, rising up over the complex for what became a spectacular view of all of Delhi and the greatest moment of my trip so far.

Actually, it's what you'll see if you walk up a fairly steep flight of steps onto the main level of the tomb, move to the right, and then turn to your left about 80 degrees.

And that's what you get if you're willing to have a kink in your neck.

I don't remember what this is, but if you want to see it, then just go to Humanyun's tomb, exit through the front gate, and avoid getting run over as you cross through the centre of the traffic circle on your way to discover the joys of Nizamuddin.

We'll discover those another time.

This is the inside of one of the tombs at Lal Gumbad; part of a small complex built for a sufi saint at the end of the 14th century. It's a 10 minute walk from the apartment here in Malyiva Nagar, which despite it's spelling and definite space between the a and the N, sounds like Malvinegar when you say it.

Or at least to my ear it does.

I've been here a few times, and one of those was with James, and these pictures are from that time, so they get to make it into this entry.

It's a good place to come for a bit of a walk, or perhaps sit and read a book. That's what I do anyway.  It's also a good place to get hit in the head by falling bits of wood if you happen to wander across a make-shift cricket pitch like James and I did. Neither of us got hit in the noggin', but we did quicken our step.

The fun thing about this place is that, to get in, you need to squeeze through the space between the two gates, which are chained closed. Yes, they're chained closed loosely enough that you can duck and squeeze through pretty easily, and there are plenty of people there, so you're pretty sure it's okay to do so. It just seems a tad off somehow. But in a good way.

This is one of the small tombs along Hauz Khas village road, which we wandered up one evening with Minati...

... have I introduced Minati yet? - no, no I haven't. I was going to in a post about a meetup I did just before James arrived, but then I didn't get that post done and decided to write these first and then go back to it. Dang. Well, I'll be quick. Minati is this really cool person I met on a meetup walk a few days prior to James arriving.

There. Consider yourselves introduced. Anyway, we had met up with Minati earlier on whatever day this was and were headed to Hauz Khas village to meet up with Maya. Haven't introduced her yet either, have I. Nope. Same non-existent post, but later. Maya is a friend of Minati's that James and I went to meet up with.

Anyway, that's a tomb we walked by, and this is below is Safdarjung tomb. It's near the Lodi Gardens and was a stop off point James and I had on the way to the gardens.

It's also a stop off point to the gardens that I made with Kiri when we went to gardens. Have I introduced Kiri yet? You know, I think I have.

Nope, no I haven't. Kiri is a fellow Canadian who I met at a couchsurfing event a few days before James arrived who I then got to spend a fun day with wandering around Safdarjung's tomb and the Lodi gardens, and then who James and I got to have breakfast with at a street stall near the apartment shortly before she headed off to Jaipur with some friends. I think she's in Goa now.

Kiri is not only a fellow Canadian, she's a fellow Torontonian. And she lives in the Little Portugal neck of the woods. That'd be where I was living for many years prior to the past two years when I moved back to Bloor West Village. Kiri has been to full of beans. Kiri has had pints with Lori at the Doc Ellis. Kiri has worked at The Resevoire Lounge with my friend Risa.

Kiri is walking, talking, dancing in Bangalore but hangin' out in Delhi proof that it is a small, small world.

So's my friend Morgan. But he's a whole other story.

You know, these people have been introduced to you all on FB, or at least to the lot of you who are friends with either James or I on FB. But now you're introduced here too. Isn't that grand.

As an aside (as if all of that wasn't an aside enough) I really do like visiting the Lodi gardens. I've been three times now I think, and am actually back tomorrow to give Minati a ukulele lesson. Yes, uke in the park. Which is a spoonerism for instructions Noah may have given his family on what not to do, just before closing the doors to stop the rain from coming in.

Notice how I said nothing at all about Safdarjung's tomb that entire time.

This is the tomb of Azim Khan. And that's about all I know.

But all of this to say, there are a heck of alot of tombs in Delhi. I think one of the things that entertained James the most about some of them was the shear enormity of the buildings. And it's not just the buildings. The garden space around many of them is immense as well. Still. After hundreds of years. Some small ones like the nameless nigh-shot above have been encrouched on by this ever expanding city, but seriously, they've got some room.

I've read somewhere that Delhi is one of the greenest cities in the world with 20% green space. I'm wondering how that correlates with tomb space? I'm also curious if that is even a statistic that is tracked on a world scale. Guessing not. 

It's certainly not one of the top criteria for "best places to live" surveys. 

Probably best.

This is where I'm gonna just shut up now. Or nearly shut up.

This is what you see in Agra if you've taken the advice of your rickshaw driver and his friend.

This is what the 19-20th century poet Rabindranath Tagore described as "a teardrop on the face of eternity".

This is truly the most beautiful building I have seen in my life; the Taj Mahal.

Seriously. I remain in complete awe of this.

When we were leaving it James and I both remarked to each other about our incredible good fortune for having been able to see it. I mean there you are. There it is. And your brain is saying, quite loudly I might add, "Oh crap. You're at the Taj Mahal! It's right there you fool. Look!  Look!"

And you can touch it. You can touch the Taj Mahal.

Seriously people. Just come here and see it.

People sit on it. Crazy talk!

When prepping the pics for this entry, and while writing everything else above, I had no idea what I could possibly say about the beauty that is this testament to love. I still don't. I also didn't realize until trying to say something or express a thought on the topic, how much it's stayed with me, how truly excited, inspired, humbled I am by this building.

Mind you, that's what love does to you too. So go figure.