Final Look at Delhi

I missed Jama Masjid the first time I was in Delhi. It was supposed to be quite easy to find from the Old Delhi Railway Station, but I had managed to walk right on by. I wanted to set that right. So I set off down the road to see what I could see. I thought I could see a minaret in the distance, so I headed in that direction. But Delhi is not an easy city to navigate in. It is possible to see things in the distance from things like bridges, but as soon as you get to ground level you become engulfed by buildings that close off the view. In addition, for a city of this size there are just not that many intersecting streets of size. They are few and far between. To get to a spot where you think you might have seen something, you have to cut into small and winding streets in neighbourhoods. And for me that quickly gets me turned around so that I don't exactly know what direction I was originally headed.

Rather than try to keep myself headed in the right direction in the rabbit warren of the neighbourhoods, I decided to keep following the main road I was on. I was aided by the fact that the road couldn't get past where I wanted to be because it headed more or less into a “V” where two sets of train tracks met. I kept on and eventually ran into the road called Chandni Chowk, which is a main bazaar area in Old Delhi. That helped. I set off down that road and found myself following a parade of some sort. There were a lot of students in the parade and they were doing various sorts of things. Some were doing some martial arts with sticks. Others were doing acrobatics of various sorts and with different accessories. It was rather interesting. I dawdled along with them as they would stop at various intervals and do things.

At length I discovered where they were headed. Out in front of the Old Delhi Railway Station there was a platform with people who appeared to be community leaders. Each group in the parade would trundle up and perform for them and then move off. It all appeared to be in honour of an Islamic festival to take place in the next few days.

But there were a lot of people there as well, and people in crowds just aren't very courteous. After a while I got tired of being jostled and bumped and pushed. It was time to go. I headed off down the street and found I had been in the same area the first time I had tried to find the mosque. This time I headed down a different street. I realized the mistake I had made the last time. I had followed the outer wall of the Red Fort. This went in a different direction than the one that headed towards the Jama Masjid. By the time I reached the end of the wall, I was past the mosque and couldn't find it. This time with my earlier turn, I came right up on it. Perfect!

Alas! This was as close as I got to it. As I headed up towards the mosque and prepared to enter by taking off my shoes, one official tsk-tsked me and told me I couldn't go in. It was Muslims only time as it was a prayer time. He was none too pleasant about it, but I simply started to put my shoes back on and wait. And then...

Another guy came up and put it like this: “You go outside! You can't go in until 1:30 when the Muslims are finished.” This put my back up. I was so annoyed at his tone of voice and the rude way he did it. So I said, “please.” He refused. So I told him he was rude and that I wouldn't be back. I did it loudly as well, and I even mocked him telling me to go. Possibly not the most polite thing I could have done myself, but I was quite annoyed. I was tempted to point out to him that they were now going to not get the money from me that they would have if I had been prepared to enter the mosque and pay their “photography” fee, even though the mosque was technically free to enter. But I didn't. I just left.

This left me with a decision on what to do with myself and what I might do with the money I had saved. I still had to remember that I was going to be cutting it close as to whether I would run out of money before getting to the airport the next day or not. But I still had a bit of room to play with.

I walked down the road and happened on yet another archaeological site that was not mentioned in anything I had read so far about Delhi. This was one of the original 7 citadels that had been built long ago by the old Muslim rulers. This was the citadel that is now called Kotla Firoz Shah. I had to look at it carefully, because it looked a bit small at first. I didn't want to spend a bunch of my remaining funds on something that wasn't going to be worth the time. But it was actually quite large when I looked it over from the outside. So I bought a ticket and went inside.

Once inside I started looking around. The citadel was built by a ruler named Firuz Shah Tughlaq. It was built sometime between 1351 and 1388 and had been built along the banks of the Yamuna River. The river has long since changed its course or level and now run some distance away from the old citadel. But there is an expressway running along the side of the citadel, presumably where the river used to be, so it's almost the same. Well maybe not.

For being 700 years old and having had all sorts of different rulers running around conquering the country and the city in particular, it's in remarkably good shape. It also helps that they are making efforts to restore the citadel, perhaps in preparation for inclusion on the World Heritage List. At the entrance sat the old palace, or what's left of it.

Then I tried to walk around behind it where there was a bunch of other ruins. Two of the custodian/guards of the site were walking around the grounds. They approached me and seemed to be suggesting that I couldn't go that way. They wanted me to follow them around to other, and it seemed to me they were suggesting more interesting, areas. And they also seemed to want to show me around. I smelled a request for money on the heels of being shown around, so I merely took their advice (for the moment) about not going through the arch to the unknown beyond, and headed back around the ruined palace. There I dawdled, taking some photos and poking around, while they tried to get me to go after them. They eventually gave up and moved off on their rounds.

And I found that there were people in the area they didn't want me to go. I went in there and had a look around. It was a park area with people having picnics and such.

Next I headed out and around where the custodians were trying to herd me. I found a pyramidal structure with a pillar on top. It was a pillar of Ashoka (or maybe Asoka). I had been seeing this name around India, and I'm still not sure what Asoka is, but I did find out at this citadel that there are only two of these pillars. And one of them was at this citadel. It had been moved carefully from its original location and placed on this structure. It was first placed on the first level. Then, once the second level was built it was raised, and then again after the third and final level was completed.

Although I'm not completely sure it was allowed to climb up to the top, there were a number of people who had done so. However, all the entrances were barred up, with only a hole in one of the sets of bars giving access. So I think it was illicit entry. I still went up. Hey, what's good for some should be good for all, I say. At the top the view was really very nice.

Next to the pyramidal structure was the mosque. The walls had fallen down at some point, but it was still a functioning space and I noticed a number of people doing some kind of prayers before the wall facing to Mecca.

After that little corner had been investigated I headed into the lawn area where there was a large well. This is where I bumped into the two guards/caretakers again. The well had been fenced off with gates, that were closed, at the entrances. But the guards beckoned me forward and opened it up and then invited me in. My heart sank a bit because I was sure this was going to cost me. And I was really getting short on money if I was going to make it to the next day without having to go to a bank again. But they were also so insistent that I couldn't quite figure out a good way to refuse. So I went in. One of them explained to me the reason why it was fenced off. The well is quite deep, 50 meters or something like that. There are no fences keeping people from the edge of the well, and I was told that 3 children had fallen in at some point and drowned in the well. I could understand why it was off-limits. And yet it was also really interesting inside. I liked looking around at the structure of this enormous well.

After they showed it to me, we left. I started walking towards the entrance, fully intending to not make a big deal of anything. And I was also going to pretend that I had no idea of what might be expected of me, in terms of a monetary thank for being allowed into the well. They never said anything either, and I don't know if it was because they were embarrassed to have to make it clear, whether it was the other couple who wandered into the well after us, who were Indian, and who didn't offer any monetary thank you, or whether they were just being friendly and I had once again been overly suspicious. In any case, I left the citadel without having to pay anything else for the experience. And it made up for the rude treatment at the Jama Masjid mosque. It put a nice little cap on my last day in Delhi and left a good impression of India to leave the country with.

So I went and had my last big meal in India, or Indian food and went back to my hotel to prepare for my flight to Egypt the next day.

Some Lesser Known Sites in Delhi

Delhi is full of all sorts of interesting places to see that have historical significance or natural value. In looking at the map that I had bought there was a list of tourist sites. One of them was Humayun's Tomb. Another was the national zoo. Both were in the same area of the city, so I went to have a look.

In my time at the Taj Mahal, I learned that there had been 6 Mughal emperors during the Mughal empire. I also learned that the last of these emperors was Aurangzeb. When I had visited the Aurangabad area with Ben, we had gone with our auto-rickshaw driver to see a tomb of one Aurangzeb. I hadn't realized at the time that he was the last Mughal emperor. It had only been a simple tomb for a former ruler.

At the Taj Mahal, I learned that Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, was also entombed there with his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. But where Aurangzeb's tomb was very simple, the Taj Mahal is, as everyone knows, a very lavish tomb.

I don't know where the other tombs are, but the second emperor was Humayun and his tomb is in Delhi. He was the second Mughal emperor. He was much revered and was a very enlightened ruler and his empire grew in learning and places of beauty while he was in power. Unfortunately, he came to a sad end. He was going down some stairs, when he became distracted by the bells to announce one of the times of prayer. He tripped and fell to his death. His son, only 13 ascended the throne.

After Humayun's death, his son had a mausoleum built for him. And it was the first really lavish tomb to be built for any Muslim leader anywhere. Although the photo cuts off the relative size of Humayun's tomb compared to others of the time, it is still possible to tell the relative sizes of the various mausoleums.

All told there were several spots of interest in the complex. When I first entered, I bought my ticket and walked past the tomb of Isa Khan. Unfortunately it was closed for restoration work and I was unable to go inside for a look. But from outside the wall, it looked pretty impressive as well.

Across from Isa Khan's tomb complex, there was another little structure. As I was walking away from it, a man who had been sitting in the first gate leading to Humayun's tomb got up and said he was a teacher of history and he knew all about it. It was the tomb of someone called Buhalima and he knew all about her. He told me to follow him and he would tell me all about it. I told him that I had no money to give him for the talk. He looked me over and said, “None?” Nope, I shook my head. None. Suddenly, he lost interest in talking to me. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. :) The mercenary nature of people in the Golden Triangle area is irksome, but is also hilarious to watch in action sometimes.

From there, I passed through the first gate. I had my first glimpse of Humayun's Tomb. It was quite impressive.

But I didn't go there immediately. There was another ornate gate to the right after going through the first gate.

Behind that gate was a garden with a mosque and another tomb inside. So I headed in there. The security guard at the gate followed me. He told me to head to the mosque and I was headed that way when I noticed a pillar pointing the way to various spots on the grounds. Signposts like that make good ways to remember the spots in large complexes with many buildings. So I take photos of them so I can remember. While I was doing that, another couple came through and headed to the mosque. They went inside and the security made a beeline for them and started explaining things to them. I headed in after them and heard him. I suspect that he wanted to play tour guide, like the old many at the first gate, and then possibly get a monetary consideration out of it. I had narrowly avoided having to squash that desire in yet another person in less than 10 minutes. (But perhaps I am being to suspicious of the guy. Maybe he didn't anything for his time. Ha ha!)

I walked around that tomb and mosque for a few minutes. The tombs were of some sort of regular seeming people, from what the archaeologists had been able to determine. Well not regular exactly, they seemed to be some kind of military officers.

Then I wandered to the side where there were some kind of living quarters that included a spot that could possibly have been baths of some sort.

That pretty much exhausted the other parts of the complex. So it was finally onto the enclosure for Humayun's mausoleum. The gate was quite grand.

Inside the gate, an interpretive center had been set up that explained the chronology of when the mausoleum had been built and why and how it fit into the timeline of the Mughal empire. It also included information on the tomb's rehabilitation and preservation as a World Heritage Site. And there was a model of the entire complex.

And then it was into the enclosure for the mausoleum. It is an amazing looking building. There is currently a great deal of preservation work going on, and so there was the marring presence of green work tarps in places. But the view from another side was better.

The preservation work was also quite interesting as they are repainting a lot of the alcoves. And since the site is inscribed on the World Heritage List, I assume the paints as well as the techniques and such are the same as what was originally used 7 or 8 hundred years ago.

The mausoleum has been set into the grounds of a garden, and it was one of the first to ever be so placed. This gave people a place to go and enjoy a nice garden, while still paying homage to the dead emperor. The garden, as with all Mughal creations, was created with a great deal of symmetry. It is a gridded area with nine sections. The mausoleum is set in the middle section with the other eight sections arranged around it. Each of those sections is further divided into four section through the use of walkways and manmade streams of water that was somehow brought in from the nearby Yamuna River. And yes, that's the same Yamuna River that flows past the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Inside the mausoleum, despite the size and grandeur of the building, the actual tomb was small and understated.

Out on the grounds, despite the fact that not all the water channels and pools were filled with water (the conservation works are ongoing), the water works are quite elaborate and show what amazing things could be done by the ancient without benefit of modern pumps and pipes.

Overall, it's an amazing complex and complements well the other complexes like the Taj Mahal and other Muslim mosques and buildings.

From Humayun's Tomb, I walked towards the zoo. The map I bought, although, still left me poking about here and there and asking a couple of people to find where I wanted to go. But I ended up at the entrance to the zoo, and wondering how many things there are to see in Delhi. Across from the zoo there is another old ruined site. I wondered if I was going to have time to visit it after the zoo.

As I have stated before, I'm not a general fan of zoos. Animals seem to always be in small cages, much to small for them to roam. Someday, with the way humanity does things, zoos may be the only way to see animals, but for now I get uncomfortable knowing they don't have their natural amounts of space in which to roam and live.

The Delhi zoo appears to be built inside the ruin of yet another old fort or something like that. Around some of the edges of the zoo there is an old stone wall. One sign identifies the edifice as the Purana Qila.

The zoo is pretty good. After working out their no-bags policy (if places are going to say they won't allow bags in, they really should make sure they have secure storage places; I'm not leaving my bag with my laptop in it on some shelf where it can be rifled and stolen from), I was allowed in with my bag and I started looking around. I first noticed some really nice large, open enclosures. No animals, but it was a Saturday and there were scads and scads of noisy visitors.

Before long I found an area where lots of water birds make their home. There were possibly hundreds of storks and other birds nesting in this one little area in and around this little lake.

There were the usual assortment of deer and other food for carnivores. Ho hum.

And there were lots of bigger and more interesting animals as well.

There were lots of spots that seemed to be under construction or rehabilitation, but there was plenty to see in the zoo. I was satisfied with the visit.

The ruined building across from the zoo was another mosque. Inside the ruined outer walls there seemed to be a working mosque. I wasn't sure if it would require a ticket to get, so I decided to pass on it for the time being as it was rather late in the afternoon. I will be leaving from Delhi and so I will be returning. I can visit it then, along with some other things, if I like.

I walked from there to the India Gate area. India Gate is a war memorial. It stands in the middle of an immense circular area. There is a large park immediately around the monument. And then leading out in 6 or 8 directions are streets and parade lanes. I suspect that the parade lanes must be used on a regular basis, for they have bleachers that line the parade lanes. I don't know what kinds of ceremonies are done here, but with the amount of space for spectators, they must be quite impressive.