Day 5- Back to Delhi

Today we woke up uber-early and trekked back to Delhi, the capital of India, for 5 hours. Arriving 10am & settling in- we then went on the tour we were SUPPOSED to have on Sunday (aka Holi day).

Delhi consists of 7 cities.. the 7 different cities are basically the different regions where the center of the city was at different times throughout history. Delhi wasn’t always the capital but it was still important due to it’s vital location for trade as the “gateway city”.

On day 5, we spent our time in Old Delhi (the 6^th city). Shah Jahan (the guy that built the Taj Mahal) moved the city from the 5^th city area to Old Delhi or “ShahJahanAbad”. It stayed here until the British came in 1857 and they moved Delhi to “New Delhi” which is where the city currently is.

 First we went to “Jama Masjid”—the largest mosque in ALL of India!! (Of course, also built by Shah Jahan)

We had to wear dress things as foreign women.. despite if we were covered all over or not- which you know I wasn’t, but still- had to wear the uber-attractive dress and take off our shoes.

It’s still an active mosque so there was a charge for pics inside BUT we got to see praying, cleaning of the feet, and people just chillin out and worshipping.

There were pigeons that they fed… and it turns out- pigeons are pretty important. They train them to fight for  “Pigeon fighting” (much like Cock fighting in the Philippines, except they don’t kill and eat the loser).. they also have pigeon races.

Old Delhi is still relatively intact with it’s 2 meter wide alleys/roads & shops all over.

It’s unique aka scary and dirty appeal—it’s like jumping back in time.

  

Next we did one of the most interesting things: we went to a Sikh temple.

Now this is interesting…

 Sikhs believe in Gurus—or teachers/priests… The first one was Nanak, who founded Sikhism. The reason he did this was b.c. the Muslims had come into Hindu India and were trying to force conversions.. well, Nanak basically didn’t believe in either and made this combined/understanding religion- Sikhism. It focuses on a union with God, not heaven/hell; and it focuses on rejecting material wealth and the 5 evils (such as lust, greed, attachment, etc.)

Now 5 things to identify a Sikh are (called Ks):

1)   The hair that is never cut (Kesh) wrapped in the turban (“Keski”).

2)   A dagger (Kirpan)

3)   A comb (Kanga) tucked into the Keski

4)   Underwear (Kachhehra)

5)   Steel bracelet (Karha)

In In order to enter the temple we had to cover our hair:

They worship in a “gurdwara” (a "service", what was going on when we were there) consists chiefly of singing of passages from the scripture. Sikhs will commonly enter the temple, touch the ground before the holy scripture with their foreheads, and make an offering. Gurdwaras are open to ALL people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, nationality. (VERY welcoming) 

  To them there is no image of God.. they instead worship and refer to their holy book:
 Guru Granth Sahib Ji 

There’s also a pole that shoots REALLY high into the sky b.c. back in the day Skihs were welcome to all people in need of shelter. The pole stood high so that those looking for a temple or shelter, could find the Sikh temple in the distance. 

 Also, what I found was REAL charitable was: the custom of "Langar" or the community meal. In the afternoon, all temples are open to anyone of any faith for a free meal. People can enter and eat together and are served by faithful members of the community.

 It was a thoroughly interesting and enlightening experience.

At night we took the subway with a “Woman’s only” train!! J to do a lil bit of shopping, eat some foreign food—had my first piece of BEEF!! (It really hardly exists in the entire country!), and see the Star of India aka India Gate.

  

It reminded me of 4^th of July in a park where everyone’s chillin’ out with light up toys, vendors selling food, and all the kids are running around playing. This woman kept trying to get me to buy Henna and I kept ignoring her.

Next thing I know, I feel a bug on my arm…

Look over…

It’s not a bug, it’s the woman!

Give me a Henna tattoo!!

I was like:

NO!, I said I don’t want any!

She was done, and said:

“100 Rupees.”

I said “No way! I told you I didn’t want one and yet you do it anyway? I’m not paying you for anything”

“100 rupees”

“No, here’s 10, leave me alone”

She and her clan follow me.

We escape.

But seriously?! Wow. 

Day 4- Jaipur—The PINK CITY

Today was H-O-T!! Pretty much b.c., as I didn’t realize til the end of the day, we are now in a desert. Woohoo. (and yes, all of you who know me- I look like a lobster now!)

We got a new guide- a woman!! Which is a shocker…

And as goes in ALL trips where you have a guide, the first one is always the best & the 2^nd sucks.. L She was nice, but rushed us everywhere and on the whole was fairly annoying. (but at least we had a guide J )

Jaipur is a city in the Rajasthan province of India. (Like a state) This state is home to the Rajputs, or warrior clans who claimed to originate from the sun, moon, and fire. They controlled this part of India for over 1000 years and even maintained a lot of their power when the Mughals came to power all over India. So, back in the Mughals day, there was a king that ruled over the city and the Emperor was in charge of all of India. Both let the other rule their respective areas and didn’t bother each other, but essentially the king was underneath the Emperor. (power-wise)

Amber (pronounced “Ameer”) near Jaipur, was the ancient capital of the whole Rajasthan area. It was where the warrior clans were ruled from via king.  Once the Mughals were in power, the king still stayed in power in the region- just had to listen to the Emperor as well. There was a palace part of the fort for the king or “Rajput” and there was a military section of the fort. All of this was on top of a hill and surrounded by a city wall to protect Amber.

I found it interesting that this city wall remarkably resembled the Great Wall, however, no one hears about the wall at Amber.

Amber fort was REALLY impressive, and yet, not a lotta people hear about it.

There was the option to take an elephant ride to the top of the hill (we opted out due to the long queue).

As in most of the Hindu-Muslim palaces, there’s a public audience area where the king would see people from the city, the market would be there, basically the central meeting place.

One difference here is that the next level- Where the king receives the “Private Audience” aka important ppl that he does business with- is up one level from the Public audience courtyard. (we’ve see mostly flat palaces/forts)

After the private audience area, one more level up is the King’s buildings for worship, layin’ around n chillin, and enjoying the very symmetrical garden. (as usual)

In this next section up was a very unique “Hall of Mirrors” like the one in Versailles. However, this one was made up of a buncha tiny little mirrors instead of huge fancy ones. The reason for the mirrors is so at night, you put a candle in that room and the mirrors will make it light up the whole place. (pretty smart n cool idea)

There was also Turkish baths aka Hammam. Basically this is where the sauna, Jacuzzi, and steam rooms were.

(The toilets...)

(The Jacuzzi...)

Also, since this was the protected private part of the palace- there were windows for the Muslim woman (who were sequestered & couldn’t go into public) to look out onto the public and see what was going on.

On the 4^th level were the private living areas of the King & his Queens. (The Zenana) The first one had 12 wives and this was the first time I’ve seen equal but separate living quarters for each and every wife!! (Go him! How thoughtful!) Since there were 12 wives, and they were still super-uber symmetrical about stuff—there were 3 apartments on each side of a square courtyard.

In the center is where the wives could meet to gossip and fight about their jealousies.

Also, above their apartments was a secret pathway for the king. It went all around the courtyard with stairs down into each apartment. This was for 2 reasons:

1)   So no enemies knew where exactly he was at any one time in order to kill him.

2)   So none of his wives knew which wife he was with and when… (smart thinking)

Now, this Amber Fort area stayed the center of this city & the capital of the Rajasthan area until Jai Singh II moved the capital to Jaipur.  When he moved it to Jaipur, he created a gridded city (according to an ancient Hindu architectural book) with pink walls (which resemble hospitality).

There was “Hawa Mahal” where the ladies of the royal court would sit behind a buncha windows and look out onto the city b.c. they were secluded and couldn’t go out themselves.

There was also a city palace in the center where the current king still lives.

There is “Jantar Mantar” which is an observatory built by Jai Singh b.c. of his extreme interest and love in astronomy.

There were instruments for telling the time of day.

(Below is the largest sundial in the world according to Guinness Book of World Records... it can tell you the correct time within 2 seconds!!) 

There were instruments for telling where the sun was in relation to Jaipur & what day it was:

There were instruments for telling which sun sign (astrological sign) was current:

The altitude of the sun:

(It was really impressive… REAL hard work if you ask me… guys were BRILLIANT!!)