Delhi Day Tour

After coming to grips with the realities of haggling for auto-rickshaws in Delhi, I decided that hiring a taxi for the day might be worth it. Also, given the habit many drivers have of mysteriously ending up at a destination not of your choosing (and one outside a shop you simply must look at), combined with my previous day's conversations with Mr Delhi Belly, the notion of spending a day with a recommended driver, in a nice car that would take me wherever I wanted, was heavenly.
So it was that at 9am Ashok, my driver, greeted me in the hotel foyer and led me to his chariot (a small Suzuki of some kind). After chatting about where I wanted to go he mapped out an itinerary, though with one addition - he insisted I visit the Gandhi Museum, as all who wish to understand India must know Gandhiji.
After weaving and dodging our way south from Paharganj we arrived at my first stop - Qutb Minar. Begun in 1193 to celebrate the defeat by Muslim armies of the last Hindu kindgom, this mosque complex includes an impresive red sandstone and white marble minaret (the Qutb Minar) of some 73m height and a mighty 15m diameter at its base.

The mosque itself was construted out of stonework from sacked Hindu and Jain temples. Interestingly it seems as though the builders didn't have too much of a problem with the technically idolotrous and thouroughly infidelic (is that a word?... it is now) artwork therein, as many of the pillars have literally been lifted straight from the old temples into the mosque. The result is a fascinating mix of Muslim geometrics and organisation of space, filled with Hindu and Jain iconography. Much of the fine detail survives, inluding tiny arvings of what I presume are Vishnu and Shiva, and it makes for great viewing.
Sadly, though I had my camera I only shot one photo (photo's to come later). When I turned it on as I got out of the car, the battery showed 8 minutes of life, so I decided to be conservative. This was needless in the end as by the time I got to Humayun's Tomb (more on that below) later that day it had magically recharged itself to 28 minutes...
Next stop was the Baha'i temple. The well manicured grounds and supurbly designed temple (in the shape of an unfurling lotus flower) draw lots of visitors, most of whom are Indian.

There were some Westerners though, and it was with great interest that I noticed that foreign tourists spent much more time in the temple, where talking and photography are banned, than the locals. It was pleasingly peaceful, and got me thinking about the appeal of temples in India, removed as they are from the maddness of the street.
A few hundred metres away is the ISKCON temple (Hare Krishnas to the layperson). After passing the heavy security (which included a metal detector and a bag search) I had a wander round. After a few minutes I realised I was the only whitie there. Not a single tourist was to be seen. Nonetheless, the place seems to be set up to cater for the international crowd, as there is an english language bookshop, an ice cream parlour, a Govinda's, and a sound and light show introdution to The Science of Happiness. I chose the latter. It was, unsurprisingly, a fantastical and loud explanation of why bhakti yoga (devotional practice) is the best way to live. Included is:
* a fit inducing strobe scene in a pitch black room filled with statues of monsters and people in hideous pain,
* a maniquin led depiction of the cycle of birth and death acompanied by the music from The Fellowship of the Ring,
* a deafening room of screams with pictures of dying or deceased people, and
* a scale-model depition of the scene from the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna tells Arjuna why it is that he must 'do his duty' (also accompanied by Fellowship music... I wonder if the New Line knows?)
It was great!
Next was Humayun's Tomb, a fabulous example of Mughal architeture.

Built by the senior wife of Humayun, Haji Begum, and set in a huge grounds, it must have been one of the great buildings of the world for its time. It was here that I realised how powerful such places are, especially for the foreign tourist. Outside, the street is packed, noisy, polluted, and to the unfamiliar, an incomprehensible chaos. Inside you completely leave this behind; everything is cool, calm, clean, and ordered. It makes me think that for many tourists the contrast might appear so huge that to deny the power of the place seems impossible.
My last stop was the Ghandi Memorial Museum. I don't have much to say on this. It's a very well done museum, and quite moving. It's located at the house Ghandi was living at when he was shot, and includes a little footprint trail that follows his final steps, as well as lots of the paraphenalia from his life (including the famous glasses.
After that it was hometime as I was pretty tired. Definitely well worth the money.
Traveller's Tips:
Car and Driver for the day organised by Hotel Namaskar - 550rs (ask to have Ashok as your diver)