August 2008, Delhi.
Towards the end of our stay in Delhi we went to stay with a friend on the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University. The above photo was taken while exploring the campus one night. With this photo my mini-travelogue comes to an end. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Delhi.
After visiting the Jantar Mantar I made my way to Raj Ghat. Raj Ghat is a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi and also the place where he was cremated. Nowadays, it has a mostly ceremonial function, used by politicians from India and around the world for photo opportunities. It is a pity that Gandhi and his philosophy of non-violence have largely become irrelevant in contemporary India. Even more shocking is the contempt with which most Indians of my generation view him. He is blamed for everything from the partition of India, appeasement of Muslims to not doing anything concrete for the Untouchables. In a world being torn apart by religious extremism and unnecessary wars I feel that his teachings still hold great relevance.
In an interesting side note, I met a lady from Aachen (which is about 30 minutes away from Cologne) at Raj Ghat. She had come there with her husband to pay her respects and we got to talking a little bit about India and Germany.
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Delhi.
I made my way to the Jantar Mantar on a hot Monday morning. The Jantar Mantar is an observatory consisting of a series of scientific instruments built in the form of buildings and used to make astronomical measurements (the huge block you see in the middle of the above photo is actually part of a giant sun dial). It was built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur from 1724 onwards. A total of five such observatories were built in various cities in North India of which the ones in Jaipur and Delhi are most popular. Incidentally, the area to the right of Jantar Mantar is the officially designated area in which protests/demonstrations can be organized in Delhi by anyone with a grievance. The day I was visiting the observatory there were a group of Hindu holy men protesting and criticizing what they called ‘the appeasement of Christians and missionaries (while being hard on Hindus)’ by the current Indian government.
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Delhi.
The Hazrat Nizammudin Dargah is the mausoleum of one of the most popular Sufi saints in India, Nizamuddin Auliaya, who is revered by not just Muslims but also by many Hindus and even Christians. The same dargah complex also houses the tomb of Amir Khusro, the famous poet and musician as well as father of qawwali, who was a disciple of Nizamuddin. Fittingly, every Thursday there are Qawwali sessions organized in the verandah before the mausoleum of Nizamuddin Auliya. The above photo is of one of the qawaali singers, from one such session we attended, as he took a break from singing.
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Delhi.
The day after we returned from Mussoorie I fell sick. It was a viral fever. So another painful decision had to be made. We decided to cancel onward travel to Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. I had been looking forward to visiting Ladakh but luck was or rather health was not on my side. We pushed back to Delhi so that I could rest and recover. The above photo was taken outside Delhi Haat, an interesting place where you can find traditional art and food from almost every state in India. The day I went there was the first day of a crafts exhibition of artists living below the poverty line. And the dancers above were there to welcome visitors to the exhibition in their exuberant way.
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Mussoorie.
Mussoorie is locally referred to as the ‘Queen of the Hills’. As such it has been a popular hill station from the time of the British Raj. There are great views from the top over the surrounding valley and on a clear day you can apparently see snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas but the day we went there a thick cloud cover descended over the region covering the whole valley below with a thick white blanket. While this eliminated any chance of great views it did offer interesting photographic opportunities of a different kind as can been above.
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Mussoorie.
Finally, the rain cleared after two days so we immediately set off for Mussoorie in the morning. The above photo was taken while waiting for the bus to Mussoorie to start. A lot of pilgrims visit the state of Uttarakhand as part of the Char Dham Yatra, one of the most important pilgrimages in Hinduism. The four dhams in the order in which they are supposed to be visited are Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. The incredible thing about this ‘yatra’ is that many of the pilgrims actually complete the whole pilgrimage on foot, which is a few hundred kilometers at least, across some of the toughest terrain in the world!
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Dehradun.
As our plans to visit Mussoorie kept getting put off day after day due to the weather we decided to explore Dehradun. We walked around the center of the city for a while and suddenly found ourself wanting a drink. After talking to a local we were pointed to a pub, a part of which you see in the above photo. Apparently, this was one of only two pubs in town (we ended up going to the second one as well later).
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Dehradun.
Another one from FRI. As we came earlier than planned to Dehradun we had a lot of time on our hands. So we decided to visit Mussoorie, a popular hillstation about an hour and a half away by bus. But the weather as usual was bad. It was raining almost every day and therefore we cooled our heels in the IMA guest house watching the Beijing Olympics and cheering the few Indians who performed well there.
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)
August 2008, Dehradun.
Upon reaching Dehradun on Independence Day, through my brother’s help (he is in the Indian army), we managed to find accommodation in the impressive Indian Military Academy (IMA) which is an elite military training college that trains officers for the Indian army as well as some officers from ‘friendly’ nations. IMA has been functioning since the days of the Raj and so still retains some traditions from that era. Eating in the Officer’s Mess is quite an experience with stuffed Ibis heads and Tiger skins staring back at you (in fact I had to puchase a set of formal clothes just for eating in the mess as entry into it is not possible while dressed casually).
Unfortunately, photography is not permitted on the IMA campus due to security reasons. But right next door to the IMA is the FRI (Forest Research Institute), another impressive building from the Raj era. As can be seen above it is a mix of a different architectural styles and the whole complex is nicely framed by the mountains behind it.
(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)