Day 17 - Sunshine

All its faults aside, Delhi looked its best in the sunshine today. I, on the contrary, looked my worst, drenched in sweat and essentially struggling to function under 34 degrees and 90% humidity. While the soft light at the Red Fort made it almost worth visiting again, the queues for the Indian ticket counters (thankfully separate from the foreigners’ although, in fairness, the entrance fee is an order of magnitude lower) were simply insane. There were probably thousands of people queuing for hours to get in, under conditions that nearly made me give up on the whole thing, but once we got in we realised it was more of a fun family day out than your average visit to a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

While talking to my sister about what there is to see in Delhi, I quickly realised there were still a few places I had not yet covered despite having been here for a good few days. As the Lotus Temple is closed on Mondays it was only natural to check it out in the afternoon, especially as the Delhiite who had dinner with Ben and I last night was also yet to see it. Her initial enthusiasm was pretty much gone after twelve seconds standing in a queue under the burning sun, while ours had settled on a sweaty resignation after our morning experience. The temple is pretty impressive from the outside, but arguably more so on the inside (where we were not allowed to take photos). Unlike most Hindu temples there are no idols or symbols, with the clean and minimalistic decor making it an inherently peaceful meditation site. I clearly did not fit in, as my whispers were promptly censored by a stern-looking lady with the universal sign for “shut your mouth”.

We then met up with a couple of Ana’s friends, who happen to be in Delhi after spending a few weeks volunteering in Kolkata, and had dinner in Khan Market, a small but tidy collection of local botique shops and Western invaders, as well as restaurants of all kinds (including what appeared to be a Nando’s rip-off called “Barcelos”. How you can rip off something that is already a rip-off of our national cuisine is beyond me…).

After a stroll around India Gate accompanied by some local ice cream (a chocolate Cornetto and an almond Magnum) and a pretty scary rickshaw ride, whose driver used extremely creative hand signals in lieu of indicators and was almost definitely intoxicated, we made it back home for some well deserved rest. It then took me about two hours to write this fairly average post, making sure I will be just as tired tomorrow as I was today. If you thought procrastination was confined to one’s workplace or a University library, think again…

Cheers,
J-Wowww