Gandhi's Birthday

It was a Sunday, and a holiday for Gandhi's birthday which had a few advantages. The roads were comparatively quiet, and there were far less market hawkers about, which was nice. However, a number of museums were closed for the holiday, so we didn't get to see a number of things we were hoping to.

We were reliably told that it takes a minimum of 2.5 hours to drive from one side of Delhi city to the other, so we eliminated the walking tour option which we often take. However, there was a hop on - hop off bus tour of the city that seemed to be just the thing, so we set off on foot early in the morning to walk to the nearest pick up stop some 2 kms away. It's a bit hard until you know what the bus looks like, and what the logo is at the stops, but luckily the bus stopped when we waved frantically as it sailed past, so we were away.

The first stop was the Red Fort in Delhi, built by the same Moghul emperor who built the Red Fort in Agra, and many others beside. Very similar, but this one enjoyed lush gardens where Agra was built on an arid hill. The British had added some barracks, and it would have been a rather sought after posting.

The crowds were starting to flock in as we were leaving, so it was back on the bus and down the road to Raj Ghat - the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Gardens. We thought that it would be bedlam on his birthday, but apart from about 20 O.B. vans camped around the place, it was busy but peaceful. We are guessing that most of the festivities had taken place around dawn, and it was all back to normal by the time we got there.

The bus then went past a few things we saw on Friday - the India Gate, the Modern Art Gallery, and the Lotus Temple (thousands of people queuing up and down the street to get in) - before we got off at the Saket Malls for lunch. Honestly, you could have been at Chadstone, except that you had a metal detector and a full body pat down just to get to the perfume counter inside the shop entrance.

After a coffee and a wander to reset our equilibrium, it was back on the bus. We had intended to visit the Indira Gandhi and Nehru museums, but they were shut for the public holiday, so after heading back past the President's Palace, we ended up back where we started from. The full circuit takes about 4 hours, and with 19 stops it's not possible to see everything in a day, but we felt quite happy that we'd seen a fair amount of the city.

Tea was at Pizza Hut, before a slow stroll for the 1.5 km back to the hotel. Not long after arriving back, the drums started, and a full Hindu bridal procession came past the hotel delivering the bride somewhere (we hoped it was to a better hotel than this joint for her wedding night), so there we were hanging out the windows trying to get a happy snap.

Well, what do you say about Delhi? There are fewer and fewer beggars as the country's economic state improves. There are still huge numbers of menial and low paid jobs, but in many respects it's very like any other city. Some beautiful wide tree lined boulevards, nice shopping malls, lovely government buildings, and lots of newish infrastructure. Some of the works for the recent Commonwealth Games are almost finished! The city is proud of converting its public transport to LPG, and there seems little pollution. However, the irony is that there are thousands of people employed to sweep the city, but very few employed to clean. The whole place just needs a huge hose down.