The People of India

I so enjoyed people watching on my journey thru northern India. The people were gracious and enjoyed being photographed. Many times they wanted me in their photos. The following pictures need no words. These might continue into the next few blogs

The Incredible Taj Mahal

18 October 2014

Today I visited the amazing Taj Mahal. It's a world wonder that must be seen in your lifetime to believe it's beauty. A simple picture just doesn't do it justice.

Built by emperor Shah Jahan as the tomb and tribute to the wife he loved so much and who died at the young age of 39. Theirs was a true love story.

The Taj took 20 years to build using some 20,000 workers many from distant lands. They weren't slaves, on the contrary they were artists who loved the work and were well paid. The Taj was built beginning in 1632.

The structure carries the Mughal Islamic design with beautiful white marble and many carved walls with real stone inlays.

I was in awe and honored to have had the chance in my life to see it and walk around it and in its interior. 

The Sikhs - "Seeking" the Equality of all Men

The Sikhs - "Seeking equality of Man"

For hundreds of years ( maybe thousands?) the caste system in Hindu faith has existed in India. That is that all Indian people fall into four classes, ranging from the top as educators or teachers to the bottom as untouchable low-life. People held these classes through life and even after death where they were reincarnated into the same caste. Although the caste system has been eliminated politically, in many ways it still exists particularly in rural India. 

The  Sikh ("seek") faith is the second newest religion in the world. Its founder or Guru, a Hindu detested the caste system and felt all men should be equal.  This religion which believed in one God consisted of practical living, rendering service to humanity and engendering brotherly love to all. The religion combined the best elements of both the Hindu and Islamic faiths. The major Sikh temples offer free food to all men and women regardless of their place in society. 24/7, many meals are served there. The men Sikhs are identified by their distinctive colorful wrapped turbans.

The tour group visited the Gurdwara SisGanj, the principle Sikh temple in Delhi. 

This was an amazing spiritual experience. Led by our incredible native tour guide Jai we removed our shoes, donned the required head cover, and entered the temple. We were allowed to sit near the praying Sikhs who visit the temple to pray often twice a day. The prayer area is provided with a live Sikh singer and drummer providing interesting Indian prayer music. after observing the prayers we went to the outside patio where tea is served for all to sit and mingle.

This was an amazing Indian experience that would only have been possible by being
on small tour with a native Indian guide. I would have never entered the temple being alone besides knowing the proper protocol while in the temple. The small G-Adventures tour group with our guide Jai and 6 other wonderful new friends, has been a wonderful way to see India.

Delhi India - A City of Contrasts

13 October 2014

Delhi is a city of contrasts, amazing differences in the economic level of the local folks depending on what part of the city you explore. Note that in the old Delhi, the infrastructure hasn't changed for hundreds of years and the residents tend to be poor and struggling to survive. Then there is the new Delihi, boosted by the huge climb in economic success India has seen in the past several years in high tech (ever make a tech support call and talk to someone in India?). You guess from the pictures below what area of Delhi you are in:

Delhi - The Jama Masjid Mosque

13 October 2014

Hi all,

Just a short blog on one site I did on the first day of the tour, trying to use the blogging App, see how this works??

The Masjid-i-Jahan Numa, commonly known as the Jama or Jarna Masjid (Great Mosque) of Delhi is the principal mosque of Old Delhi in India. Masjid-i-Jahan Numa means "mosque commanding a view of the world, " whereas the name Jama Masjid is a reference to the weekly congregation observed on Friday (the yaum al-jum`a) at the mosque. Commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and completed in the year 1656 AD, the Jarna Masjid is the best-known and largest mosque in India; its courtyard can hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers. The mosque houses several relics in a niche in the north gate, including a priceless copy of the Qur'an written on deer skin. 

And I wanted to show you the "taxi" of Delhi, you can get them everywhere and it's an adventure weaving in and out of peak hour traffic :)

 No Business
Well got in here in Delhi at 3:30 AM, I knew this would be bad but the was the schedule I had, but no sweat.. Got four hours of sleep and was up ready to tour. The hotel is nice and it has a great name "Good Times Hotel", and located near a Metro stop. So was off around 10AM to head for Metro stop, a short walk up the Main Street. Crossing a street a man approached me and first said "no business" he noticed I looked new here (obvious Western tourist with ball cap) and asked where I was going and if he could help me. I said the Metro and he said No No not today, Sunday and very busy, stand up only and lots of pickpockets. He called over two young guys with a Tuk-Tuk, a small 3-wheeled motorcycle with a covered cab fit for two persons. This is the "taxi" al over Asia, I road in many in Thailand. He said they will take you to your downtown stop for 20 rupees, about 30 cents! I went for it, and had a fun morning ride in town, it's a "wower" as you might expect in Delhi traffic!!
The traffic looks chaotic, everyone cross weaving and heavy but as you watch it you notice the cars work together  like a symphony. Honking here is routine and it's not be caused your mad at a driver, the horn is used as a "here I'm coming by you"

The boys took me to an Indian government run (makes you feel good right?) tourist agency. The agent suggested instead of me winging it to the places I wanted to see today to get a package deal with driver and guide and they will be your private guides for the day. I'm thinking $$.. But it was amazingly reasonable so I went for it!
John and Sanu were terrific, great English and fun personalities. They called me "Sir" too many times and always jumped to open the door for me... Wow royalty !

I got to the two main places I wanted to go that were not in the G-adventures tour, Qutb Minar and Humayuns tomb. Pictures follow I hope. Qutb Minar was the center of  where  the Islamic movement began in India. It was built around 1250AD, by the then powerful Caliphate Aibar. It's billed as the largest Minaret any where at 14 meters wide and 75 meters high, the site is impressive with early Islamic carvings and architecture. Local Indian builders added their blend of Indian Architecture making it unique in the Islamic world.

Humayun's tomb on the other hand was built in 1565, during the latrer Mughal empire by his wife grieving over Humayun's (emperor) death. It's was a precursor to the design of the Taj Mahal and exhibits a lot of Persian architecture style since Humayun on his travels brought many Persian architects back to India with him.

Will meet the tour group and our CEO (chief experience officer) tonight. There are only 7 of us so this should be a great tour. We do old Delhi tomorrow.