Global Wanderer

20/3/24 – 24/3/24

After a very enjoyable overnight stop in KL, I was off to the airport again – this time for my flight up to New Delhi. I’d been warned beforehand about the chaos of Delhi, but even that left me unprepared as I headed out of the Arrivals hall at Indira Gandhi airport – Delhi is CRAZY!

It was late that evening when I passed through immigration – after picking up a SIM card, I ordered an Uber to my accommodation in South Delhi, an apartment located in the Greater Kailash area. By the time I reached the apartment, it was already past midnight, and so I settled into bed for a short sleep.

The next morning, I hopped on a rickshaw to whisk me away to the train station, as I was off on a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal (more on that in another post)! When I returned that evening, I decided to get back to my accommodation by checking out Delhi’s metro system – incredibly convenient, cheap, and so much easier to use than constant bartering with rickshaw drivers!

Waiting for the train at one of Delhi’s modern new metro stations

The following morning, I decided to go into the old part of Delhi to visit the historic Red Fort. Constructed in the mid-1600s, the Red Fort is an iconic piece of Mughal architecture within the city, and was built after the emperor Shah Jahan shifted his capital from Agra to Delhi.

The iconic Red Fort

Once you’ve paid the entrance fee, you’re able to enter and stroll around the grounds of the fort at will. It is an enormous complex, but is incredibly peaceful – which is a bit of an anomaly in the otherwise chaotic Delhi!

Peaceful scenes at the Red Fort

When entering, you pass through the Chhatta Chowk, an old bazaar that was once home to silk and gold traders (now selling trinkets and souvenirs). The passageway leads to the interior of the fort, a vast space containing several buildings and garden areas.

Scenes from the grounds of the Red Fort – the middle image, top row, is the Chhatta Chowk

After whiling away a few hours exploring the grounds of the Red Fort complex, I wandered back out into the streets of Delhi, shifting my focus from the Mughals to India’s much more recent past, and the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi’s famous nonviolent resistance led to India’s independence from the British Empire in 1947, and he is revered in India as the ‘Father of the Nation’. Located a short walk up the road from the Red Fort is Raj Ghat, the main memorial to Gandhi following his assassination, and site of his cremation.

The Raj Ghat memorial complex

Located next to Raj Ghat is the fascinating National Gandhi museum, dedicated to the life and teachings of Gandhi, which I spent quite some time exploring.

An image of Gandhi in 1931 during a trip to the northwest of the UK

A whirlwind start to my time in India was capped off with a visit to the Lotus Temple, the centre of the Baha’i faith in India. Constructed in 1986 out of marble, and mimicking the appearance of a lotus flower, the temple has become a tourist site in Delhi due to its unique appearance and peaceful atmosphere. Luckily for me, I didn’t even need to haggle over a rickshaw price to get here, as there is a metro station just up the street!

The entrance to the Lotus Temple grounds, and the adjacent metro station (you can actually see the top of the temple in the background!)

This brought to a close my time in the Indian capital – the next morning, I took a rickshaw to the railway station, and began my journey west, into the Punjab region!