Monday 1 April 2013

Nawabi Delhi, Mughlai Agra and Yummy Aloo tikkis!!!


The beautiful Taj mahal
It was a gamble visiting Delhi in December.  But if the birthday you want to celebrate and the chaats you want to enjoy happen to be the best in winter, what choice do you have.   We were fortunate though since the weather stayed mild and our 2 year old son coped well with.  This was his first experience of a true winter.

Staying at our cousins and keeping enough days at hand allowed us to leisurely visit Delhi and Agra.  While at Delhi, we started with the Humayun tomb…probably the lesser known of the famous monuments.  All the years I had been at Delhi long before, I never visited this place.  Very very impressive…imposing, clean, spacious, beautiful landscape, not crowded (because it is lesser known) and gives you an excellent flavor of Mughal architecture.  For our son, anything with a dome is Taj Mahal.  So, it must have been a 100 utterances of Amma…Red Taj Mahal amma, appa…Red Taj Mahal appa when he saw the Humayun tomb.  Why correct him…he was soooo excited and it was soooo much fun hearing him say that.


Kingdom of dreams

We drove around India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan and Rajpath before getting back home for a late lunch.  Took it easy in the evening and were all set to drive down to Agra the following day.  The rest of Delhi was to be done once we got back. 


We stayed at the Jaypee Palace Hotel at Agra.  I was returning to the hotel after 13 years having started my working career there.  It was strange feeling.  The hotel was to open for operations in early 2000 and I had worked there for a few months prior to the formal opening.  I had always wanted to stay there with my family and finally the wish had come true.  We quickly settled into our room and a quick lunch later, took a short nap.  We just loved the large expanse of the hotel, especially our son as it allowed him to run around without a concern.   The hotel had arranged for a get together for the guests at its lawns.   Snacks, games and a puppet show were organized…great way to spend the evening.  The jalebis were awesome…thin and crisp and just the right sweet.  We drove round the city later that day, visited the bazaar and got back to the hotel for a cozy dinner. 


Humayun tomb

 It was the big day…Taj Mahal!!  Considering it was a Sunday, it was extremely crowded and fortunately we did right thing to get hold of a guide.  Not only did he ensure we got the tickets and shoe bags quickly, he took us to an alternate entrance which was relatively less crowded and got us in.  You need to see the Taj in person to understand why it is considered as one of the most magical monuments anywhere in the world.  It is just so pristine…keeping aside the unfortunate/ sad history associated with the monument; what a memorial.  Even though I had visited earlier, I was unaware that the ‘minars’ were angled away from the central structure so as to prevent them from collapsing on to the dome should there be such an incident.  The fact that one of the sculptors had intentionally introduced a flaw which results in water seeping into the dome even today is quite amazing.  No one has been able to identify where this flaw is.  The hooks on the dome which were later put in to draw a cover on the monument during the Indo- Pak wars…you are in awe seeing all of this.  Even with the crowd, we had a reasonably comfortable time looking around.  Many many pictures taken and back at the hotel for a nice hot lunch.



We visited Fatehpur Sikri the next day and going by our previous days experience, took a guide.  There was no crowd, no queues and just one area to see.  The one thing that the guide could have helped us with was to keep the hawkers away.  He did just the opposite…no doubt he had a cut in every sale made.  All in all, a bad decision.  That being said, the place is worth visiting.  The ‘Buland Darwaza’, tunnel through which Anarkali was smuggled out, Salim Chisti’s dargah…all of these hold historical significance and should be visited.

The last day at Agra saw us visiting the Taj Mahal again.  We did not get inside the dome this time but soaked in the sight leisurely from the gardens and made use of the glorious winter Sun for photography.  Spent a few hours there and got back to check out and head to Delhi.
We visited the Lotus temple and Qutub Minar before lunch the next day.  It is a pleasure to visit these well kept places.  In the evening, we went to the Akshardham temple…were spellbound with the architecture.  The sound and light show was spectacular as well.  


Qutub Minar

The Red Fort was scheduled for the next day.  Probably the least impressive of the sights…what with shops lining up the entire entrance spoiling the appeal of the historical sight.  
The day prior to our departure, we visited the Kingdom of Dreams…amongst the newest attractiosn at Delhi.  It has theatre (a la Broadway shows…) and stalls showcasing eateries and shopping from the respective states.  This is probably the closest you can come to enjoying theatre…similar to the ones you can experience at London or New York.  The themes are definitely Indian and impressive.  
All of these trips were interspersed with visits to Nathu’s, Bikanerwala, Lajpat Nagar and Noida.  Included in the agenda on these trips were aloo tikkis, chole bhature, jalebis, katchori and loads of shopping.
We then returned to Chennai and home after a nice 9 day rejuvenating visit.  The mercury dipped the day after we left Delhi and the city in the following 2 weeks saw one of its coldest winters in many years.  Were we fortunate…you bet!!!!


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