Hello, gentle persons! I've got some nifty photos at some world-class sites for you today, along with some other interesting photos including some of food. Firstly, I should mention that my belly's not too settled right now. I'm not sure whether it's from any food which I ate or a beverage which I drank, or taking my supplements (including fish oil) on an empty stomach, or the scratch I incurred upon my forehead while I was trying to avoid a thorny branch. I'll know better in a few hours.
Speaking Of Food
I have a few photos of some of the food I ate at the hotel where I'm staying. Nom nom nom!
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| I found the butter chicken |
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| Not compliant with Lean Eating |
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| Also not compliant |
I also found a McDonald's.
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| The supreme ruler of all food from McD's! |
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| It tasted inspiring as it looks |
Aaaaaand, Of Course, Obligatory Misspellings
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| Is that 500,000 or 5,000,000? |
Lotus Temple
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I have some nifty photos from the Lotus Temple. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take any photos inside either the Temple itself nor its Information Centre.
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| Yep, I was in the right place |
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| Lotus Temple: look out for the throng! |
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| This subthrong is from Sri Lanka |
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| Beautiful reflecting pool |
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| Information Centre -- with helpful persons and religious touts |
Yes, I'm afraid that the Temple has religious touts who come in two flavours: those who are devout and want me to buy that, and those who are devout and want me to buy souvenirs. I bought some post cards because they have beautiful photos of the Lotus Temple, both during the day and at night.
One thing which surprised me was their claim that the Baha'u'llah's writings were in Arabic -- as far as I'd previously known, his writings were in Farsi, owing to his Persian upbringing. A brief search on the Internet suggests that he wrote in both languages. The aforementioned assertion was made by not only a teenaged volunteer but also also in the writings accompanying the exhibits. Regardless, it was a good choice and something I'd recommend to anyone.
Rajiv Chowk
My next stop was at Rajiv Chowk, which is also known as Connaught Place and is among the most happening spots in town among tourists and, not coincidentally, among touts. Dodging them while remaining half-polite required all of my skill -- with one of them, I even ducked into a post office with the excuse that I would send a post card. Another waited outside of McDonald's while I ate the chicken burger which looked as if not chickens had been harmed in the making of it. Before that spectacle, however, I decided to take a brief walk through Central Park.
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| Wow, New York's really spread itself out! |
I was informed by the security guard that no photos would be allowed. I imagine that that must be for 'security reasons'. Actually, there was a recent threat by the Taliban to avenge a member of the Taliban who was executed last year on 26 November, but I haven't heard anything about an 'anniversary retaliation'. It seemed toothless, however, since multiple persons were snapping photos within the park.
During the tout-dodging which followed my stroll through the park, I snapped the following photo of a high-class men's shop.
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| This space intentionally left comment-free |
After mowing-down at Macca's, at which I purchased not only that burger combo but also four 500mL bottles of water, I made my way to Qutb Minar.
Qutb Minar
Also known as Qutub Minar (depending on whether one's Romanising Arabic or Hindi), it's been around for a loooong time. According to
Wikipedia, it was built in 1192; this was contradicted by my tour guide, who said that it was simply repurposed in that year, and that it was distinctly older. He also mentioned that the site used to be a Hindu templar complex, and that attempts to turn Qutb Minar into an honest-to-goodness minaret have failed, so it remains a tower of indeterminate status.
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| Ooh! Chipmunks! |
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| Two competing phallic symbols |
The one on the left predates the coming of the Mughals to India by about a thousand years or more. It's an iron pole which is plated with lead. It's also engraved with some writing in Sanskrit.
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| Pictured: not the holy language of Islam |
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| Also not a minaret |
The base of a tower pictured above barely got off the ground, so to speak. It was also intended to be a minaret, commissioned by a Mughal with 'tower envy'.
After I finished at Qutb Minar, I started to make my way homeward when I was scratched on the forehead by a thorny branch. Man, those Ents are uppity. The scratch drew blood so I immediately opened one of my bottled of McDonald's water and washed my hands and face with some of it, after which I applied Purell firstly to my hands and then to my wound. I had a bit of water remaining so I decided to drink some of it without using my lightsabre on it. It's from McDonald's; what could go wrong?
After arriving at Nehru Place Metro Stop, I decided to take a couple of photos because I'd arrived during sundown.
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| Apparently I'm not staying in an affluent part of town :( |
Before I Forget
While I was attending to a SIM card, another Canadian was looking to get a SIM card for her unlocked Nokia phone. She mentioned that she'd been in India several times and that she was here to attend a birthday party. When she was presented with the option of choosing her father's or her husband's name (I chose my father's name) as a security question she was outraged and ensured that everyone at the booth knew about it. I understand her thought that it's sexist but I'd expect a different reaction from someone who's allegedly been to India several times, regardless of whether other cellular service providers had previously asked her for that information.
Regarding the riding of the subway, I have a few observations.
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| Near to where I'm staying |
- The trains were made by Bombardier
- Two cars on at least some lines are reserved for use solely by women (much as in Tokyo), even though the cars are internally contiguous (as they are in Toronto's new trains)
- The whole 'I must rush into the train before those who are disembarking are able to leave' thing is wildly popular here, and is most striking when a train has reached the end of its line and is waiting to move freshly in the opposite direction (and when the pause is consequently longer than at interstitial stations)
- Hudson News exists in Delhi, and it lives in the Metro
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| Allowed: filming, picking pockets, doing the two-step; not allowed: smoking or coughing |
As for traffic, I meant to mention earlier that the liberal use of the horn here is similar to that in China: it's usually used to warn others that the honker is approaching, usually from behind, and not out of spite for some perceived infraction.
Despite Delhi's
ban on plastic bags, their use is rampant. I don't know how that will be resolved.
During the final leg of my trip to India, I watched a movie called Kahaani, which has as a co-star who I swear must be my friend Maheedhar's twin. The movie was interesting but it had many flaws, from cinematography to story-telling, so, basically, it could work as a Hollywood movie.
Finally, I fear that my Indian friends who have come to Canada must have experienced environmental shock on top of culture shock. Every Indian man whom I saw wore at least a long-sleeved button shirt. Most had two layers, consisting of such a shirt and a v-neck sweater-vest. One young man wore four visible layers, while another was bedecked with an ascot (and two visible layers). I shiver to imagine what they'd think of Canada during the Winter. So, my Indian friends in Canada: how shocking was the weather change?
Postscript
Throughout the writing of this entry, my belly's gone from bad to worse. I guess it was something which I consumed. Am I no longer able to trust even McDonald's? If this persists, I may miss both the wedding and my chance to see the Taj Mahal.
