Delhi

Delhi is a beautiful city, filled with historical monuments, government buildings and a population of people that thrives of the culture of the capital. Over my 72 hours in Delhi I saw New Delhi, Old Delhi and everything in between. After I arrived, Allen Alfred a longtime friend of my uncle Scott picked me up at the airport along with his son Ralph. We had lunch and then they took me to Allen’s advertising firm. After interning at Fallon, it was interesting to see how an international ad firm works. There were a lot of differences, but the main functions were still the same. After visiting the firm, Michael, Allen’s youngest son showed me the surrounding area of the office. While we were walking a tree had fallen on the road earlier that day, and there was a local news crew covering the story. There were also a ton of news trucks outside the Metro office as there have been some deaths during the construction of the Metro to prepare for the Common Wealth Games. While traveling to and from the firm we passed the government buildings of India. The president’s residence, parliament, and even the department buildings conveyed a sense of strength and beauty through their architecture and red stone motif.

The 2nd day in Delhi, was a very very full day. We went to the Qutab Minar which was filled with incredible stone details. It reminded me of my dad’s photos from Petra.From there, it was off to Old Delhi and the Red Fort. We didn’t go into the Red Fort due to the ridiculous line to get in. Instead we explored the Old Bazaar in the surrounding area for 2 hours, which was a really great experience.

Later, Allen’s sons took me too a local craft fair near their house. It was similar to Shilparamum, a craft fair in Hyderabad, but there were cultural activities also going on. I had a lot of fun seeing the different dances and looking at the different crafts. My favorite part of the evening was when I was able to get up front for a Rajasthan dance performance. Beautiful girls spinning in intricate patterned dresses while the males perform fire-breathing routines. The evening made for some pretty diverse photos.

On my last day, I went to visit the sundials, Jantar Mantar and the Baha’i temple. The sundials were really interesting because of the different shapes they used in order to tell time. The Baha’i temple is shaped like a lotus flower floating in water. The main temple is the lotus and there are pools of water surrounding the temple. When we went inside the temple, the only noise heard was the rustling of bells on jewelry and saris. It was so peaceful to be able to escape the auto horns and yells of “Madam!” for a few moments and sit in silence. I had to leave for the airport shortly after lunch. Even though my trip only lasted for a few days, I got to see so much of the capital of India.