We started our day with room service breakfast (turns out that was included in the cost of the room, so, yay!). We chose “Indian Breakfast,” which included paratha (flat bread) stuffed with potato or paneer, fried eggs, white toast, and curd (yogurt), with tea/ coffee/ lassi to drink. Too much food, so we packed the parathas for lunch.
Lakhan came and drove us to the Red Fort, which was built by Shah Jahan (the same guy who built the Taj Mahal (well, really, he had other people build them). It is huge, with beautiful and diverse architecture. We stood in the “Ladies” line to get frisked and enter (the other line was “Gents,” and they had to climb up a couple steps and get frisked. Unclear why the women didn’t have the steps. We entered into a courtyard, which led to a string of shops, full of amazing shininess. I restrained myself, although it was a challenge (so many shiny, glittery, sparkly things!!!).
It was so peaceful there (after the shops), after the crazy loud roads full of trillions of people (Yes, it was trillions. I’m sure of it.) The buildings were made of red sandstone or marble. They had relief work carving, stone inlay, latticework and tons of other beautifulness. There was a marble throne, and there were buildings for public and private audiences with the emperor, living spaces (separate areas for women), animal fights, and more.
There was a garden with fountains and other water features (they weren’t functional any more). We saw an amazing tree – not sure what kind, and tons of chipmunks. Really an amazing place.
While waiting for Lakhan, we had about a million rickshaw and auto-rickshaw drivers offer us rides and tours of Old Delhi. Several hundred thousand people tried to sell us postcards and brochures about the fort. Horn-honking is possibly the most common form of communication we heard (there, or anywhere else we drove). Next, we went to Connaught Place for some shopping. Some guy offered to show us around the shops, and we sort of agreed (I thought we were agreeing to him pointing us in the right direction, but that was not the case).
He led us to the Kashmiri Emporium, where we looked at pashminas (which we didn’t buy) and saw some rugs (again, didn’t buy), and to an awesome wood-carving shop (where I got some elephant bookends). The two guys in the shop were promising magic boxes, so I had to give them shit about that. They were beautifully carved walnut boxes with tricks for opening them. The guy who showed them to us, Rizwan, was pretty good at sleight of hand, and said he was another David Blaine. He was unable to levitate on request, but did invite us into the shop for a Kashmiri tea called kawa – not really tea, but almonds, saffron, and cardamom in hot water. It was really really good!
Our unexpected and not-entirely welcome tour guide was waiting for us outside the store. He led us around for a bit, until we decided he wasn’t leading us anywhere useful or nearby. So we left. He wasn’t happy, but we gave him his tip and sent him on his way. Then we went back to the shops he’d led us past, and had a great time buying kurtas, kids’ outfits, shawls, and wall hangings. Yay!!!
For those of you prone to worrying, please don’t – we know to be cautious of people randomly offering to lead us to places, and approach it all with a healthy dose of skepticism and caution. We’re really pretty competent, so you needn’t worry, ok?
After that, it was home for a quick nap, and then over to see family, Amitava and Taponeel. They made us dinner (Bengali food), even though they had just gotten home from a trip that afternoon! The food was amazing!! We also had a great time talking with them, and the time flew. It was so good to see them. I maybe last saw them in 1989? Julia has seen them (or at least Amitava) more recently, though. What an awesome time we had with them – the perfect conclusion to a fabulous day!
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