Tuesday 9th April 2019 Returning to our hotel by tuk-tuk from a different direction one day we realised just how close we were to the Gandhi Smriti, or Gandhi Remembrance, a memorial marking the place where he was assassinated in the gardens of the then Birla Bhavan on 30 January 1948 on his way to conduct his nightly multi-faith prayer meeting. On our last morning in Delhi we decided we would visit the Gandhi Smriti and learn more about this legendary man who used non-violent means to lead a struggle over decades against British rule in India and inspired many more to use civil resistance and non-cooperation as a method of protest. There is a wealth of information about Gandhi inside this luxurious building where he spend the last 144 days of his life. Stone footprints lead poignantly along the path where he took his final steps towards the Martyr’s Column in the garden marking the place where he was shot. His words are inspirational but it seems mankind still has a long way to go to make them reality. “There is enough on this planet for everyone’s needs but not for everyone’s greed.” “Live simply so that others may […]
Monthly Archives: April 2019
Monday 8th April 2019 Robert spent some time studying the map of the city in conjunction with the map of the metro and planned a route for the day on air-conditioned public transport. Our first destination was the Lotus Temple, also known as the Baha’i House of Worship, and although we had realised that it would not be open – many of the major sights do close on a Monday – we wanted to go and see the exterior. Even from outside and from afar it is worth a look. As we made our way from the metro to the perimeter of the temple, we were surrounded by a group of young girls. It is one of the truly unfortunate sights in India. The very poor have no proper accommodation, sanitation or food. As a foreigner, you are constantly confronted by children and mothers with babes in arms gesturing for food. Despite feeling a ready sympathy for their plight, and being very conscious of the difference in your own circumstances, all the guide books, and even notices around the station and public places, advise against giving any money. Normally a polite “no” and avoiding eye contact makes people give up. […]
Sunday 7th April 2019 Having used the New Delhi Metro on Saturday, the places we wished to visit on Sunday were spread out around the city and were not necessarily close to metro stations so we decided to revert to travelling by tuk-tuk. Our first stop was Safdarjang’s Tomb which was built between 1753 and 1754 by his son and features an ornamental two storey gateway, a courtyard, mosque and channels to carry [currently non-existent] water to various pavilions. Safdarjang was the Governor of Awadh Province and later prime minister for the Mughal ruler, Mohammad Shah. From Safdarjang’s tomb [above] we headed towards Humayun’s tomb but we had not realised quite how many other memorials and mausoleums there would be at the Nizamuddin Complex. This is a medieval settlement which includes the graves of the poet Mrza Khan and Jahanara Begum, Shah Jahan’s favourite daughter, as well as Humayun himself. First we visited Isa Khan’s garden tomb [below] which is twenty years older than Humayun’s mausoleum and is apparently the only surviving octagonal enclosed tomb complex with walls, gateway and mosque all intact. Humayun was the second Mughal emperor and his tomb is said to be the first great […]
Saturday 6th April 2019 On Friday 5 April, our final train journey from Amritsar to New Delhi ran to schedule but as it was an eight hour trip and we were up at 04:30 we decided to award ourselves an afternoon of rest and recuperation, to cool down in the pool and plan our sight-seeing for the next few days. Robert felt that as we were now in a cosmopolitan capital, he could wear shorts so that he really knew he was on holiday. The air-conditioned metro is just a short walk from our hotel and as we were walking there a passer-by complimented Robert on his shoes and advised us to be careful on the metro as it would be crowded and therefore pick-pockets could take advantage. In fact the metro was not only cool but relatively quiet. Our first stop was the Jama Masjid mosque. We read the signs regarding rules of entry and one of the requirements was no shorts, so on one of the only days that Robert has indulged in this, his sartorial preference on holiday, the shorts proved to be a barrier to our plans to see certain sights. We did see coaches disgorging […]
Thursday 4th April 2019 – Afternoon Jallianwala Bagh is close to the Golden Temple and was the scene of an infamous and bloody massacre, on 13 April 1919 by British troops under the command of General Dyer, of unarmed Indian men, women and children who were gathered in a walled garden to celebrate a festival. Many were killed or wounded and others jumped into an open well [below, bottom right] to escape the firing and were drowned. The bullet marks are still visible on the walls [below, bottom left] and it is said that this horrific and unjustifiable incident was a deciding factor in hastening the end of British rule in India. Strangely, this is a calm and tranquil park, as it must surely have been on the day of the massacre before the troops arrived. The topiary provides an ingenious and poignant commemoration of the event, using organic natural forms to create figures of firing and advancing soldiers. Robert had identified the Maharajah Ranjit Singh Panorama museum as somewhere he wanted to visit. Our guide was obviously nonplussed by this request but took us there nonetheless. It was not at all what we had expected but the formal gardens […]
Thursday 4th April 2019 – Morning We had secured a guide the day before to show us round the Golden Temple and the very knowledgeable, polite and solicitous Mr Singh met us in the hotel lobby at 10:00. Turning left out of the hotel we soon saw a different side to Amritsar. The streets opened out and we passed the statue of last king of Punjab, Maharajah Ranjit Singh, also known as the Lion of Punjab who provided the gold to bedeck the Golden Temple. We also passed the Partition Museum, housed in part of the imposing red-brick Town Hall building, and originally the headquarters of General Dyer [more about him in the next post]. Other parts of the Town Hall are being renovated in an on-going programme of restoration. The museum was opened in August 2017 and is intended to document the post-partition riots following the British withdrawal and the creation of Pakistan and India. On our way to the Golden Temple, Mr Singh pointed out a vegetarian McDonalds which, situated in close proximity to this holiest of shrines for Sikhs, does not serve any meat. It is in fact, the first ever vegetarian McDonalds in the world. Before […]
Wednesday 3rd April 2019 With an early train to catch, we had to leave before breakfast and found ourselves in a carriage with a party of British tourists we had previously seen on the train down from Shimla, although they had disembarked the Himalayan Queen part way down the hill. We sat with a Welsh couple and Robert was able to while away the four and a half hour journey discussing rugby, politics, holiday destinations and more rugby. As our train from Chandigarh to Amritsar travels at an average speed in excess of 34mph it is classified as a “Super Fast” express. When we found ourselves waiting just a short way outside Amritsar Station for about half an hour, we felt the average speed had to have been affected and we should be due a refund. However, when Robert looked this up, the average speed excludes stops. Having checked in to our room, Robert was shocked to discover that he had booked a four star hotel where there was no bar. The bell boy told us as we were going up in the lift that we were within 200 metres of the Golden Temple complex and apparently alcohol and meat […]
Tuesday 2nd April 2019 In 1950 Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India commissioned the building of a new city to serve as the state capital for Punjab as, when India gained Independence and East and West Pakistan were created, Lahore became the capital of West Pakistan. Chandigarh is a city and a union territory, governed directly by the Union Government, and serves as the state capital of both Haryana and Punjab. We visited The Le Corbusier Centre, the Old Architect’s Office, which was one of the first buildings to be constructed in Chandigarh and was used for its original purpose until 1965 when the Department of Urban Planning relocated elsewhere. It includes many interesting documents about the commissioning process and the building works. Nehru engaged the French-Swiss architect Charles Edouard Jeanneret [who adopted the name “Le Corbusier” and seems to have received most of the accolades and kudos] but his Swiss cousin Pierre Jeanneret, together with the English husband and wife team of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew were also responsible for much of this large civic architecture project. The city is laid out on a grid pattern and divided into 57 sectors, though we could not find […]
Monday 1st April 2019 Having climbed to these Himalayan heights there is always the journey back down and, as a mark of respect for this impressive little narrow gauge railway, Robert dressed to match The Himalayan Queen, as this ‘Toy Train’ is known. We were bemused by the yellow signs (see above) on several of the carriages which read, “Ball and sausage packing”. This is still a mystery but it appealed to our sense of humour. Shimla Railway Station is very clean and orderly having had, as a sign informed us, a “Heritage upgradation cum restoration” in 2018. As previously mentioned, the view is always different on the way down and we were pleased to be able to spot the Viceregal Lodge and its turreted profile perched high above us. The train left just seven minutes late but by the time we reached Kalka it was right back on schedule. We did think that the management of the DHR could benefit from some consultancy advice. We caught the train from Kalka back to Chandrigarh and were greeted by the same “Meals on Wheels” member of staff who had pointed at Robert’s stomach on the previous trip. We realised we may […]