old delhi (in words)

on the outskirts of old delhi is qutab minar. built by the muslims in 1193 as a monument of victory over the hindus, it's 5 stories high and a nice example of afghani architecture. most  impressively is how it's withstood all of these years with only a slight tilt. the iron pillar is 7 meters high and over 2000 years old and shows no signs of rust. no one can figure out how they cast it at that time given the technology that was available. one thing that happened time and time again wherever we went, but this time i could get a few photos for proof, is that kids follow us and people come up and want their picture taken with us as if we're tourist attractions, too. the two kids in the pic with christy were following us, yet keeping their distance. when we realized it, we smiled at them and they came closer until we could shake their hands. the kids were smiling and giggling the whole time...until...we took their picture! people don't usually smile in photos here; i think it has something to do with not letting the devil in their soul, but i'm not sure. : /  in any case, the same goes with the boy i'm with, sandeep. he had some homework to interview someone while at a tourist place. i filled it out for him and arranged, after many frantic phone calls by his mother, to send him the photo, or 'snap' as they call it, over email. he was smiling with me until...we took the photo. the two that were following us earlier, we saw again with their family outside. they were very friendly people and were all loaded onto a motorcycle ready to go into the heavy delhi traffic. no helmets and 5 people on a motorcycle. all you can do is wish them well...geesh. 

next we went nearby to jama masjid mosque. it's the largest mosque in india and built by shah jahan in 1656.  he's the same guy who built the taj mahal. apparently he had it built before his son imprisoned him! in any case, it holds 25,000 worshippers when full. we went up into one of the minarets and had a great view of old delhi.

old delhi is a much different experience than being in the malls and movie theaters of new delhi. old delhi is a maze of narrow streets that rickshaws rule and pedestrians swarm like ants knowing exactly where they are and where they need to be. it's amazing that it even all works! it's recommended to take a rickshaw tour through the twists and turns for 2 reasons: rickshaws rule and you won't get lost. we rode around through the different areas which specialize in selling certain things, metal goods, kites, and spices just to name a few. we went through a really old jain temple (where we got yellow tikas) tucked way inside the labyrinth and also stopped and walked around the back alleys of the spice area. the smells certainly changed when we were in the spice area and i found myself coughing a little from the potency. as if the street chaos wasn't enough, the back alleys were another series of stairways and pathways leading through tons of burlap bags of all kinds of spices. unbelievable that they consume that many of anything. we had some tea with our guide and then got back into the rickshaw to continue the tour. one more place we stopped was a paan shop. paan is a mild narcotic concoction that is wrapped in leaves and filled with all kinds of spices and sugars and ...well, ...stuff. you was it up and stick it in your cheek. apparently you're supposed to chew it up and NOT swallow the juice. you're supposed to casually (??) spit out the reddish brown slimy saliva and it'll give you a buzz after a short while. well, i didn't know that, so just kept it tucked in my cheek until it was time to spit it out. christy's was all gnarled and chewed up and mine was...still a big wad. it made a splat as it hit the ground, she had this shocked look on her face and we both started cracking up. maybe i'll try it again some day... : ) by the way, if you drag your cursor over the pics, it'll give you the caption and pause the movement. take care! love, j