sufi singers and raj ghat

these are the last photos of delhi...  one of our final nights there we met up with a guy who is an alumni of one of christy's friends. they had never met, but through the alumni association, we were able to connect with him and see the sufi singers. really nice guy...he led us back through the small alleys, past tons of prayer mat sellers, offering vendors and innumerable hawkers of anything muslim. just getting back to the dargah (mosque) took adept maneuvering and resilience. after removing our shoes hundreds of yards from the venue, we popped out at the dargah and realized we needed our heads covered. back we went into the maze to get some "little house in the prairie" head scarves. apparently there was a huge pilgrimage that week which accounted for the large number of people. usually there are a couple hundred, we are told, but easily, this day, there were thousands. the baskets of rose bearing men were queuing to get into the mosque while the women hung outside. after a while, the sufi singers came out and slowly started their rhythmic music accompanied by drums and a harmonium. apparently their songs are mostly of persian origin and are poems passed down through this oral tradition. i felt a little funny being there at first, being in a muslim place and the only clearly westerners, but i soon relaxed into the rhythm of the music and friendliness of the people. we walked around to the back of the mosque and were swarmed by people who wanted to take photos of us or with us. the one woman in purple from the slide show was so excited to be in our presence...we couldn't speak the same language, but she was touching and hugging us and insisted on photos. then the little girl couldn't get next to us quickly enough to have her photo snapped. the photo of the family, however, is the funniest one to me. the looks on their faces cracks me up...we didn't really know where we were, how to communicate, what we were supposed to be doing or what to expect, but we were very warmly received by all.

the next day we took a rickshaw over to raj ghat. this is the place where mahatma gandhi was cremated...a ghat is a cremation pyre. years later, nehru, indira and rajiv were all cremated here. as was ravi gandhi...very interesting and tragic family: the nehrus, if you are inclined to read up on india's history. mahatma was not related to indira, she was a nehru who married a gandhi. one of her two sons, ravi was killed while piloting a plane that crashed, indira was assassinated by her own body guards and rajiv, who took over as prime minister after her death, was also assassinated. now rajiv's italian born wife is high up in office, but does not want to be prime minister because she inevitably will be assassinated, too. in any case, this huge park is on the convergence of several holy rivers and all of the leaders of the country get their own ghat and memorial. all of the people i mentioned had very nice memorials and ghats, except indira...hers was a simple monolith with no signs, no words, no markers, no nothing and she was a huge figure in indian politics. we walked right past it without realizing what it was. rajiv's ghat was a lovely black granite pyre carved with 46 lotus flowers, one for each year of his life. he was a kind and gentle man and was highly regarded amongst his constituency. i didn't photograph nehru, indira or ravi's ghat. as far as mahatma's ghat, it is in a separate section of the park and has an eternal flame. every friday there are ceremonies held there as that's the day he was assassinated and, in addition, there are official services every year on his birth and death day.  it is such a big deal that any foreign dignitary who comes to india traditionally visits this site. george w. and laura bush made an appearance in 2006 while touring india. the mahatma gandhi museum is close by and very interesting...i knew very little about indian history. shocking. one more posting of india pics to go...whew...aren't you glad you don't have to sit through travel photo albums and stories??! lol. lots of love, j