Pictures from Delhi

Today's post is the first and only one that I will dedicate to Delhi. This is because the more time I spend here and the more I learn about this city, the more I hate it. Case in point: I was recently introduced to the fast paced world of Indian commerce. I was watching five or six little boys, who couldn't have been older than 9 or 10, mess around in the middle of a four lane road. If you remember from an earlier post, I mentioned that Indian drivers

are terrifying when you're in a car, let alone when you're a small child standing between those drivers and wherever it is they want to be. I asked why these boys were playing in the middle of a busy street, as I cringed again watching one of them nearly get taken out by a cab as he attempted to jump on the back of a bus. The answer? They're trying to jump on the backs of buses to get home from school. Because children get to ride buses for free, the bus drivers won't stop to pick them up. The government won't buy them school buses because it doesn't have the money. Now how, one must ask oneself (if one is even slightly less stupid than India's elected officials) does a government that is quickly becoming a very real world power, had one of only three economies in the world that was projected to improve this year and is currently spending gobs of money on a very expensive nuclear program, how does that government find itself so short of funds that it can't provide its children with school buses which will prevent them from becoming road kill? Oh, well, after the nuclear program, mismanagement of funds and what you lose to corruption there just isn't a lot left. And there would be a lot more if 99% of the businesses in Delhi bothered to pay their taxes. As it is now, if Mr. Patil wants to have a fruit cart business all he really needs is a cart and some produce. India is an entirely cash economy (my grandmother is currently paying to have a pool put in her house in cash) so there is no paper trail. Mr. Patil will make pretty good money with his fruit cart. My grandmother spends about $10 on the fruit she buys from him every week and she said there are probably about 1000 other customers who will do the same thing. He won't pay taxes on any of that. And if the police come around and give Mr. Patil trouble, say for something like not having a licence or not paying taxes, he gives them some fruit and they go away. And there are lots of small businesses like Mr. Patil's.

Then you go to the governmental part of the city and the lawmakers and officials live and work in these big, beautiful marble buildings while streets away kids are starving and being run over by stingy bus drivers and the cops can be paid off with fruit. It makes you very sick, actually. India is an amazing country with a culture that is really beautiful and, based on those I've met, people that are amazing. But Delhi is just an ugly, hot, messy contradiction. Although, to be fair if I were less subjective I'm sure I could say the same thing about D.C. But, though we're far from perfect in the U.S. I am fairly sure that D.C. has school buses. I'm just saying...

However, because it is the capitol of the country and because I am unfortunately staying here I will dedicate today's post to Delhi. There are some nice parts. So, here are the pictures I've got of the cool parts of Delhi. I'm pretty sure I got all of them, though, so check them out and then save yourself the trouble of coming here. If you come to India go to the mountains and enjoy the views or the south and enjoy the food or Orissa and enjoy the dancing. Don't come to Delhi.

Lotus Temple, a Bonai temple in downtown Delhi that was built from white marble in the shape of a lotus flower.

This mausoleum was the precursor to the Taj Mahal and was the first building to support that type of dome. More than 100 people are buried in it.

This is the Red Fort. At one time it was the imperial city of the Moghuls who ruled India. Its much bigger, this is just the entrance. Today, it is mostly a tourist attraction, but on August 15, India's independence day, the Prime Minister will give a speech here.

This is the bazaar inside the Red Fort. It was India's first covered market. When the Moghuls lived here the royal ladies weren't allowed out of the Red Fort at all, so the market was moved inside the walls of the imperial city for them.

Actually, this one's just for your amusement. This is a sari, and it took 3 women and 17 safety pins to get me in to it. I don't want to talk about what it took to get me out.

This is where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. The footsteps along the pathway are a memorial to the last steps he took in his lifetime. (Yes, its a little creepy) The smaller lighter structure is where he was shot. He went there every night to pray before going to bed. He was killed in 1948. You can't see it in this picture, but there is now a museum there that is dedicated to his teachings: nonviolence, truth and unity among all religions.

This is a beautiful Hindu temple in Delhi. Inside it's even prettier, it's like its own small city. But, because it is a place of worship, they don't allow you to bring cameras inside.