Editor’s note: As we explore writer Sam Spector’s trip to India together over the coming weeks, you’ll hear me say this a lot: I am so grateful for Sam’s visit and writing since I am taking my own first trip to India in November. So you can bet that I’m eagerly writing down his recommendations! For more of Sam’s adventures, click here to visit the index page for all of his writing.
As I walked out of the airport, feeling the hot sun hit me, my turban-adorned Sikh driver came up to me and said, “Welcome to Delhi, a city with 40 million people.” I arrived in the second largest metropolitan area in the world, only slightly behind Tokyo-Yokohama, in the middle of April. Unbeknownst to me when I booked my trip, April through June is India’s summer, and the hottest time of the year to visit. However, Delhi did not feel particularly humid, making it bearable. And though it was hot, I had entered India at the low tourist season for the world’s most populous country, and it was even lower as a result of many Europeans’ and Middle Easterners’ flights being cancelled due to the Iran War, giving me at some world-renowned sites to myself.
India is a country that I have always dreamed of visiting. It is a place that seems to have everything, from beautiful beaches to the Himalaya Mountains, from Bengal Tigers in nature reserves to bustling cities teeming with historic and holy sites. There is so much that I want to see in India, but I had to remind myself that India is not just a country, it is nearly a continent in itself, requiring many visits over my lifetime.
However, India was a place that I was nervous to visit. I was sure that in one of the countries with the worst poverty in the world that I would be robbed and scammed, leading me to switch out my watch and wedding ring with cheap temporary replacements and secure my money in a money belt. Also, from what I had heard, I packed a ton of anti-diarrheal medicine in preparation for the inevitable. One other bias I had was that in my experience traveling, I had not always had the best interactions with Indian tourists, who had regularly cut me off in line at museums and seemed pushy, so I anticipated people being unkind. My visit to India dispelled all of these false assumptions that I had, and reinforced not only why I love traveling, but the importance of it too, and how it makes me a better person. While it is important to keep your bearings about you wherever you go, not a single person was unkind to me or tried to scam me. A local explained to me that as Hindus, they truly believe in karma, and that if their lives are difficult now, it is because they did something wrong in a previous life, and that the best thing they can do is be kind in this life to improve their situation in the next. In regard to the people, yes, they were pushy and cut in line, but I learned that the reason why is not out of rudeness but out of necessity. India is definitely one of the most chaotic places I have been with cars and tuk tuks weaving in and out of people, driving the wrong way down the road, swerving to avoid cows sitting in the middle of the road; if locals are not quick about what they are doing or moving to fill in gaps, they will not survive or get to where they need to go. Finally, at the risk of oversharing, the food I had in India was phenomenal, and I returned to the United States with all of my anti-diarrheal packets completely untouched.
Now, back to Delhi. While the capital of India is often overshadowed in the sightseeing arena by the Bollywood scene of Mumbai, the beaches of Goa, and the incredible Taj Mahal of Agra, the city is a full of attractions, more than I had time to visit, including numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I had two days of exploring in Delhi, and I sadly did not have time to go to the museums dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, the peaceful father of the nation, nor the primary Lotus Temple of the Bahai faith; however I got to visit the following top highlights of the city: Old Delhi’s Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Chandi Chowk Market, and New Delhi’s Swaminarayam Akshardham, India Gate, Lodhi Gardens, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, Qutb Minaret, and the Humayun Tomb. In this article, I will focus on just the sites in Old Delhi.
The Red Fort is the primary attraction in Delhi and is located in the center of Old Delhi, what was historically known as Shahjahanabad, named for Shah Jahan, who ruled the Mughal Empire from 1628 until 1658. Shah Jahan, who constructed the Taj Mahal for his wife, had this fort built in Delhi as he moved his capital from Agra to Shahjanabad, and had the fort built by the same architect who constructed the Taj Mahal, Ahmad Lahori. The Red Fort Complex was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007 and is a prime example of Mughal architecture, combining Indian and Persian architectural styles and comprising a space of 255 acres. In modern Indian history, the Red Fort, named for its bright red brick color, is significant because it was here at the famous Lahore Gate entrance of the fort that Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, first raised the Indian flag on August 15, 1947, declaring India’s independence from the British. You can easily spend a few hours in the complex. I highly recommend with many of Delhi’s attractions that you get a guide, and certified guides are often outside the attractions waiting for hire for only about $10 (I got a fantastic one who I then hired to accompany me to other sites, and I will put his contact information at the bottom of this article). The outside of the Red Fort is imposing with massive walls, some of which reach over 100 feet in height, and numerous gates such as the Lahore Gate and the nearly identical Delhi Gate. Upon entering the complex, a street leads you through the Chhatta Chowk market under a vaulted ceiling. For hundreds of years this has been a market, and today you can still buy souvenirs like jewelry, silk, antiques, and paintings.
Inside the complex are numerous beautiful gardens and also red and white structures that were palaces, hammams, and mosques. Make sure to check out the beautiful Naubat Khana, the waiting area where guests of the emperor would listen to music as they awaited an event, and the Diwan-i-Aam, the inner court where you can still see one of the impressive thrones of Shah Jahan. The hall is full of stucco archways and is a masterpiece. The Diwan-i-Khas was the Hall of Private Audiences, a white marble structure to the north of the Diwan-i-Aam. This building was in its glory the most ornate building in the complex. Today, you can still see the magnificent craftmanship and artwork, but the building has long been stripped of its silver and golden walls and ceiling, as well as the emperor’s world-renowned Peacock Throne, a golden throne of Shah Jahan covered in gems with the designs of peacocks on it. With the Red Fort, it has an inscription at the Diwan-i-Khas that sums it up well, “If heaven could be on the face of the earth; this is it, this is it, this is it.”
Outside of the Red Fort is the Chandi Chowk Market. This neighborhood sums up India. It is loud, chaotic, congested, colorful, beautiful, and has in it Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Jain, and Christian centers of worship. There are alleyways that give oases of peace in the madness and beautiful doorways that are artistic masterpieces. Down other alleys are vendors selling India’s famous teas and spices, with the intensity leading everyone to sneeze and cough who walk past. This is also a great place to try Indian street food, where for a couple of dollars you can sample incredible food and sip Indian chai and mango lassis. For a 45 minute tour, you can pay a tuk tuk driver about $5 to take you around.
In the same neighborhood is Delhi’s most prominent Muslim site, the Jama Masjid. Though only about one-sixth of India’s population is Muslim, with an overall population of 1.4 billion people, that means there are over two hundred million Muslims in India, making it the country with the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. The Jama Masjid was built also by Shah Jahan (the Mughals were a Muslim empire) in 1656 as his capital’s primary mosque. At the time it was built, the Jama Masjid was the largest mosque on the Indian subcontinent. It is on an elevated courtyard that is 33 feet above the neighborhood that can hold 25,000 worshippers. The mosque faces west towards Mecca and has two sandstone minarets, each 135 feet in height, and you can enter the complex through one of three sandstone gates. The prayer hall is constructed of marble with three large domes. The hall is 200 feet in length and 89 feet in width and has beautiful archways like the main hall of the Red Fort.
Delhi is a must visit city and truly one of the world’s great ones. When visiting, do not hold the same concerns and prejudices that I did; the city, while crazy, is as incredible as its people. While you will need a few days in India’s capital, spend your first one getting oriented with a visit to the sights, smells, and sounds of Old Delhi, the neighborhood that put this world city on the map.
Recommendation for guide: Lalit Yadav Website WhatsApp number: +91 99992 09171
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