Sorry all, I know I have been out of touch for awhile. I'll try to catch up the past month with a few posts over the next few days.
First, over Easter weekend I went to Delhi for a long weekend to get some big city time in. I never thought I'd miss the big city - every chance I get in Los Angeles I escape to mountains or the beach or somewhere with open space and room to breathe. Anyway, this time I escaped to the big city for a few days. After taking a turbo-prop plane from the one gate - if you can call it a gate - airport in Dehradun to the Indira Ghandi International Airport in Delhi then getting in the cab of someone who didn't know his way around - it took us over an hour and I ended up directing after about ten phone calls to Shek - I ended up at my company office/apartment in Gurgaon - a suburb of Delhi like Santa Monica is a suburb of Los Angeles.
Friday night we just hung out and caught up, mostly because I slept until 9:30pm. This is the problem with the night shift, it completely messes up your weekends. But it was nice to just relax for a night. Then Saturday we had planned to actually get out and do stuff - yeah that didn't happen. But we did make it out that night. We went into Delhi, wandered around some shops, ate at Magique, then went to F Bar for some drinks and dancing. It was a lot of fun (well except for the dancing) and it was a good thing we didn't go out during the day since we didn't get home until after 4, almost the same time as a night shift.
Sunday I spent with touring around Delhi with Ravi then met up with Sudhir and family for dinner. It was great fun visiting all the sites with Ravi - Humayun's Tomb, Akshardham Temple, and Dilli Hart. Humayun's Tomb is said to be what the Taj Mahal is based on, on the Taj is on a much grander scale. The rounded dome at the top and symmetry of the building were unique features inspired by Persian architecture. The tomb was also the first garden-tomb on the Indian sub-continent.
From Humayun's Tomb we went to the Akshardham Temple. This place is over the top - in many ways. First, before going into the temple you have to either leave all electronics in the car or check them. This includes all cameras, phones, iPods, spare batteries, etc. Then you stand in the security line. There is a women and children's line and a men's line where everyone walks through a metal detector before a pat down. Once you're finally inside, you are on the grounds of the World's Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple - really, it's in the Guinness World Records. Inside the temple it's a little ostentatious for my tastes, but pretty amazing. A note for any future visitors: watch out for the lights that stick up from the floors - they are dangerous. Mostly because your eyes are drawn to the statues and artwork on the walls so your toes find the light fixtures first. It's been a month and I can still feel it.
Because there are no cameras of any kind allowed inside there are no pictures of the inside - even on Google, I tried for a few minutes (okay, seconds). There are many pictures of the outside so here are a couple. One of the things I found really amazing here was the intricacy of the carvings. Both inside the temple and outside, the pillars had incredible detail on them. Then bordering nearly the entire base of the temple is a tribute to elephants and nature. They are carved out of the same stone as the temple and shares Gajendra Pith: elephants existing in nature, elephants relationship with man, and elephants with God. On the barrier are sayings promoting peace and spirituality.
It was a little weird being at this temple after just visiting Humayun's Tomb. Humayun's Tomb from the Mughal era and then Akshardham Temple that was completed less than ten years ago. Especially considering despite being less than a decade old this temple was built with out structural support from steel.
I then only had a little time before meeting Sudhir and family for dinner, so Ravi and I stopped at Dilli Haat. Dilli Haat is a market of food and crafts from all over India. Unfortunately because of time I only had time to quickly walk through. Hopefully next time I'm in Delhi I will have more time to really look at the amazing crafts offered.
Finally dinner. As per usual too much food was ordered and it was all delicious. We ate at the officers club which unknown to me and apparently Sudhir has a dress code. He had to talk his way into letting me eat there. Since I had been touring around the city all day I was in sandals and shorts, two of the prohibited items on the list. We ended the meal with kulfi, India ice cream. I'm not quite sure how to describe it but here is a recipe to give you an idea. The most unique thing about kulfi is the cardamom. It is delicious. I'm hoping the India Sweets shop near me in Los Angeles has it. I know they have my favorite India soda, Limca, so I'm hopeful I will also find kulfi.
Overall it was a great weekend. Definitely nice to get into the city, see some old friends, and just be a tourist without being stared at quite so much.
First, over Easter weekend I went to Delhi for a long weekend to get some big city time in. I never thought I'd miss the big city - every chance I get in Los Angeles I escape to mountains or the beach or somewhere with open space and room to breathe. Anyway, this time I escaped to the big city for a few days. After taking a turbo-prop plane from the one gate - if you can call it a gate - airport in Dehradun to the Indira Ghandi International Airport in Delhi then getting in the cab of someone who didn't know his way around - it took us over an hour and I ended up directing after about ten phone calls to Shek - I ended up at my company office/apartment in Gurgaon - a suburb of Delhi like Santa Monica is a suburb of Los Angeles.
 |
| Me and Shek |
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| A picture I found on Google |
From Humayun's Tomb we went to the Akshardham Temple. This place is over the top - in many ways. First, before going into the temple you have to either leave all electronics in the car or check them. This includes all cameras, phones, iPods, spare batteries, etc. Then you stand in the security line. There is a women and children's line and a men's line where everyone walks through a metal detector before a pat down. Once you're finally inside, you are on the grounds of the World's Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple - really, it's in the Guinness World Records. Inside the temple it's a little ostentatious for my tastes, but pretty amazing. A note for any future visitors: watch out for the lights that stick up from the floors - they are dangerous. Mostly because your eyes are drawn to the statues and artwork on the walls so your toes find the light fixtures first. It's been a month and I can still feel it.
 |
| Another picture I found on Google. |
Because there are no cameras of any kind allowed inside there are no pictures of the inside - even on Google, I tried for a few minutes (okay, seconds). There are many pictures of the outside so here are a couple. One of the things I found really amazing here was the intricacy of the carvings. Both inside the temple and outside, the pillars had incredible detail on them. Then bordering nearly the entire base of the temple is a tribute to elephants and nature. They are carved out of the same stone as the temple and shares Gajendra Pith: elephants existing in nature, elephants relationship with man, and elephants with God. On the barrier are sayings promoting peace and spirituality.
It was a little weird being at this temple after just visiting Humayun's Tomb. Humayun's Tomb from the Mughal era and then Akshardham Temple that was completed less than ten years ago. Especially considering despite being less than a decade old this temple was built with out structural support from steel.
I then only had a little time before meeting Sudhir and family for dinner, so Ravi and I stopped at Dilli Haat. Dilli Haat is a market of food and crafts from all over India. Unfortunately because of time I only had time to quickly walk through. Hopefully next time I'm in Delhi I will have more time to really look at the amazing crafts offered.
Finally dinner. As per usual too much food was ordered and it was all delicious. We ate at the officers club which unknown to me and apparently Sudhir has a dress code. He had to talk his way into letting me eat there. Since I had been touring around the city all day I was in sandals and shorts, two of the prohibited items on the list. We ended the meal with kulfi, India ice cream. I'm not quite sure how to describe it but here is a recipe to give you an idea. The most unique thing about kulfi is the cardamom. It is delicious. I'm hoping the India Sweets shop near me in Los Angeles has it. I know they have my favorite India soda, Limca, so I'm hopeful I will also find kulfi.
Overall it was a great weekend. Definitely nice to get into the city, see some old friends, and just be a tourist without being stared at quite so much.
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