We decide to hire a car and driver again today and we set out around < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /?>
noon. It’s definitely worth the £13 charge for eight hours just to have an air conditioned car to retreat from the heat between the various sights. It doesn’t necessarily mean you get to see more, but it does make it possible to see some of the places that are further out from the centre. We start out with a long list of things to see but end up only getting to three; the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple, the Jama Mosque and the Lotus Temple. Our day is partly curtailed because we set out to see the Mosque first but when we arrive it’s closed to non-Muslims until 2pm so our driver, for some inexplicable reason, heads right out to the suburbs to the Akshardham Temple instead staying in Old Dehli and going a few minutes’ drive to the Purana Qila (Old Fort). We are beginning to learn that it’s not a good idea to leave the organisation of the itinerary to the driver. Plus half-way through the day we have to return to the B&B to get Andy’s glasses because his contact lens is playing up!
The Swaminarayan Akshardham temple complex was inaugurated as recently as 2005 and occupies a vast 100 acre site. Amazingly given its ornamentation and carvings it was built in only five years. Like many places we have visited there is some rather peremptory and superficial security screening of visitors which involves walking through a security arch and submitting to the most cursory of physical checks. Bags, camera and mobile phones are not allowed and we got the impression that the search was for nothing more offensive than cigarettes – but that might be an over-simplification!
The Mandi (temple) is the focal point of the entire complex. Built of pink stone and white marble it features 234 intricately carved pillars, 9 magnificent domes, 20 pinnacles and over 20,000 sculpted figures. Unforutunately it’s closed for maintenance so we don’t get to see the ‘don’t miss’ interior. The mandhi is surrounded by the Narayan Sarovar, a moat containing holy waters from 151 rivers, lakes and stepwells of India visited by Bhagwan Swaminarayan. An impressive two tier colonnade in red standstone encircles the mandir, each is tier is 3000 feet long with 1,152 pillars. There are various other buildings in the complex as well as a statue of the boy Swami himself who is said to have spent 7 years from the age of 11 walking 12,000 miles around India and a 8-petal lotus-shaped three dimenstional garden. The whole complex is certainly impressive, but it’s hard not to question whether the money might not have been better spent helping India’s dispossessed.
The Jama Masjid mosque built in 164-58 by Shah Jahan (he of Taj Mahal fame) is the largest in India. It is constructed in alternating vertical strips of red sandstone and marble with two minarets and a huge courtyard capable of holding 25,000 people. We climbed one of the minarets for a fabulous view of Delhi. Despite the heat, the removal of shoes is obligatory, and there is conveniently a shoe wallah to look after your shoes and a sock wallah to sell you socks to protect your feet from the searingly hot paving. There is also a wallah providing a coverall robe which I must wear despite the fact that I’m already covered from head to foot in a long skirt and long sleeved shirt. All, of course, expect payment. Entry to the mosque itself is free, though.
Our final stop is to the distinctive Lotus temple also known as the Baha’i House of Worship strikingly shaped like an unfurling white lotus (think Sydney Opera House shapes re-arranged). The temple surrounded by nine large pools of water which not only enhance the building but also play a role in the natural cooling system of the prayer hall.
Our hosts have recommended Karim’s Restaurant about 20 minutes away from the B&B so our driver drops us close by with instructions on how to find it down an alley way. The area is heaving with people and rickshaws and we can’t find the restaurant. So we retrace our steps to find the driver, but he seems to have had to park some way off and we can’t find him. We are just wondering what to do next, when to our relief the driver turns up; he’d gone to check that we arrived at the restaurant safely and not finding us there had come looking for us in the street. It turns out that his instructions had not been entirely accurate and the restaurant is in another alleyway. Karim’s is a very popular Muslim restaurant over three floors and rightly so, the food is delicious.
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