Delhi Darshan - 5

Today I set to explore some relatively not so popular places of Delhi which every tourist would visit. I must say, I have become a bit religious in terms of visiting temples after coming here. Daily on my way to office, I see a big temple in Chattarpur area, and so I decided to go there today, after R&D in google here.

I started from the guest house at 10:30 and took a direct bus to Chattarpur Mandir, which took about half an hour to reach. On my way to the temple, I saw a huge temple complex on the left side of the road. A little further on the right side was a huge Hanuman statue. At a little distance there were many gateways. I wasn't sure which one exactly was the Chattarpur Mandir.

I asked watchman at the nearest gate and he told me that Chattarpur Mandir area has 3 complexes, one main temple and the huge temple I saw on the left side of the road, and one complex on the right. He asked me to first go to the main temple and then visit the other temples. I did so accordingly and there was a huge rush near the entrance of the main temple.

Inside the main temple, there were a number of dieties - Lord Shiva, Sri Ram, Hanuman, Ganesha, etc in all corners of the temple. The main temple had 2 floors, where in the ground floor was Sri Ram, and on the first floor was Katyayini Devi (Durga) which is the main diety here. I got to know that this temple is managed by a trust called Sri Adya Katyayini Trust, which was founded by some Baba.

Around the main temple, there was huge hall where a big idol of Sri Ganesh was placed.
After visiting the main temple complex, I set for the second huge temple complex I saw. This temple was surrounded by plush gardens. The main dieties in this temple were Lakshmi and Ganesh, whose idols were so huge. There was a big prayer hall here. In the basement, there was the food serving hall, where lunch is given as Prasad on some days. Apparently, there was no Prasad today, and the authorities told that tomorrow as it is full moon, lunch would be served.

This Chattarpur temple complex has both North Indian and South Indian styles of gopuras. The main temple has the North Indian style and the Lakshmi-Ganesh temple has the South Indian style. All the temple complexes are built from white marble. Marble is so cheap here! And undoubtedly, the trust has so much money!

Next, I proceeded towards the third temple complex on the other side of the road. Here there were few temples here and there. The main temple here too had 2 floors - on the ground floor was the Samadhi of the Baba who founded this, and on the first floor was a huge Shivalinga. In both the floors, idols of different forms of Durga surrounded the place.

Next to the this temple there is a huge prayer hall. This prayer hall also has Durga as its main diety.

After seeing this, I next went to the Hanuman statue but didn't go near it as it was too hot and I didn't want to get my foot burnt.

Overall, this whole Chattarpur temple complex was absolutely magnificient. This seems like relatively newly built. This is currently not in the "must-see" places of Delhi, but I'm sure few years down the line, this place is going to get famous.

After the Chattarpur temple tour, I took a bus and next went to another not-so-famous place, which again I see daily on my way to office - Bhagavan Mahavir Ahimsa Sthal. I reached this place at around 1 PM (seriously I'm crazy to loiter in the sun!), and the very description of the place which was painted catched my eyes.

I could see a statue of Mahavir on a hill like structure. I climbed up the small man made hill and there was the idol of Bhagavan Mahavir.

From this place, I could see the only structure which stood tall amongst the greenary was the splendid Qutub.

Finally at 1:15 PM my hunger started and I had to listen to my stomach. I left the place and took a bus to Hauz Khas and went straight to the newly discovered south Indian restaurant at Green Park. I had the traditional south Indian food and came back to the guest house at around 2:30 PM and slept.

This weekend didn't go wasted! :-)

Delhi Darshan - 4

Another weekend. Another outing. I must have been really crazy to step out in the sun, but some spirit in me kept me going. On Saturday, we 3 from the guest house left for Delhi Haat, at the peak time of 1:30 PM to have lunch, as in the guest house lunch wasn't served anyday. We took a direct bus to Kidwai Nagar, which is only 3 stops from Hauz Khas and walked 2 mins to reach Delhi Haat. The entry ticket was Rs. 15 per head. There was little security check, and as we entered, there were rows of handloom and handicrafts exhibition. This place is basically an open exhibition which runs thru out the year, where people from different states come and sell their stuffs.

As we were damn hungry, we set out to eat first. At the rear end, foodstalls of majority of states of India were put up. There were Kashmiri, Oriya, Assamese, Rajasthani, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra, Gujrati, Maharashtrian and Delhi foodstalls. But I couldn't see a Karnataka food stall anywhere. Deepti had been telling that Rajasthani food here was good. So, we took Rajasthani Special Thali, which was Rs. 120. They served dal-bati-churma, 2 types of rotis, 2 curries, rice, 2 sweets, raita & pickles. It was amazing, and very filling. After having that in the shades, I felt like sleeping over there itself!

After having lunch, we set out to explore the market. Apart from the normal handicrafts, the special things which I saw were the Kashmiri carpets and miniature paintings. They were so good, and when I spoke to a carpet merchant, he told that the cost of a 2ft x 4ft carpet was Rs. 8k, where as in Bangalore if they had sold, it would be Rs. 25k!

There were not many guys stuffs here, and out of which were available were too costly. The bargaining policy never worked here, and so I didn't buy anything, while the girls bought some stuffs.

We left Delhi Haat by 4 PM or so and took a rick to Ansal Plaza. This is a mall around an amphitheatre. The place was cool, but the same shops everywhere was boring. Over there, on a huge screen, the first match of IPL Season 2 was being played, and I watched it while the girls went on a shopping spree. We left this place by around 5:30 PM and reached the guest house by 6.

At around 7 PM, myself and Deepti went to Jagannath Mandir, which is very close by to our guest house. This temple was awesomely cool, calm and free from city's traffic. I wish I had taken my camera. Probably sometime later, I will revisit this temple and take some snaps.

On Sunday, I had all set plans to coverup the Humayun's Tomb and Jama Masjid. I left by 10:30 AM, changed 2 busses and reached Sarai Kale Khan ISBT, as this was the place on Google Maps which appeared to be close to Humayun's tomb. But when I landed there, people told that I had taken the wrong route and I had to cross the Nizamuddin station and take a rick or walk down from there, else from ISBT it would cost Rs. 70 by rick. So I walked down the Nizamuddin station (badly maintained!) and went on the opposite side. From there, I took a rick and went to the tomb. The rick guys didn't understand what a Tomb was, and then I had to explain what it was and how it looks, and then they gave their local name - Humayun ki Maqbara.

Well, I reached the world heritage monument by 12 PM and bought the ticket. I entered 2 big Darwazas to have the first look of the tomb. The paths & gardens were very well maintained. But it was only damn sunny.

According to the place description here, Humayun's tomb was built by his grieving widow Hamida Banu Begum. This is the precursor to the Taj Mahal and it stands on a platform of 12000 sq mt and reaches a height of 47m. This is also called 'Dormitory of Moghuls' as it has more than 100 graves within it.

To enter the tomb, there were about 20 long sized stone steps. The view of the gardens from the top was superb. Mughals had a great taste in architecture indeed. I went around the huge area on top and I found the entrance to the tomb.

I went in and found a number of small tombs here and there. The Mughal family rested here. In the centre was Humayun's tomb.

After going around it again and taking some rest under a tree, I left for Jama Masjid. After enquiry, I took a bus straight to Jama Masjid at around 1:15 PM. I had told the conductor to let me know when my stop comes, but the idiot forgot and I had to get down at the last stop. He told me a route to go to the Masjid though. I followed his advice and walked down. The area was very shabby, bad roads, and very dirty. This was the other side of Delhi, its like K.R Market of Bangalore. And worse, this was the real Delhi 6.

I moved down and surprisingly saw a Cafe Coffee Day. I was damn hungry and had a pizza. I continued and I saw the lanes having the name of Chandni Chowk. I heard the food over here was very good, but I didn't feel like having anything looking at the dirty area. There was one Gurudwara too on this road.

I continued my walk to Jama Masjid by enquiring every other person and finally reached the place, only to find that to enter the place, one had to remove shoes and if holding a camera, we had to pay Rs. 200! What the heck! Now, who wants to go over this place barefooted in this scroching sun! And the place also looked very dirty. I felt it was not worth entering it, so just took the pic from outside and thought of where to go next.

At the Jama Masjid bus stop, I thought I'll go to Karol Bagh, where I was told that there were lots of tours n travel operators. I just had to enquire about any tour to Mathura-Vrindavan, and all operators told that Agra also would be included. I collected their pamphlets and started back to guest house at around 5:30 PM. I changed 2 busses and finally reached the guest house by 7 PM.

With this, I covered all the major attractions of Delhi, baring a few like Raj Ghat, Teen Murti Bhavan etc, which is not in my tour list anyways. And this being summer time, I dont think I'll consider visiting these places. But still one thing remains in my list - Akshardham temple, which is in pipeline, as all our folks also havn't visited yet.

In the coming weeks, we are planning to have long trips (2 days max) over the weekends. Some tours which have been jotted down are: Jaipur-Ajmer-Pushkar, Agra-FatehpurSikri-Mathura-Vrindavan, Udaipur, Chandigarh-Shimla, Amritsar and Rishikesh-Haridwar. Lots of places to see, hope we can see! Looking forward for it to happen..!

!

P.S.: Oh Surya Devta, thoda hum par reham karo!

Delhi Darshan - 3

Continuing my outings in Delhi, yesterday I had made up my plans to visit ISKCON temple and Lotus temple on Sunday. Google maps has indeed become very handy in locating places. In the map, both the temples were close by, so I decided to cover both in the same day. There were no direct busses to both places, according to DTC bus route finder, and the closest place nearby to both was the Nehru Place terminal, according to Google map.

Today morning, I started at around 10:30 AM, and took a bus to IIT gate. From there, I changed bus and took another one to Nehru Place (bus No. 764). From Nehru Place, I took an auto to ISKCON. By the time I reached ISKCON, it was around 11:30.

3 big Gopuras of the temple stood before me. As I entered the temple's main gate, there was Govinda's restaurant on the left side and I noted down the timings of lunch, as I had already decided to have todays lunch here.

This temple is on Hare Krsna hills, so had to climb a few steps.

I proceeded towards the main temple and I saw Garuda idol directly opposite the main diety.

I proceeded furter towards the main temple. All thru the way, chanting of 'Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare', the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra was heard aloud in different tunes. I was surprised to know that people were allowed to take snaps inside the temple, unlike many other temples where photography was not allowed.

As I entered the temple, a few people were dancing in one side. There were the idols of Sri Gaura Nitai on the left, Sri Radha Parthasarathi in the centre and Sri Sita Ram Lakshmana Hanumana on the right. At the entrance was the idol of the founder of ISKCON, A.C. Swami Prabhupada.

All the 3 dieties were so beautifully decorated that I couldn't take my eyes off them. They were so colourful and blissful. I dont have many words to explain the feeling, but it was such a great experience!

In the centre of the roof was a huge beautiful chandelier. All thru the roof on all sides, paintings of Radha-Krsna and Chaitana Prabhu were done.

I was about to go round the sanctum sanctorum of all the 3 Gods, but it was 12 PM and they had to close the Garbh Gudi. They told that it would again open at 12:30 PM. So, I came out and checked out what else could be done. I saw a building on Vedic Expo and went there. There the Prabhu told that there is one Gita Saar show which would start in 5 mins, and had to purchase ticket of Rs. 50 for it. I bought the ticket and went in. There was a huge model of Godess Lakshmi worshipping Lord Vishnu.

Behind it was the pics of GOD (Generator - Brahma, Organizer - Vishnu, Destroyer - Maheshwara)

The show started and we were taken to a dark room. This show is unlike the one which is in Bangalore's ISKCON, here we were asked to move from one room to another. In all the rooms, splendid laser shows were there describing Mahabharata and the Gita Saar. They explained about the soul prelimenary and other aspects of life. It was such a superb show, which lasted for half an hour.

I came out of the show and over there was a photo of the 10 Avatars of Lord Vishnu.

I came back to the main temple where Maha Mangalarti was being done. A huge crowd had gathered and now many people were dancing to the tune of Hare Krsna Maha Mantra. I took the Mangalarti and proceeded to go round the sanctum sanctorum, which was called the Krsna Art gallery. Over here, photos of all main dieties of ISKCON all over the world are put up. I was amazed to see the photo of Lord Krsna-Balarama, which is in Vrindavana, as this was the same pic in the calender which Vandana had given.

After seeing this, I began to feel hungry and thought of going to the Govinda's restaurant below. I went there, but was shocked to see that the Prasad was being served there at a rate of Rs. 270/-, which was a buffet meal with 56 dishes. I decided not to go there, and instead have a pizza or a burger. I went above again where there was some confectionaries sold and had a pizza. Over there I saw another board which said thali would be served in the new confectionary built, which was near the parking lot. I proceeded towards it and found it, and had the lunch over there at Rs. 75. I thought lunch would be served as Prasad on sundays, but my guessing went wrong. But the food was damn tasty - no onion, no garlic.

After having lunch, I asked for the route to Lotus temple, and the guard over there told me a short cut to reach the place. The Lotus temple was visible from the ISKCON temple campus only. It took around 20 mins to reach the place, and I had a very rare view of Lotus temple, from the backside, and it looked superb. I dont think this photo of Lotus temple is published anywhere, as many people take the snap from the front.

I reached the Lotus temple grounds, or the Bahai grounds at around 2:15 PM in the scrotching sun. From here, I could see the Gopura of ISKCON temple too.

The crowd was heavy in the Lotus temple and a huge garden was present over there. I proceeded towards the temple where they asked me to remove shoes. The ground was so hot that I had to hop around!

At the entrance to the temple on the side, there was a little queue. The temple's people came and gave a brief introduction of the temple and Bahai faith. The Bahai Houses of Worship is open to all regardless of religion or any other distinction. Here, people of all religions may worship God without denominational restrictions. This is a pure white marble and is also known as the Taj of modern India. We were asked to go inside the hall and pray, and no photos to be taken inside. Insite were a row of seats placed in a semicircular fashion and nothing else. I entered, and sat for a while and exited. From the top, the garden looked very splendid.

I came out of the temple campus and proceeded towards Nehru Place, when I remembered that someone had told me about Kalika temple nearby. I just checked it out and it was very close. I walked down to enter it, but on seeing the rush I decided not to go further. As I opened my camera for a group of small children surrounded me and asked me to take their photos and of their families. I had seen this kind in films and TVs, and for the first time I experienced it. I told them that I wasn't a journalist and took a few snaps of theirs and their beedi smoking granny.

They were so pleased with me that they offered me tea, and I must say, the chai was so good!

After this thrilling experience, I set out to return to my guest house, and walked down to Nehru Place. Immediately I got the same bus and got down at IIT Gate and took another bus to Hauz Khas. I finally reached the guest house at around 5:30 PM.

Today again, I had a wonderful time touring Delhi's landmarks. Finally, an eventful weekend ended with this.

Looking forward for plenty more..

Delhi Darshan - 2

After the start of trips on friday, today, i.e on saturday the 11th of April, I was all set to continue exploring Delhi. I had decided to go to Qutub Minar already, alone. I started at around 11 AM from the guest house, took a bus towards Mehrauli and got down the the Qutub. It was hardly 5 kms from our guest house. A tall monument stood before me with all its elegance. I was just wonderstruck by the view of the Qutub. I purchased the tickets and entered the place. Here are a few pics of the Minar..

There are 4 floors, tapering towards the sky. Some inscriptions in Urdu were written on all the floors.

Besides the Qutub is the tomb of Imam Zamim. Itseems this guy came from Turkestan to Delhi in the reign of Sikandar Lodi and built this mausoleum in his lifetime and died. It is surmounted by a dome of sandstone covered with plaster and rising from an octogonal drum. Its sides are carved with perforated screens, characteristic of the Lodi period.

Also on the left side of Qutub is the Alai Darwaza, described as one of the most treasured gems of Islamic architecture, built by Allaudin Khalji.

Next to the Alai Darwaza, there are some broken remains of some Madrasas.

Walking along, there was the tomb of Iltumush.

Close by, there is the world famous Iron pillar, but nobody was allowed to touch it.

At some distance, was the Alai Minar, which was supposed to be double the size of Qutub, but due to the death of Allaudin Khalji, the tower could not be completed.

A pic of both the towers..

At around 12:45 PM, I completed the Qutub tour and was hungry. I checked out some hotels nearby, but couldn't find one. So, I decided to have food somewhere in Green Park and get back to the guest house and sleep for a while as it was very sunny.

Again, I had a good tour of the Qutub. Waiting for the next explorations...

For more info on the Qutub, click here and here.