New Delhi and Delhi- 6

We spent one day in Delhi and saw a lot of places, from an evening drive through Old Delhi trying to catch glimpses of the Red Fort in peak traffic,

Moving through Delhi-6 in pouring rain,

sharing the roads with nice horsies which pulled loads

then visiting the Samadhi Complex and a Namaskaram to Gandhi Thatha at Raj Ghat,

It was raining, and within minutes the sun comes up and it is hot .. very hot.

This doggy guarded our van and cooled off at the same time

We had a short ice cream break..

or a chai and lassi break..

driving through the endless series of government buildings and landmarks that grace all currency notes,

a view point only trip of Akshardham temple,

the Bahai Lotus temple,

ISKON temple,

Birla Mandir,

some fast paced shopping at a place called Lajpat Nagar ending with another drive late in the night through the well lit government buildings...

One thing that was really interesting was the "New Delhi welcomes all Kavadi Pilgrims" banners flying everywhere.. There was a heavy congregation of them around this Carol Bagh area with the Giant Hanuman statue..

Did do my best to discourage the group from going to old Delhi, but.. they all wanted to see Delhi-6.

Thought the whole Kavadi thing was a south Indian Murugan temple concept. Did not know that it was prevalent in the north w.r.t. Haridhwar temple. There were guys walking all around Delhi with orange underwear carrying decorated Kavadis. We also saw people blaring religious songs in big trucks with a bunk bed on top of each truck, a motorcycle in each truck and 7-8 guys. The truck also looked like kitchen/living quarters for the 7-8 dudes. One guy runs 2 kilometers with the Kavadi, then he gets on the truck and another guy takes his place.

Apparently it is a Kavadi relay where they keep it going without the thing ever touching the ground all the way from Delhi to Haridhwar. . . It was interesting to watch to say the least.

We picked "the worlds slowest and most careful driver". He had no sense of urgency whatsoever. He stopped for every other car to cross us, slowed down at every yellow light and kept telling us the same diaglogue:

"sir, laal baththi ho gaya naa Sir. Ise liye traffic bad gaya!".. Many a time I was just tempted to clobber him over the head and take over the steering wheel. Still we made it to the Taj Mahal and back in one day.

We were told it is a 5 hour journey from Delhi and it took him a good 8 hours to go and a nice 7 hours to come back.

Spending 15 hours between 6AM and 11PM in a van with two little kids is an experience in itself. With the itch to clobber Mr. Laal Baththi every 30 minutes, it was definitely an interesting experience!

He was a nice guy and a family man.. so he kept giving me a lecture on safe driving. My point was "the risk between going 15 mph to 25 mph is not different"

Next time we will need to have the driver do a little 8 outside the hotel lobby before we get inside the vehicle.

Until then...

ps. on a funny note..

We went to Raj Ghat and Jr.'s sandals (Chappals) tore. So she had to stay put in the parking lot with grandma. Told her we were going to see the place where Gandhi's ashes were stored.

Jr. asked me "Ghandhi is like Martin Luther King for India right? He also had a dream?"

Me : Martin Luther King is like Gandhi for the USA. He had the dream first.. MLK was inspired by Gandhi. Did you know that?

Jr.: ?! (finally Jr. realized what she had learnt in her history class).

Saw this inscription on the way ..

Did not have the mind to post the picture I took of the paan that was spit on the side of this inscription just as you enter the grounds of Gandhiji's resting place.

My heart could not bear it. Who spits paan at Mahatmaji's memorial?

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You dare call me a Servant?!

A cop abuses a witness trying to help identify a perpetrator.

An American of Indian descent who is new to India tells the cop "You are a public servant. How can you do this?"

The cop replies, "You called me a servant? Do I look like a servant to you?" and slaps the guy.

Guy slaps the cop back and ends up in jail.

When his uncle bails him out the cop tells the uncle "inform this kid that this is how things work in India"

This is just one of the scenes that caught my attention early on in "Delhi -6", a really well made movie that shows India for what it is, a place that is defined by a really large mass of people, a tangled web of interactions from every perspective, a potpourri of emotions, something so complex yet simple, something so simple yet complex, an everlasting absurdity of sorts that can be explained one way or another, a place where at times everything goes and at times nothing moves!

The greatness of this movie is the attention to detail. Every little piece of the jigsaw puzzle comes together so smoothly and you come out shaking your head, not because you saw something fantastic, but you saw something that happens for real, something that you know is true, because you have experienced most of these bits and pieces firsthand!

The only surprise is that a kid born and raised in America is even accepted as India's own in the earlier parts of the movie while his religious identity is questioned later because his dad is Hindu and mom is a Muslim. If there is one thing consistant about Bigotry, it is that bigotry is absolute. A real crowd would have equally questioned his "Indian-ness" or "his right to ask questions about things Indian or about India" because he is an American Citizen, but somehow they miss that part and it seemed weird.

But for that small deviation from reality, the movie does a fantastic job of painting the masses in everything from gory red, dove white, purple hues, monkey black, holy green to religious saffron!

The human mind is an amazing thing. The ability to live and let live is a quality of the mind that is not universal. Considering ,my recent frame of mind Delhi-6 offers a rare glimpse into the collective human psyche that makes or breaks a society. It also tells you in the nicest of ways to look for answers within!

Nicely done. Strongly recommended!

ps. Hope this movie wins international recognition for Cinematography. Simply fantastic. The music was great, but the visuals were simply breathtaking!

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Simply in awe

Went and bought the "Delhi 6" CD today.

The music is enthralling!

Dil Gira Dafatan, Rehna Tu and Hey Kaala Kaala Kaala Bandar will now play on infinite loop in the van till they find a worthy replacement and that is going to be a tall order! After Rab Ne played 1000+ songs successfully since its release in the Van we were waiting to see which album will take its place.

The goosebumpology continues..

It is also interesting to note that the last five CD's purchased have all been hindi movie CD's.. (Jaane Tu, Bachnaa aye Haseeno, Rock On, Rab Ne, and now Delhi 6)

Hindi film music is kicking it up a notch, and we are not complaining!

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