Delhi Day Trip
* I don't have very many pictures for this one- I was using my video camera all day and didn't take too many still photos. So since I can't share video very easily, I learned my lesson and now take a better mix of photos and video
Bryan took a cab to my hotel (since we were placed in different ones) and we decided to do some sightseeing before taking the cab to a party we were invited to. The driver, Mr. Sharma, had been used by another associate we know who travelled here previously, so he took us to some of the places she had recommended. Some advice on India I learned from other associates here- never take a random hotel cab sightseeing, unless you wish to go on a tour of shops that pay your driver a commission. Having a driver we already knew of, we had the privilage of only going to the places we wanted to.
One of the places we went was this "Deep Step Well" built in the 14th century, where women descended down the stairs and out of public sight to bathe. The well is now mostly empty, save for some murky water at the bottom. We walked along a high ledge (on the left in the picture, about 1/3 of the way down the stairs), which was so narrow that we had to walk single-file, with about half a foot between us and the drop-off. The pigeons that flew straight up at us from the deep pit below added to the feeling of unsteadyness. Luckily I have no fear of heights, or it would have been difficult. I find that it's easier in such places for me to feel balanced if I walk quickly, rather than stand still and contemplate the fall below. The way I looked at it, if the ledge has stood since the 1300's, it would probably be able to withstand my weight for one more afternoon. Being able to walk through something constructed so long ago felt incredible... coming from a place where something built 150 years ago is considered ancient, this put history in perspective. At the time is was probably the oldest structrue I had ever entered. Along the walls were recesses for holding candles to light the way of the women descending down to the water. I couldn't help but wonder- were they silent as they walked down, or did the walls echo with talk and laughter? Standing at the bottom of the steps and looking up into the hazy afternoon sky, I wished I could see it as it looked 600 years ago, with 100 candles lit on each side and an unpolluted night sky revealing the same constellations which are now obscured by the city lights. At the bottom of the well was a chamber with a low round roof, around which circled a whirlwind of bats. Their screeching was sufficiently loud that we had to raise our voices to speak, and their distance from us was no more than 10 feet. If you don't like bats, then strike this place off your list of things to see in India; they are harmless though, and if you avoid touching them (a good general rule to stick to with animals here) they shouldn't bother you.
We went by India Gate on the way to somewhere else, so we stopped to take a couple of pictures. We'll be returning later to visit the site when some friends of ours come visit. One interesting thing happened here, at the Presidential Palace nearby a group of teens came up, held out their camera and said "Picture please!" just as Bryan and I had taken turns photographing it with our camera. So I was like sure, give me your camera and I'll take a group picture, but they looked confused. I finally realized they wanted a picture with me. So one by one the guy with a camera snapped photos as his friends took turns standing next to me, some with their arms around my shoulder as if we had been acquainted for years. They pulled Bryan in, and got around a dozen shots with them and us in various combinations. I need to work on my Rock Star pose for the pictures, so that people who take their picture with me can make up some kind of interesting story about who they met. I've come to expect that at tourist spots, people will want to take your picture, so I just go with it, though it can feel a bit overwhelming after awhile if there are large crowds and it continues for a long time. One of the girls from the US here said families would come up for portraits with her and try to hand their babies to her for the photographs. I don't know about all that now.
One more stop on our trip- Mr. Sharma said we should see "The Flying Fox", and it was something our friend Nancy back in the US has also recommended. I asked if that was the name of an English pub he was taking us to, but he said no, it was an animal. I had never heard of a flying fox, so I was picturing something like a flying squirrel. We went to the neighborhood where they live, looked up into a tree, and saw the gigantic bats pictured here, wings wrapped around their bodies in perfect homage to the bats featured in Dracula movies. I took some video of them, but there was not much movement from them other than the occasional wiggling and rustling.
* I don't have very many pictures for this one- I was using my video camera all day and didn't take too many still photos. So since I can't share video very easily, I learned my lesson and now take a better mix of photos and video
Bryan took a cab to my hotel (since we were placed in different ones) and we decided to do some sightseeing before taking the cab to a party we were invited to. The driver, Mr. Sharma, had been used by another associate we know who travelled here previously, so he took us to some of the places she had recommended. Some advice on India I learned from other associates here- never take a random hotel cab sightseeing, unless you wish to go on a tour of shops that pay your driver a commission. Having a driver we already knew of, we had the privilage of only going to the places we wanted to.
One of the places we went was this "Deep Step Well" built in the 14th century, where women descended down the stairs and out of public sight to bathe. The well is now mostly empty, save for some murky water at the bottom. We walked along a high ledge (on the left in the picture, about 1/3 of the way down the stairs), which was so narrow that we had to walk single-file, with about half a foot between us and the drop-off. The pigeons that flew straight up at us from the deep pit below added to the feeling of unsteadyness. Luckily I have no fear of heights, or it would have been difficult. I find that it's easier in such places for me to feel balanced if I walk quickly, rather than stand still and contemplate the fall below. The way I looked at it, if the ledge has stood since the 1300's, it would probably be able to withstand my weight for one more afternoon. Being able to walk through something constructed so long ago felt incredible... coming from a place where something built 150 years ago is considered ancient, this put history in perspective. At the time is was probably the oldest structrue I had ever entered. Along the walls were recesses for holding candles to light the way of the women descending down to the water. I couldn't help but wonder- were they silent as they walked down, or did the walls echo with talk and laughter? Standing at the bottom of the steps and looking up into the hazy afternoon sky, I wished I could see it as it looked 600 years ago, with 100 candles lit on each side and an unpolluted night sky revealing the same constellations which are now obscured by the city lights. At the bottom of the well was a chamber with a low round roof, around which circled a whirlwind of bats. Their screeching was sufficiently loud that we had to raise our voices to speak, and their distance from us was no more than 10 feet. If you don't like bats, then strike this place off your list of things to see in India; they are harmless though, and if you avoid touching them (a good general rule to stick to with animals here) they shouldn't bother you.
We went by India Gate on the way to somewhere else, so we stopped to take a couple of pictures. We'll be returning later to visit the site when some friends of ours come visit. One interesting thing happened here, at the Presidential Palace nearby a group of teens came up, held out their camera and said "Picture please!" just as Bryan and I had taken turns photographing it with our camera. So I was like sure, give me your camera and I'll take a group picture, but they looked confused. I finally realized they wanted a picture with me. So one by one the guy with a camera snapped photos as his friends took turns standing next to me, some with their arms around my shoulder as if we had been acquainted for years. They pulled Bryan in, and got around a dozen shots with them and us in various combinations. I need to work on my Rock Star pose for the pictures, so that people who take their picture with me can make up some kind of interesting story about who they met. I've come to expect that at tourist spots, people will want to take your picture, so I just go with it, though it can feel a bit overwhelming after awhile if there are large crowds and it continues for a long time. One of the girls from the US here said families would come up for portraits with her and try to hand their babies to her for the photographs. I don't know about all that now.
One more stop on our trip- Mr. Sharma said we should see "The Flying Fox", and it was something our friend Nancy back in the US has also recommended. I asked if that was the name of an English pub he was taking us to, but he said no, it was an animal. I had never heard of a flying fox, so I was picturing something like a flying squirrel. We went to the neighborhood where they live, looked up into a tree, and saw the gigantic bats pictured here, wings wrapped around their bodies in perfect homage to the bats featured in Dracula movies. I took some video of them, but there was not much movement from them other than the occasional wiggling and rustling.
posted by Jason at 1:59 PM
1 Comments:
Fascinating story of your trip. Thanks for setting this blog up.
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