Delhi is the symbol of old India
and new ? even the stones here
whisper to our ears of the ages of
long ago and the air we breathe is
full of the dust and fragrances of
the past, as also of the fresh and
piercing winds of the present.
- Jawaharlal Nehru
On first impressions, DELHI
, with its jam-packed streets, tower
blocks and temples, forts, mosques
and colonial mansions, can be
disorienting and fascinating. It
certainly takes a while to find your
feet, as you attempt to weave a path
through buses, trucks, nippy modern
cars, mopeds, rickshaws, cows,
bullock carts, hand-pulled trolleys
and the occasional elephant being
ridden along with the flow of
traffic. You'll find unlikely
juxtapositions are everywhere you
look: suit-and-tie businessmen rub
shoulders with traditionally dressed
orthodox Hindus and Muslims; groups
of young Delhi-ites wearing Levis
pile into burger-joints, bars and
discos; turbaned snake charmers
tease hypnotizing moans out of
curved pipes; pundits pontificate
while sadhus smoke their chillums
; and ragged beggars clutching dusty
children plead for a little help
towards a meal.
The daunting scale of Delhi
becomes more manageable as you start
to appreciate that geographically as
well as historically it consists of
several distinct cities - if
anything, more than the Seven
Cities of tradition. The hub of
the metropolis is Central New
Delhi , an orderly plan of wide
roads lined with sturdy colonial
buildings which was established soon
after the imperial capital of British
India moved here in 1911. Many
of the city's hotels are here,
concentrated amid the columned
facades of Connaught Place ,
and just north of the parliamentary
buildings, the architectural jewels
in the Imperial crown. Old Delhi
, Shah Jahan's seventeenth-century
capital ( Shahjahanabad ),
lies 2km or so further north. This
is Delhi at its most
quintessentially Indian, where the
traditional lifestyle of its
predominantly Muslim population has
changed little over two hundred
years. A visit to Old Delhi's mighty
Red Fort and Jami Masjid
, India's largest mosque, is a must,
and should be combined with a stroll
through the old city's bazaars
, a warren of clustered houses,
buzzing with commotion, and infused
with aromatic smells drifting from
open-fronted restaurants, spice
shops and temples.
The other five of Delhi's
ex-capitals, further south, are
today all but deserted, standing as
impressive reminders of
long-vanished dynasties. Among them
you'll find the towering
free-standing column erected by
Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the Qutb Minar
(twelfth century), that marks the
first capital, Dhillika , and
that signalled the development of
the city that visitors see today.
Walls and dilapidated pillars
survive from the fourteenth-century
city of Tughluqabad , and Purana
Qila , the sixth capital.
Interspersed between these historic
ruins are the grand tombs of Delhi's
former rulers, plus a plethora of
Hindu temples, and domed mosques,
introduced by the Muslims, which
dramatically changed the
conventional mould of Indian cities.
Perhaps the finest expressions of
the Moghuls' architectural genius
were the grand charbagh
(quartered garden) mausoleums of Humayun's
Tomb , and, most famously, the
Taj Mahal in Agra. The major
monument of the great Moghul period
is Lal Qila , the "Red
Fort" , in Old Delhi.
As befits a national capital,
Delhi, with its many museums
and art treasures, cultural
performances and crafts, provides a
showcase of the country's diverse
heritage. Shops trade in goods from
every corner of India, and with a
little legwork you can find anything
from Tibetan carpets, antiques, and
jewellery to modern art and designer
clothes. After years of economic
isolation caused by India's
draconian post-Independence trading
laws, Delhi is enjoying a tremendous
economic boom . With plenty
of spending money and a new sense of
confidence among the wealthier
classes, the city can now boast a
great nightlife , with
designer bars, chic cafés and good
clubs. Its auditoria host a wide
range of national music and dance
events, drawing on the richness of
India's great classical traditions.
The film and theatre scenes are very
dynamic with a choice of plays in
English every week, and smart new
cinemas that show Bollywood and
Hollywood movies to a film-hungry
audience.
