Qutab Minar

The events in this entry take place on Sunday, June 27th. We are winding down our weekend in Dehli before returning to our respective job sites in Chennai and Bangalore.

Harpeet pulls us up at Qutab Minar. From the car, all we can see is a seething mass of humanity and the tip of a large tower in the distance. "Okay" sighs Harpreet "This tower Akbar's grandson started and later a Hindu king finished it up. You want to go?" There is a heartbeat of silence in the car as we collectively decide what we are all feeling. It seems like just a tower, what could there really be to see? But at this point we've passed on the Red Fort and others, and I want more adventure, so I say "Sure!" and out we go.
Since Harpeet can't move around easily, we are on our own and we pick through the mass to get to the ticket counter. I buy our passes, shrug off the offers for a guide and go. I'm assuming we will do the walk in, take a snap and walk out, so I see no reason to pay for a guide. I'm even a little miffed at the price of admission. Boy, was I wrong; I could have spent the day there.

Qutub Minar was built around 1200. It was started by Qtub-u'd-Din Aibak and at 230 feet, is the tallest tower in Dehli. He started it, but as Harpeet said, several other gentlemen had to finish it. Back in the day, you used to be able to climb the steps inside and see the city, but for safety reasons, they closed that off. But the tower is just one piece of the site. There are tons of ruined mosques, tombs and supporting buildings. Evert turn seemed like a scene from Indiana Jones and I quickly forgot the punishing heat and scurried around taking snaps.

But it was hot. There was more shade to find here than at the Taj, so it wasn't as bad, but there was definately a time limit on the trip. I would have liked for a guide to explain what we saw, but really we couldn't linger that long and there was something good in the mysteriousness of it. I think I read there are secret passagways that take you over to the Red Fort somewhere here. Cool.

And of course, there was the usual clowning around with kids who were excited to see weird foriegners on their outing. I really liked the tower of Akbar's grandson.

Shortly after this we put Shawn and Rose on the plane back to Bangalore. Val and I continued on to Dilli Haat, a governement-sponsored bazaar with a food court. Val smartly bought a shawl for the over-air conditioned plane ride we were facing but nothing there struck my fancy. There was some good shopping at reasonable prices, but it was mostly souvenirs of a kind I'd already bought last trip. We rehydrated and hit the bricks. Back to the airport and back to Chennai, exhausted, agog and happy.

Next: a week later and the kids are on the road again, this time to Pondicherry, a French settlement on the coast and Mahabalipuram, a site of archealogical wonders.