Travel

What Old Delhi looks like from the back of a bicycle rickshaw after 25 hours in transit from the US

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After arriving in Delhi on the heels of a 25 hour transit from the US, including a 14 hour flight over the NORTH POLE people!! from Seattle to Dubai, I snuck off to my hotel room for a few hours of sleep.  Later I joined friends for a tour of Old Delhi on the back of a bicycle rickshaw through the Chandni Chowk market.. It was the most uncomfortable ride of my life and, of course, it was raining, and I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep, or the fact that I had entered a very different world, but I felt like I was on an acid trip.  The pink turban of the man in front of me was my bicycle rider/driver.  I was in his rickshaw.

Some of my pictures are blurry because he kept us moving.  Some are a little bit more clear, but only because he paused for a moment to let the masses of humanity and animals pass us.  He never gave passage on purpose, but only because he was driven to it by a lack of chance.  I got my first lesson in what it takes to survive in India.  Reticence and fine manners are really low on that list.

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Yeah, so it was a blur and it was chaotic all around me. And then you notice the electrical wiring and you just wonder how India can operate at all.

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And, I gotta say, I never stopped puzzling that last statement for the whole month I was there.  I still don’t know any answers.

This is India 4. Let’s look at inlaid tiles and other patterns.

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Here’s what I know: You can pick just about any topic in the world and the variety of that topic in India is infinite.  Absolutely.

Let’s take the subject of gorgeous inlaid tiles found in so many Islamic buildings throughout the world.  I loved them in Andalucia, Spain; I loved them in Morocco; and, not surprisingly, I loved them in India.  Of course the Indian tiles have a distinctly Indian flavor; how could they not?

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The palette of colors is completely “Indian.”  Similar applications of tiles in Islamic buildings in Morocco and Spain have a completely different palette.

For example: here’s Morocco

moroccan-tiles

And here is an example from the Alhambra in Spain:

Alhambra

It was in Spain that I first fell in love with Islamic architecture and decorative arts.

So, now you see how different the Indian palette of colors is.

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And then there are these incredibly complex ceilings in some old Indian major monuments, completely unlike anything in Morocco or Spain.  This one fascinates me.

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Then there are the carved traceries (carved stone) that cover so many windows and other openings.

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Just look at the amazing use of inlaid tiles.  Every piece hand cut.

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The photo above and the one below are taken looking up along an outer wall of the Taj Mahal.

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My pedicure blends in with the palette of tile work. I am wearing slippers from my hotel room.  You bring them with you in your bag because you will be required to remove shoes at the entrance to monuments.  But, if you bring your slippers or socks, you can wear them.  Stone tile floors are cold in February on a misty morning!

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A stucco ceiling.

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And the cut out metal lanterns create amazing patterns.  This is not at Taj, but the pattern the light casts on the wall reminds me of the traceries found at the Taj and other places throughout beautiful India.

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And finally for today, here is a huge wall well, which means there is a well at the bottom of this wall with the stairs leading ever downward in these incredibly intricate patterns.  It is mind-bogglingly beautiful.

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