The Red Fort, Spice Market & Jama Masjid Mosque in Delhi

May 31st, 2011

I took an overnight bus last night from Manali to Delhi. Pinku convinced me that since I had a plane ticket on June 1st to Goa that I should allow a full day of buffer time in case of delays on the road or the bus breaking down. Prudent advice but in the end I arrived at 6:45am in Delhi and had it been the day of the flight, I would have had plenty of time to get to the airport. Oh well, no matter, there are still sights to see in Delhi and I can put up with the chaos, pollution, people, smells and noise for one day.

The chaos of Delhi:

The guys with the caps offer to clean your ears. In Goa, it was a big scam but I only saw them doing it on foreigners. Here locals take advantage of the "service". I still think it's a scam but even if it wasn't, would you want one of these guys poking something pointy into your ear?!?

The main sight I wanted to visit was the Red Fort. The Red Fort was completed in 1648 and took 10 years to build. I wandered about for over an hour checking out a variety of buildings, some old, some newer. It seemed to me that the front of the fort was quite impregnable but the back...not so much. However I imagine there was some decent moat action in the back which would have been fed by the nearby Yamuna River. There were a couple of small museums, one on war and another on the cultural history. Unfortunately most artifacts had but a label that just said what it was and nothing more.

Heading to the Red Fort:

Riding the rickshaw:

The Red Fort:

Me and my Red Fort (it's a kids' book no?):

Close to the entrance:

Knuffle Bunny at the Red Fort entrance:

The market that's been active since the 1600s:

One of many gorgeous buildings inside the fort (read: I don't remember the name):

"It's just a flesh wound!"

Nice arch action:

The Khas Mahal palace:

Inside the palace:

Leaving the Red Fort, I was approached by a tall Indian asking if I wanted a rickshaw. I kind of did but didn’t want to show my cards all at once. Actually, I really needed some water before I did anything else and this guy helped me locate a vendor. He gave me his pitch, listing off a bunch of sights, many of which didn’t ring any bells in my head. I told him I was interested in seeing the Delhi gate, the big mosque called Jama Masjid and he mentioned the spice market which sounded like it could be a real glimpse into “raw” Delhi. He quoted me 200 rupees ($4.50) for an hour so why not, I could do with sitting down and just watching the world pass by (or I guess technically I would be passing the world by).

Affable Salim is a father of four ranging from 17 years old down to 8. He’s been a bicycle rickshaw driver for 21 years but isn’t originally from Delhi. He was a super friendly and seemingly honest guy. His English wasn’t perfect but quite understandable. He took me back up the main road that leads back towards the subway station. His first stop was the spice market.

Heading to the spice market:

After slowly making our way through the rush hour (or just perhaps every hour in Delhi), he suddenly passed through the dividing median and began to cycle the wrong way down the right hand side of the street. Thankfully at least we were on the curb side of the road, close to many parked vehicles and rickshaws and we weren’t the only ones pedaling down the wrong side of the road. The reason for it: we were pulling up to a rickshaw parking area near to the spice market.

We parked the three wheeler and took off on foot a few blocks down the road. The streets where alive with busy people pushing carts, carrying goods on their heads or briskly walking about. The sounds of vendors yelling out their hot products rang out of most stores which were packed to the brim with goods. Some stores were no wider than 5 feet but probably 20-30 feet in depth. Salim kept stopping me and pointed out various types of spices: coriander, various peppers, ginger and the list went on. Occasionally he’d help himself to a small sample and give it to me to try.

Many spices:

We walked through a small covered market which actually led into an inner courtyard of a three storey one block square building which was the heart of the spice market. He took me through some small hallways and up a few flights of a really dingy concrete stairwell and strangely there were two guys trying to wheel a truck tire up to the top...I couldn’t quite figure out what their plan was for it.

Up on the top floor we had a good view over the city. I could see the Red Fort off in the distance and our next destination of the Jama Masjid mosque (sounds like the name of a Star Wars bounty hunter don’t you think?). Most other buildings were conjoined and stood only about 3 storeys high and many would probably be torn down in a western country but there was also the occasional big, newly constructed building for the finance district or a new apartment complex. In general though, it was far from the prettiest city panorama I’ve seen.

The inner courtyard:

Looking out over Delhi:

Looking towards the Red Fort from the top of the spice market building:

One of the many super narrow stores:

Back in the rickshaw we headed towards Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque in all of India, capable of providing a place of worship to up to 25,000 people at one time! Salim stayed with his bike as I walked in to take a quick look. The mosque was built around the same time as the Red Fort in the mid 1600s by the emperor Shah Janan who also commissioned the Taj Mahal.

I walked up to “Entrance #3” and was greeted by a couple of locals and a sign with a plethora of rules. Salim had mentioned one of them to me which was if you wanted to take photos it was going to cost you 200 rupees ($4.50). Another rule was that shorts were not allowed so I was provided with a lungi by this old man clad in loose fitting, white kurta pyjamas at the entrance, in fact, he put the lungi on me which I was grateful for as I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten it right. He then escorted me along a long, narrow matt that was rolled out across the stone floor of the open area inside the mosque which was used to prevent your feet from burning up from the hot ground. Even at 5:30pm I couldn’t last more than 30 seconds off of the matt.

The entrance to Jama Masjid:

The main mosque:

Do you like my garb?

My guide did not speak any English and instead of speaking in Hindi or some other local language, he chose to grunt in a Neanderthal like technique to convey his message. I was amazed at how much I picked up from this basic form of communication. He pointed out places where I “should” take a photograph such as some clocks in a little foyer that indicate the multiple times to worship each day (not a photo I really needed to take!). I got a bit concerned as my battery was getting low so I wanted to choose my shots wisely but thankfully it survived the twenty minutes that we circumambulated the inner perimeter of the mosque.

The pulpit and looking out at the mosque grounds:

Chaos just outside the south gate towards the Muslim quarter:

More chaos towards the Red Fort:

Nice silhouette:

My old, mumbling but communicative tour guide of the mosque:

On leaving my guide extended his hand, obviously looking for a tip. Having paid the 200 rupees for permission to take photos (whereas it’s otherwise free admission) coupled with the fact we weren’t together for that long, nor did he speak English, I pulled out 50 rupees for him. He wasn’t impressed and wanted more so I doubled it to 100. Still not happy he held up two fingers but I stood fast at the 100, I felt that was enough.

Finding Salim again, he suggested we head through the Muslim district a bit but I was getting tired so I suggested we just hit the Delhi Gate and then to the subway station. A compromise was that we would be riding through some of the market areas on tight lanes (too narrow for a car) en route to the Delhi Gate. We passed through sections where it seemed that only one product was for sale in the myriad of shops: the glasses (spectacles) area, the bracelet section, only shoes then only saris, etc. Makes it easy to shop I guess, provided you know where the section you want is. It was a bumpy ride and I have to admit I, or my butt, was about done with the bicycle rickshaw mode of transportation at this point.

I was under the false impression thanks to maps back at the Red Fort that the Delhi Gate was part of the existing fort so I didn’t think it was far away but in fact the Delhi Gate was one of the entrances of the outer wall, most of which no longer exists in modern Delhi. So poor Salim pedaled and pedaled blocks in the wrong direction to the metro station so that I could snap all of 2 or 3 pictures of a brick entrance that is surrounded by busy streets.

The Delhi Gate (wasn't that a movie title?!?):

At the metro, after two hours of touring around and not the initially agreed upon one, I bid adieu to Salim and thanked him for his services. I was happy that we did cover quite a bit of ground and different aspects of Delhi in a short time....I feel that I can check Delhi off my list.