INDIA, "OLD" DELHI: JAMA MASJID (MOSQUE)

 December 23, 2024

Just a note about the weather in Delhi. The temperatures were generally quite pleasant, with highs in the 60s and low 70s, but the air quality was horrific. These are screen shots from my phone from the evening of December 22 and the morning of December 23 showing an AQI of 428 and 420, respectively.

For context, the airnow.gov website has this enlightening chart: 

YIKES.  If you wondered why my photos all look a bit fuzzy, it's not my phone camera; it's the air. Delhi often has the worst air pollution of anywhere in the world.

We got picked up at our hotel after an early breakfast (which was fantastic, of course) for the day's adventures. On our way to our first destination, we passed the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of the Republic of India, who right now happens to be a woman. It's the building on the left below. Constructed from 1912-1929 during the period of British rule, it has 200,000 square feet and 340 rooms. The building on the right in the photo below looks like a stadium of some kind, but it was British Parliament House between 1927-1947, after which it housed the Indian Parliament until 2023. It is where the Constitution of India was created. It was recently replaced by a newer building.

Our first destination on this smoggy and also drizzly morning was in Old Delhi--the Jama Masjid ("Congregational Mosque"), one of the largest Sunni mosques in India and still actively used today.

After climbing a lot of stairs, we emtered through one of three gates. 

INDIA, DELHI: HUMAYUN'S TOMB

 December 22, 2024

After church we got on the road for a city tour of New Delhi. I can't say this enough, but the traffic is CRAZY in the city. There is no respect for lanes, and there is lots of honking. Tourists should not drive.

Our first stop was Humayun's Tomb, built for the Mughal emperor Mirza Nasir al-Din Muhammad (aka "Humayun," and I have no idea how the names relate to each other) by his first wife and chief consort, Empress Bega Begum and with the patronage of Humayun's son, the great Emperor Akbar, in the 1570s. The Empress was so devastated by her husband's death that she dedicated the remainder of her life to the construction of the most magnificent mausoleum up to that time in the Empire. It was the first monumental Islamic mausoleum in India as well as the first garden tomb, and it greatly influenced that design of the Taj Mahal 80 years later.

The tomb and surrounding property was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, which enabled it to undergo extensive restoration. It didn't take long for us to discover what an excellent guide we had. His name was Sajeet, and Bob found him online. I wish I had more info to share because he was one of the best guides we have ever had. 

The tomb complex has an impressive 67-acre footprint and includes over 100 tombs in addition to Humayan's Tomb, as well as several ponds and  gardens.

It was pretty busy the day we were there.