Took a dollar motor rickshaw to Jami Masjid, the largest mosque in
India. People were bathing outside, selling food, making shoes, sorting trash, selling souvenirs and candy and food on the street.
Every aspect of life in
India, it seems, happens on the street.
I love it.
Street life...is that some West Coast record label?
The buildings were all old and had pillars, sheet metal awnings, power and phone lines everywhere, Pepsi signs, STD ISD PCO signs (meaning phone service, not syphilis), movie posters, and other business signs.
The common names of the businesses are: Kumar, Malhotra, Aggarwal, Ajay, Mehta, Singh...funny because I know someone with each of those names in the states. There were vendors and beggars everywhere.
This is definitely a poor Muslim area.
The men were all clad in kofias and the women all wore veils.
The path was really dirty and smelled like feces and rotting garbage.
I used the public (and I mean ‘public’) bathroom for men.
These kids were harassing us the entire time, asking for ‘chapati’.
One kid smeared feces on my pants.
It was the hottest temperature I have ever experienced in my life (112 and dripping humid).
I’m sorry but Allah is just not worth kneeling five times a day for, in the 100-degree heat.
My shirt was soaked through and see-through.
The others had to wear Russian shawls over their shoulders and legs.
Thousands of vultures were circling around the mosque.
Um…what died and how?
It could be anything from cows to horses to dogs to humans.
The follower is supposed to face the main building, which is west in
India (opposite of the
United States or Europe) because it faces
Mecca.
We got to go up into the minaret, which was well worth the dollar it cost.
Besides the extreme claustrophobia of climbing a never-ending pitch black spiral staircase and the top which had a hole to the very bottom of the staircase and 30 people in a space designed for 5, it afforded the best view of
Delhi besides my flight.
I could see the modern high-rises of
Connaught Place and
New Delhi, the nearby Red Fort, the expansive courtyard of the mosque, and the sprawling flat megalopolis of
Delhi (with endless amounts of 4-story cement rectangular buildings).
We left and I got 3 nice shirts for $2.
It was so painfully hot.
There were two ticket counters at attractions; one for Indians (20 cents) and one for foreigners (25 times the price for an Indian).
We walked past the uniformed guards (who had loaded machine guns pointed at the people who were entering) through the curio shops and to the main enclosure.
Then the four of us plus some others took rickshaws to Humayun’s Tomb in southern
Delhi.
It was really hot still. There was a domed building that used to be completely turquoise but they are doing restoration on it, which they somehow considered dousing the dome in gasoline.
Then there was an implied procession to the main tomb, which houses the Mughal ruler Humayun and his barber (I was hoping it had carvings of all of his hairstyles but I’m afraid not).
It had Jewish stars on it for some reason, and then the 8-pointed star.
It was the little brother/predecessor of the Taj Mahal built by Shah Jahan, and looked the same but nowhere near as beautiful or large.
We somehow ended up going through deserted roads bordering the train lines and random forested areas.
We ran into a Gurdwara (Sikh temple).
We had to cover our heads and we looked Amish.
It turns out they were filming a movie (it looked like a wedding; there was a nicely-dressed couple doing something).
Then we walked through a really nice area to Nizamuddin and didn’t want to pay, so we instead took pictures from outside
! Then we took a crazy rickshaw ride back from a Sikh man (some things around the world never change).
We came back and our room was open; people had broken in to hide alcohol in
Erin’s room for the party…in MY ROOM.
I wasn’t aware of this at all.
So, I didn’t eat, took a nap, and then watched Bollywood while taking shots of my Absolut (I didn’t even want to drink what those guys bought…'White Mischief' Vodka and Kingfisher beer, which they purposely put in stuff that makes you get a headache).
It was so hot in the room.
I was wearing my jeans I bought the other day without knowing they would actually be painted on my butt, and they have no button to close them!) and so I went upstairs and partied with the others.
No one was really doing anything, and when I tried to start a dance party or anything, everyone looked at me like I was the only drunk one and just talked the whole time amongst themselves....please, party poopers!
It got so hot in the room and the air conditioning eventually just failed, so we moved rooms.
I took shots of JD and expressed disappointment that Indians would choose to study abroad in
India.
The buildings were all old and had pillars, sheet metal awnings, power and phone lines everywhere, Pepsi signs, STD ISD PCO signs (meaning phone service, not syphilis), movie posters, and other business signs. The common names of the businesses are: Kumar, Malhotra, Aggarwal, Ajay, Mehta, Singh...funny because I know someone with each of those names in the states. There were vendors and beggars everywhere. This is definitely a poor Muslim area. The men were all clad in kofias and the women all wore veils. The path was really dirty and smelled like feces and rotting garbage. I used the public (and I mean ‘public’) bathroom for men. These kids were harassing us the entire time, asking for ‘chapati’. One kid smeared feces on my pants. It was the hottest temperature I have ever experienced in my life (112 and dripping humid). I’m sorry but Allah is just not worth kneeling five times a day for, in the 100-degree heat. My shirt was soaked through and see-through. The others had to wear Russian shawls over their shoulders and legs. 
Thousands of vultures were circling around the mosque. Um…what died and how? It could be anything from cows to horses to dogs to humans. The follower is supposed to face the main building, which is west in 
It had Jewish stars on it for some reason, and then the 8-pointed star. It was the little brother/predecessor of the Taj Mahal built by Shah Jahan, and looked the same but nowhere near as beautiful or large. We somehow ended up going through deserted roads bordering the train lines and random forested areas. We ran into a Gurdwara (Sikh temple). We had to cover our heads and we looked Amish. It turns out they were filming a movie (it looked like a wedding; there was a nicely-dressed couple doing something). Then we walked through a really nice area to Nizamuddin and didn’t want to pay, so we instead took pictures from outside! Then we took a crazy rickshaw ride back from a Sikh man (some things around the world never change). We came back and our room was open; people had broken in to hide alcohol in 
1 comment:
"One kid smeared shit on my pants. It was the hottest temperature I have ever experienced in my life (112 and dripping humid)."
a) these two sentences right next to eachother are SOOOO gross
b) why was this part of the day just skipped over?
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