“India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.” Mark Twain
April 2008 – My first trip to India.
A country much more beautiful, coloful, vibrant, and friendly than I have ever imagined.
My first glimpse of New Delhi….
LAL QILA - The Red Fort was the palace for Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s new capital, Shahjahanabad, the seventh Muslim city in the Delhi site. This was built in 1648.
The fort is also the site from which the Prime Minister of India addresses the nation on August 15 , the day India achieved independence from the British. It also happens to be the largest monument in Old Delhi.
The India Gate is a war memorial commemorating the Indian dead of the First World War. It is almost 138 feet tall.
Park besides the India Gate…
We were able to catch the Sunday morning parade…
Rashtrapati Bhavan (Sanskrit for ‘President House / Presidential Palace’) is the official residence of the President of India…
Rashtrapati Bhavan is the biggest residence of any President in the world…
The Presidential Palace from down the road…
The Parliament…
The Jama Masjid – commissioned by Emperor Shah Jahan, and completed in the year 1656 AD, it is one of the largest and best-known mosques in India. It is also at the beginning of a very busy and popular street/center in Old Delhi, Chandni Chowk. The courtyard of the mosque can hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers...
This is a door from Indira Gandhi’s home. She was India’s first and to date the only female prime minister…
October 31, 1984 – this is where Indira Gandhi was shot with machine guns in the garden of the Prime Minister’s Residence at No. 1, Safdarjung Road in New Delhi. As she was walking to be interviewed by the British actor Peter Ustinov filming a documentary for Irish television, she passed a wicket gate, guarded by Satwant and Beant. They then opened fire with machine guns, after which one shot himself and the other was arrested by her other bodyguards. Gandhi died on her way to the hospital.
Indira Gandhi…
Qutub Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world, 239 ft high. Purpose of building this minaret: for azaan, a watch tower, and a monument of victory signifying the might of Islam.
It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site…
The beautiful Arabic calligraphy in red sandstone, up close…
Latticed stone screens and detailed carvings showcase the remarkable craftsmanship of the Turkish artisans who worked on it…
The Bahá’í House of Worship in Delhi, popularly known as the Lotus Temple. It was completed in 1986 and serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent…
This is exactly how I felt upon visiting India…
“There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won’t go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds. It was as if all my life I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor.” Keith Bellows (Editor-in-chief, National Geographic Society)
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