A Tour of Delhi...Old and New

The Indian capital--Delhi--has both an old and new part, divided by a stone wall built during Mughal times. New Delhi was built in the 1930s in a final paroxysm of British imperial arrogance (the Brits left India less than a decade after the new city's completion). Old Delhi was built primarily by the Mughals, though Delhi has been the site of eight diferrent distinct cities over the course of its nearly four millenia as the subcontinent's flag-bearer.




The city's most famous site is undoubtedly the Red Fort, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jehan (the same guy behind the Taj Mahal). This is a shot of Jenna and I outside the Red Fort's main entrance. It is mightily impressive on the outside, though a keen lack of upkeep has left the inside rather dilapidated.





An elepant on the busy road outside the Red Fort. No big whoop.









Further south in Delhi is the magnificent and wholly overlooked Humayun's Tomb. Westerners have never heard of this gem, but this gigantic mausoleum--which houses the tombs of Emperor Humayan and 99 other Mughal officials--is argued to be the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. The picture shows why. Humayan, incidentally, died after falling from a steep staircase in his personal library.


My dad treats his vacations like assignments for National Geographic--snapping pictures from artistic angles and getting 27 just-right shots of famous landmarks. This is a picture of him in action, stomping across the base of Humayun's Tomb, intent on sniffing out the next Pulitzer image.

Yet further south in the city, on the outskirts of the main town is the awe-inspring Qutb Minar. This 243-foot tower was built by Muslim conquerors in the late 1100s after they invaded the subcontinent and defeated the Hindus who had held power before them. The crumbling remains of another tower--planned to be twice as tall as this one--are inthe same complex, but it stands forlornly incomplete at only 30 feet tall.