Monsoon Rains at the Red Fort, Delhi

Thurs 28th June.

While visiting the Red Fort in Old Delhi, the heavens opened at 11 am and a torrential downpour started. Thankfully I was indoors at the time, but while writing this entry in my diary I found myself trapped in a fairly boring museum which is here at the Red Fort. The Red Fort has just been given the status of a UNESCO World Heritage site which is being heavily reported in the media here at the moment. Built between 1638 and 1648 by Sha Jahan (the guy behind the building of the Taj Mahal), the Fort was part of a city which he built called Shajahanabad which now forms part of Old Delhi. Unfortunately for Sha Jahan he didn't get to complete moving his capital from Agra to Shajahanabad in Delhi because he was deposed and imprisoned in Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb.

While I'm waiting for the rain to stop I might as well keep writing! The Red Fort dates from the peak of Mughal power in India. However, the Mughal reign from Delhi was a short one, Aurangzeb was the first and last Mughal emperor to rule from here. The British used the Red Fort as a military garrison while they ruled India and after Independence, the Indian army did the same. Apparently this continued from 1947 right up to 2003, when the army handed control of the Fort over to the State, so that it could be maintained as a tourist attraction.

We now have thunder in lightning in the background and I'm beginning to wonder how much of my day is going to be taken up hiding from the rain!! One of the museums here at the Fort details the Indian struggle for Independence from British Rule. Its striking some of the general similarities with Irish history. The original political bodies that were founded as a voice for Indians were setup by Indians who were loyal to the British crown. After a few atrocities such as British forces opening fire on large numbers of unarmed civilians, along with exploitation on a massive scale of ordinary workers, the political mood gradually changed. The main political movement expanded to include representatives from all over India and was used to co-ordinate opposition to British rule through evasion of taxes, boycotting of English goods and a number of other activities.

Hmmnn, apologies for the history lesson above (I'm just trying to kill time!). I've been here in this museum for about an hour and its still lashing out of the heavens, time to read up on some of my destinations for the coming week and a half.........

Well, the rain finally stopped after about 90 mins stuck inside the Archaelogicla museum at the Red Fort. I think I visited each exhibit at least 3 times. The Mughal architecture is really spectaculour, I'm looking forward to my few days in Agra which is full of more of this sort of stuff. After leaving the Red Fort I went on a cycle rickshaw tour of the bazaars in Old Delhi. The best way to describe thi spart of the city is like a massive warren of alleyways where each street is a mini-Moore street specialising in goods of one type or another. Whether you're looking for that all important sari, or the gold merchants or spice sellers, this is the place to come. Amidst the frenetic mix of cycle-rickshaws, pedestrians, guys with hand carts (pushing and pulling all manner of things), oxen pulling carts laden with spices/flour or god only knows what. I felt sorry for the rickshaw driver having to carry me around on the back of his bike contraption, although when he was bringing me around we passed many other rickshaw drivers carrying stuff that would have weighed a lot more than I do! :) My rickshaw driver was from Nepal originally but has lived in Delhi for the last 15 years. He travels back to Nepal every year for the months of July and August to escape the heat here in Delhi. When I heard him say that I was glad I'm leaving on the 9th of July and have less than one full day left in Delhi!

The tour ended outside the Jama Masjid mosque which isn't too far from where I'd been that morning. Jama Masjid in Delhi is India's largest mosque and can cater for up to 25000 people worshipping at a time which is pretty impressive. Sha Jahan was behind the construction of this mosque also (must have been kept busy supervising all of these construction projects when he was in power!). It took them 14 years to build the mosque with construction starting in 1644 and 1658. This place (and the Red Fort) was definitely worth a visit, however I left feeling completely ripped off. I had to pay entry (which is fine), and for some cloth to cover my legs (I was wearing shorts - which is also fine). But I was taken round by a "guide" that I neither asked for nor wanted, all the time knowing that he was going to have his hand out at the end of it. He didn't even speak English and was gesturing to show me what each of the parts of the mosque were! More fool me for going along with it I suppose, but I just assumed that it might be something to do with the fact that I was wearing shorts that I had to be escorted round the place. But what really took the biscuit was when he brought me over to what I suppose you could descirbe as an altar enclosed in a little wooden hut. I was shown some relics related to the prophet Mohammad and then invited to make a donation to the holy man who showed me the stuff. Anyway, the place was worth going to, but the in your face everyone looking to try and extract a few shekkels from the tourist attitude that seems to be quite prevalent here wears a little thin after a very short time!

I've an early start in the morning, the train to Agra leaves at 6:15am. The hotel I'm staying at in Agra is slightly more upmarket from where I've been for the last few days in Delhi. I have to say I'm looking forward to a few creature comforts and to (hopefully) escape the hectic pace in Delhi, although from what I hear Agra and Jaipur are just as bad as Delhi when it comes to being careful about being ripped off or harassed by auto-rickshaw drivers etc. The Taj Mahal is actually closed on Fridays, so I'll have to occupy myself with some of the other attractions or maybe I'll just chill out in the hotel for a bit.