10/2 - 10/3 delhi, india

I love India, and I think my wife is fast becoming a convert (though she keeps being reminded of the creepy bits in “India Jones and the Temple of Doom”). India is a cacophony of sights, sounds, smells and tastes. I am bananas about the food, I love the Hindi language, and I find the people bizarre, delightful, kind, fascinating or all of the above. Maybe I’m part Indian? I’m reading Sophie’s World which says that Europe and India share the same cultural and linguistic roots, so maybe…

Anyway, we started in Delhi, which has been the capital for a long, long time. Hindu capital, Mughal (Muslim) capital, British capital, Indian capital. If only each new ruler didn’t destroy most of the old digs. But still, lots to see. Mausoleums, Mosques, temples, markets, monuments, etc., and it's still the administrative center of the 1.2 billion-strong nation. Some things that didn't come out in the pictures, but worth noting: Ghandi's cremation spot, the Chandi Chowk (claimed to be the world's largest market?) (but certainly nuts, w/ exposed, jimmy-rigged wires everywhere in the hectic, narrow streets), and everyone staring at Diana and trying to get pictures of or with her (she was not loving the celebrity-factor).



Precursor to the Taj Mahal, but this mausoleum is to the great-grandfather-in-law of the Taj woman, Mumtaz Mahal

Another cool tomb (the main general of the emperor)
Big Hindu Temple - one of our guide's favorites, since this one is for his special god, Vishnu...
It's said that no one can rule India w/o control of this fort (built by Shah Jehan, who also built the Taj), so only natural that this is where India proclaimed independence in 1947. Big time.
A Jain shrine, with another mausoleum behind us.