The Royal Treatment

*posted by Jeet

Today we were lucky enough to get a tour of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace of India, courtesy of our Tuntun Getu, a cousin of our dad's. Tuntun Getu works for an Indian television station akin to CNN and covers stories related to conflicts in India and its surrounding countries (ie terrorism in India, India-Pakistan issues, etc.). Yeah, he's kind of a big deal.

Anyways, back to the palace.

Let's just say the White House looks like a little bitch compared to this bad boy - Rashtrapati Bhavan is the largest residence of any head of state in the world. The palace originally served as the residence of the Viceroy of India, the appointed leader of India during the British Raj. India was the most valued part of the British Empire, and it's clear that the Brits wanted the importance of India's Viceroy to be felt around the country and around the world.

We toured many impressive rooms and galleries within the palace and even saw some amazing peacocks chilling in the presidential gardens, not to mention tons of monkeys jumping around outside the main palace gates.

Although we couldn't take photos inside the palace (security was unbelievably tight in this massive government residency) we did manage to get some nice shots of the grounds. Check the awesome palace guard outfits as well.

Mad props to our Tuntun Getu - master of the Press Club.

Old School

Delhi - arguably the most impressive city in the world. Today, Toby gave us an awesome tour of some of the incredible sights Old Delhi has to offer. These monuments are a testament to the might of the Mughals, who ruled much of India from the 1500's up until the British bastards rolled in. Each of the monuments we visited displayed characteristic Islamic architecture, incredible in its meticulous detail. Delhi during the Mughal era is known to history as the 7th city of Delhi - the last before the British and modern ages.

The first stop: Red Fort. Built by Shah Jahan, the same guy that ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Red Fort was the final stronghold of the Mughal empire before the British took over India. After the fall of the Mughals, the British utilized the fort as a military camp until Indian independence in 1947.

The second stop: Humayun's Tomb. Humayun was a great emperor of India in early Mughal times, who managed to unify India better than any of his predecessors. Humayun was an avid astrologer and astronomer, and was known for his love of art and science. His tomb was built by his wife following his death, and is known to have greatly inspired Shah Jahan in his vision for the Taj Mahal. Personally, I like Humayun's Tomb better than the tourist infested Taj. Note: The first tomb shown is not Humayun's Tomb, but the tomb of Isa Khan, an Afghan noble who fought against the Mughals in the early era. This tomb was located just near Humayun's own.

The final stop: Qutb Minar. This monument is actually much older than the other two - its construction preceded the Mughal Empire by several centuries. The initial construction of Qutb Minar was ordered by one of the first Islamic rulers of India, Qut-ud-din Aibak, in 1193. Qutb Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world, and is one of the oldest examples of Indo-Islamic architecture. The bricks used for the minaret were sacked from the surrounding Hindu mandirs, which are now mere ruins. Due to the Islamic rejection of idolatry, the Hindu statues which originally encompassed the area were meticulously destroyed. However, if you look in the right spots, you can still find some remnants of the original Hindu murtis and artwork.

McChicken

*Posted by Kayd

Yep, I went to a McDonalds in India. (Shameful I know - and Lys, I thought of you the entire time)

You can spot the gigantic yellow arches for miles on the streets that are lined with vendors doing business out of their small wagons.

Tiya and Emma took me to McDonalds when we went to the mall food court because they were both craving a McChicken. (other places in the food court included Subway, Dominos, Mad about Doughnuts some chinese places and other Indian food places). Right before we left Abhrajeet, Arny and I watched Food Inc so I was less than thrilled to be eating some fast food knowing how it is grown and prepared in the States but I had my McChicken (tasty, but too much mayo) and Fries (who doesn't love fries) enjoying what would be a good and embarrassing story to tell. I opted out of the ketchup - it's much thinner and has some spice in it that I really don't enjoy.

Interesting to know: India is the only place where McDonalds has changed their menu. When they first started setting up in India no one would purchase their food because it had beef and in Hindu culture cows are sacred. McDonalds now offers a lot of chicken sandwiches and even some pizza hot-pocket things.

I also had to use the bathroom when were were roaming the streets and after so many road trips with the family I knew that a McDonalds bathroom should be fairly safe - I was wrong. The only bathroom offered was for senior citizens, I snuck into it not knowing if this was a very strict rule, held my breath, made sure I didn't touch anything and got out my hand sanitizer right away. I think the thing I miss most about America is the bathrooms.

Plip

*posted by Abhrajeet
 
I found a baby stork today.
I named him Plip

We've landed in Delhi

We took a 2 hour plane ride from Kolkata to Delhi to begin our next stretch of this trip. Everyone was so helpful at the Kolkata airport, actually they were too helpful. They would tell us to move to a shorter line, and then move back again because the line we were originally in was now the shorter line. The plane ride was so quick after our two 8 hour train rides. It was hilarious to see how many people were in line for the bathroom on the plane. I've NEVER seen anyone go to the bathroom on the plane in the states but during the whole two hour flight the line was at least 6 people long. (Don't worry mom, I went to the bathroom before I left the house.)

We arrived at the Delhi airport (which is the 3rd largest in the world) and could instantly tell that this was no Kolkata. The air was SO clean and the airport was organized and efficient. We stepped outside and couldn't believe we'd been transported again to another world.

Cousin Toby picked us up and we began our 40+ minute car ride back to his home in Noida, one of the burrows of Delhi and the place where Abhrajeet spent most of his early life in India.

Arny and I had both imagined the rest of India to be just like Kolkata- crowded, dirty, congested and a few decades behind what we're accustomed to.  I'm so glad we were proven wrong. This was a modern city - felt like home, just halfway across the world.

First- There is SO much open land. You would think that with all the people and for as long as people have been in this area that all the space would be taken up. Not so. There are vast amounts of space that the city is intricately and efficiently planning to build on.

Second- India is going green. They already have auto rickshaws and buses being fueled by natural gas and are planting more and more trees each day.

Third - the Metro is AMAZING. I've never seen anything like it. It was so efficient and Toby told us that in a few months all of Delhi and its burrows will be connected by the Metro. To give you an idea of how big just Noida is: it's like the size of the entire Twin Cities area. A HUGE SPACE.  The Metro was still extremely ridiculous getting in and out of it because of the amount of travelers but it's a faster, more efficient and greener form of transportation so why not? Also Delhi utilizes fly overs (overpasses) so there are no intersections and stoplights. Smooth sailing all the way. *you are not allowed to take photos inside the metro so I can't show you how clean everyone was and how normal it smelt. You are also not allowed to hawk or spit or else you will be fined.

Fourth - Malls are popping up all over the place. Malls the size of Burnsville Center. Each metro station will have a mall integrated into it in the future to make life even more efficient.

Fifth - I can smile at people!  I was told by multiple people and websites that while I was in Kolkata a smile by a female meant I was flirting and essentially making the first move to show I was available. Not so in Delhi. It's a normal modern place where I smile and people smile back.