Touring the Markets of Old Delhi, India

Delhi, India is a fascinating place. People everywhere, car horns constantly honking, a cacophony of sounds from a very busy city, and a whirlwind of smells, some good and some bad. 

Let me give some background info about Delhi.

First, I thought New Delhi and Delhi were synonymous. They're not. Delhi is officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi, and it has 11 districts, one of which is New Delhi, the capital of India.

Second, Delhi itself has over 11 million people, and when you add the urban areas around it, you're looking at over 26 million residents. I thought my home city of Houston, TX was huge at 6 million, but Delhi makes Houston look more like the small town I grew up in.

On a Friday night, Tex and I signed up for a 3-hour evening tour of the Old Delhi markets. We were staying in an area of Delhi called Gurugram, the business district. Because we would be starting the tour during rush hour (although it always seems like rush hour in Delhi!), a cab ride would take over 2 hours. Tex talked me into taking the mass transit option (He's more adventurous than me), so we took a cab to the train station and joined the crowd heading toward the city's center. The train was somewhat crowded when we boarded, and with 20 stops to go, it just got more and more jammed as we went. Tex told me that people were giving me more space than most, and I appreciated it, but it was hard to imagine having much less space than we were afforded. Of course, we don't have much mass transit in Houston, so I've had little experience in this area. It did take an hour off of our trip, and almost exactly one hour later, we found our way off the train and to the gate where we met our guide, Abhishek Sharma. Our tour was through Reality Tours & Travel, which gives 80% of its profits to Reality Gives, an organization working to make a difference in the lives of youth in Delhi slums. Another couple joined us, and we were off on our adventure.

 This picture is deceptive. It looks like the roads are not jampacked, and I'm not sure why they weren't at this point, but most of the roads, especially in Old Delhi, look like the picture below.

 Abhishek hailed an open cab for the five of us--the two couples in the back and him in the front with the driver. It was a great way to travel and see everything in the markets.

 The picture below shows a sight that is common in Old Delhi--a mangle of wires. Abhishek told us that when something stops working, they just cut the old line and run a new one, never removing the old. He said that he saw a workman up on the pole working on the wires and was astonished. He'd never seen that before. When he asked the worker if he was removing the old wires, the man told him he was just dusting everything. Then we all had a good laugh at that!

The taxi dropped us off at Khari Baoli, AKA the Spice Market, which was a wonderful blend of colors and smells. I don't know what spices we saw, as this was a tour for looking and not shopping, but just walking past everything was incredibly interesting!

After the Spice Market, Abhishek stopped and bought napkins and handed each of us one of them. I didn't understand what this was for and didn't get a chance to ask before we were off. I quickly learned that it was necessary in the Chili Market.

Oh my! The smell hits you strongly, and then the chili dust comes next. You begin coughing and sneezing, and your eyes water like you have the worst allergies possible. I quickly dug out my cotton handkerchief, which was a much better filter than the paper napkin. Having that helped calm the coughing and sneezing, but you can't cover your eyes if you're on a tour. Even the native residents were coughing. I took NO pictures in this part of the market, and Tex took only a few. Survival was just about all we could handle.

 We were quickly guided through a long hall and to a staircase, where we were told not to touch the railing because it had chili pepper dust on it. I never go up a staircase without touching a railing or walls because I have pretty bad balance, but this was the one time I made an exception.

 This is me trying to get my breathing back to normal and my eyes to stop watering. Trickier than you might think. I do have to admit breathing chili dust will definitely clear your head!

Sometimes you just have to laugh so you won't cry!

We found ourselves on the second floor of a landing. After a few moments of recovery and a quick look around, we headed back up the stairs.....

 .....and found ourselves on the top of a building which had been the former British Government's Tax Office. It was a square building with what had been a grassy courtyard in the center. Now there are buildings there housing families.

 The shops are on the bottom level inside, while the shopowners and shopkeepers live above.

The former tax building was bordered on the east by a mosque, and sitting on the edge of the roof looking out over the mosque is apparently a famous Bollywood pose, so Abhishek had each of us sit there and take our picture. Here's Tex doing his best imitation of a Bollywood actor. <grin>

We watched the sun set in the west and enjoyed listening to the sounds of Old Delhi without chili dust around us.  Very pleasant!

 We headed back into the crowd. A few shots of what Old Delhi looks like at night time:

We then headed to my favorite part of the tour--the Wedding Market!

Shop after shop of every kind of material, trim, bauble, bangle, table setting, party favor, and anything else you can imagine needing for a wedding.

I love all things related to fabric, so the ribbon shops were my personal favorite. Gorgeous trims and fancies for the bride and bridal party.

I have no idea what these would be used for, but the colors drew me in.

After leaving the wedding market, we went to Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, a Sikh temple. Our shoes were left at something like an American coat check, and then walking through a low trough of water, our feet were considered clean enough for the temple. Both men and women were given a square of fabric to cover our heads, and we could now enter.

 People sat on the floor facing the elaborate golden canopy worshiping. I'm not sure what the men standing were doing, but their focus was also on the canopy. (For those that feel it might be disrespectful taking pictures in a place of worship, we were encouraged to do so. Abihshek said it was not a problem and that he wanted us to remember our visit. So we did.)

 These three men are the musicians who played while we were in the temple. There was a keyboard and two instruments like a small guitar or ukulele. While I didn't necessarily care for the music being created, the musicians were obviously skillful and had very nice voices.

Underneath the canopy is a table with an elaborate embroidered cloth, covering the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs. This book is considered the 11th and final guru, after  the 10th guru, Guru Gobind Singh decided that human gurus could potentially become evil and ruin the religion. He put all the wisdom from the previous gurus handed down to him into the book and made it the Sikhs' authority. It is treated as a god and covered with this beautiful covering and placed under this canopy by day. At night, it is carried to a little bedroom in a tiny house in one of the back corners of this room, where it is put to bed for the evening, just as a human guru would be.

In a building adjacent to the temple is a communal kitchen and serving hall. The kitchen is run completely by volunteers, where they prepare the food for the hall. Anyone is allowed to enter and eat for free. The food is very, very simple, but no questions are asked when you show up to eat. They serve thousands here every day, and the operation looked like it ran incredibly smoothly.

After the tour was over, we bid Abhishek goodbye, and headed to the train for the long ride home. The ride out was less busy and I actually got to sit down for most of it. At the train station, we hailed a tuktuk, a three-wheeled open taxi, which is something we both wanted to experience while in India. It was pretty exhilarating (and somewhat terrifying), as is most travel in this city.

Our guide was good enough to allow his picture to be taken, and then our evening came to a close.

This tour was one of the highlights of our trip to India. We experienced the sights and sounds of Old Delhi with someone who knew his way around, and was able to show us confidently and safely to our destinations. It also included going to the Red Fort, but as the fort was closed and we just stood outside of it in the dark for a few minutes, I didn't include any pictures from it. (I also have to admit that I'm not much of a fort person, although Tex is.) There are other tours this company offers that I wish we had had time for, but those will have to wait for another trip.

More adventure awaits........like the Taj Mahal!