Old and new in New Delhi

By Alex Vergara
Inquirer

WHILE there are still many parts of booming India that remain woefully underdeveloped, New Delhi, especially its tony five-star hotels and restaurants, is more the exception than the rule.

Nokia, the Finnish cell phone giant, recently launched its seven new phones in India’s bustling capital of nearly 15 million people.

It’s quite seldom one sees an airport that’s worse than the NAIA. But apart from the seeming chaos at the old Indira Gandhi International Airport, the rest of New Delhi is like one big garden consisting of wide, tree-lined boulevards and long stretches of embassies and government buildings.

Well-zoned

New Delhi is probably what Quezon City would have turned out had our government stuck to its original plan to strictly enforce zoning laws in its bid to make it the nation’s new capital.

Designed and built by the British, New Delhi is a city that literally rose from the wilderness sometime during the last century. Before it became the country’s capital in 1911, the British colonial government ruled from Calcutta.

The dearth of people on New Delhi’s streets the day we visited was perhaps due to the fact that it was Buddha’s birthday, one of 366 holidays and festivals the multi-ethnic, multi-faith country celebrates.

In contrast, old Delhi is crowded, more urban and teems with business activities from countless of mom-and-pop shops. But wherever you go, be it in the old or new part of the city, a ubiquitous yellow and green open-air taxi (similar to Thailand’s tuktuk) is never far behind.

If you can stand New Delhi’s heat, these metered tricycles charge half the fare compared to a conventional taxi. The city’s open-air buses, a far cry from our air-conditioned buses that run along Edsa, also have the same color scheme.

Since it was once the seat of Muslim power (apart from Agra, where the famed Taj Mahal is located), old Delhi has a large concentration of Muslims. It’s also home to Jama Masjid, the country’s largest and most famous mosque.

Completed in 1656 under the rule of Shah Jahan, the mosque is made from a combination of red sand and white marble. Built on high ground, the structure, with its humongous courtyard, imposing domes and lofty minarets, can be seen miles away from almost every direction.

The nearby Red Fort is another vestige of Muslim rule in India. So called because of its color (again due primarily to red sand), the fort was where Muslim moguls and later British colonial governors called the shots whenever they were in Delhi. Alas, no one was manning the fort the day we came to visit.

India Gate

Indeed, if one were to do a whirlwind, day-long tour of both Delhis, it’s probably best to limit yourself to the numerous mosques, temples, churches and ruins that abound within and outside the city limits.

Aside from photo opportunities at the India Gate, the symbolic epicenter of New Delhi, other noteworthy attractions worth visiting are the Qutab Minar Islamic ruins (with its intricately carved limestone tower and other fine examples of Muslim art), the Laxima Narayan Temple, the Swaminaravan Akshardham complex and the Baha’I House of Worship.

The latter is an ecumenical temple of sorts completed in 1986, a millisecond ago if measured against India’s rich and storied past.

Also known as the Lotus Temple because of its iconic appearance, the Baha’I House of Worship has won numerous local and international awards in engineering and architecture.

Bottled or tap

Every traveler knows that it pays to choose bottled over tap water when in doubt. Perhaps, nowhere is this cardinal rule more applicable than in India.

But if first-time visitors like us were to strictly follow Nokia’s warning, such a precaution seemed woefully inadequate.

Days before boarding a flight to New Delhi via Singapore, we got an e-mail warning us to refrain from drinking “untreated” water and eating any food product that was “washed or had water added to it.” The warning seemed sensible.

With intermittent drizzles somewhat tempering New Delhi’s energy-zapping summer heat, our reflexes were relaxed, but we still didn’t succumb to savoring a seemingly innocuous bottle of ice-cold lime juice available in make-shift stalls and pushcarts found in strategic street corners (the city’s version of “sa malamig”).

But what really caught my attention, enough to induce in me a mixed feeling of disbelief and fear, was the part that reminded us not to “open your mouth in the shower.” Gulp!

The water-related precautions didn’t stop there. In fact, I would have dismissed most of them as lame reminders (along the line of avoiding dark, unfamiliar places especially at night) if only they didn’t sound so surreal.

A few more examples: use bottled water when brushing your teeth; don’t add ice to your drink unless you’re sure it’s purified; if you’re buying water from roadside stalls, dodgy-looking shops or small towns, check the seal on the cap and “investigate” the bottle for any signs of tampering (time to bring out the magnifying glass).

Mind you, in India it seems not all bottled waters are created equal. Aside from finding out the bottled water’s origin, we were also reminded to determine its age. If it leaves you with the impression that it dates back to the time of the Muslim moguls, then by all means drop that bottle!

The only exception to the bottled-water rule, is if you’re “100 percent” sure that the water has been boiled for 20 minutes. Short of barging into a hotel’s kitchen with a timer, it advised us to simply stick to bottled water. So much for alternatives.

Four hours

But whether or not you have enough bottled water, doing the Taj Mahal, no matter how enticing, is out of the question unless you have an extra day to spare. The place is four hours away by car from New Delhi.

Bad news, too, for shopaholic Filipinos, as New Delhi is no place for mall rats. We probably didn’t try to look hard enough, but it seemed there wasn’t a mall in sight within four kilometers from the Shangri-La Hotel.

Since the Indian economy underwent liberalization fairly recently, big brands, from high street to luxury labels, have yet to fully make their presence felt in the subcontinent. Besides, with the abundance of cheap labor and materials, especially fabrics, there’s no way overpriced Western
goods can compete with locally produced products.

Our hotel, however, is a mere three minutes away from a series of small shops and bazaars (where haggling is an accepted practice) featuring Indian handicrafts, fashion accessories and leather goods.

A visit to the Cottage Industries Expositions, also in New Delhi, is like going on a virtual trip to India’s 27 states, as the air-conditioned shop features anything and everything Indian, including exquisite and hand-made silk and wool carpets from Kashmir.

Various types of tea were also on offer, but there were no signs of bottled water on the store’s shelves. For a moment there, we were almost tempted to head to the nearest lime juice stand.

Share This