Jet Airways 9W122 from Delhi to London

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

I feel sick. It’s now 2:30 in the morning and I’m finally sitting on board our Jet Airways flight back to London. The sad thing is we arrived at the airport just before midnight, and it took over 2 hours to get into the airport, through the security check, check-in, immigration and hand baggage check. There was total chaos outside the airport with what looked like over a thousand people waiting outside, unable to enter the building due to the incredible slow security checks. So the first hour was spent just trying to get into the airport building, let alone get to the Jet Airways check-in counter!

Everything that followed was also extremely snail-paced – up until now I’ve had nothing but praise for Jet Airways, but their check-in staff at Delhi are far too slow, and they also need some assistants on the conveyor belts to help the luggage along, since it’s ludicrous for the check-in counter staff to have to get up and push the luggage along if it gets stuck somewhere.

So much stress, just to board a flight! Delhi really needs to sort out its International Airport fast – clearly the airport is far too small to serve the passengers that pass through it with any degree of efficiency. During our stay we saw lots of signs up saying “Chalo Dilli (Come to Delhi) – from Walled City to World City…” – I don’t see how Delhi can be classed as a world city when the basic infrastructure is so poor. I really hope things improve before the Commonwealth Games that are being held here in 2010. I’ve passed through a lot of other airports in Asia in the last few years, and never come across anything as hopeless as this.

I was just talking to one of the cabin crew and I asked her if there is this much chaos every day. She told me that it’s a regular problem, and even they have trouble getting into the airport. I think the worst problem is that there isn’t an orderly queue to get into the airport – there are people pushing trolleys from all angles. I really feel sorry for some disabled passengers we saw who were experiencing extreme difficulties in getting wheelchairs – they were told that they couldn’t get assistance until they got into the terminal building. That really sucks

Whilst I’m on a rant, I got so annoyed with various rickshaw drivers and nosey locals earlier today who just keep on pestering tourists and trying to take them to places they don’t want to go. What frustrates me most is when they ask “Where are you going?” – in the past I’ve ignored them, but today I couldn’t help yelling MYOB to several of them These folk really are a total nuisance and are spoiling the city’s aspiration to be a tourist-friendly destination.

Well, the flight’s about to take off so I’d better end here for now. We expect to land at around 7am UK time – then it’s back to work! I’ve got a few more photos to share from today – will post those a bit later

The Taj Mahal in all its glory

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

Well, it had to be done – a visit to the famous Taj Mahal (one of the seven wonders of the world) is kind of a must-do thing for anyone visiting this part of India. From Delhi it can be done as a day trip – the distance of 200km takes around 4 to 5 hours by road. The Taj Mahal is in the city of Agra, located in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

As we were driving towards the East Gate, we were stopped and the taxi driver was told that he wasn’t permitted to take us any further – we discovered that this is due to the fact that the Taj Mahal was being damaged by pollution and therefore there is now a ban on polluting vehicles within a 2km perimeter of the site. So we switched to a cycle rickshaw for the rest of the journey – I felt a bit sorry for the rickshaw guy who had to pedal extremely hard to carry the 3 of us there!

Without a doubt, the Taj Mahal is absolutely spectacular – despite the fact that foreigners get fleeced at the entrance gate (around £10 per person, compared to 26p for locals!) and Agra itself isn’t a particularly pleasant city I still think it’s well worth a visit. It took 22 years to construct and is an architectural masterpiece with a stunning symmetrical design. The carvings in the marble are very intricate, especially the inscriptions from the Quran.

On the way back we stopped by Mathura where Lord Krishna is believed to have been born, and the town of Vrindavan where he spent much of his childhood. These sites are unfortunately not very well maintained though and full of unscrupulous and annoying individuals wanting to rip-off as many visitors as they can.

The trip is unfortunately almost at an end – tomorrow is our last day in India and we’re heading to the satellite city of Gurgaon, south of Delhi to visit some friends. It feels like we’ve been here over a month, though it’s only been just over 2 weeks!

More photos at my Flickr gallery.

Bahá’í Temple (Lotus Temple)

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

Wow, what a packed day of sightseeing we had today in Delhi. We started by exploring the main shopping areas around Janpath, including the enormous Central Cottage Emporium which showcases handicrafts from around India. The prices are extremely reasonable too. We spent some time around Connaught Place, which I think is really architecturally spectacular – it’s a shame that the area looks a bit of a mess right now due to further Metro construction work, but once it’s all done it should hopefully look really impressive.

In the afternoon we went to Old Delhi and explored the bustling shopping street there (Chandni Chowk) and then the Lal Qila (Red Fort) which has some beautiful gardens. It was then on to Rajghat (Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation site) followed by the incredible Lotus Temple, which is one of seven in the world built by followers of the Bahá’í faith. They have a museum there too and I learnt a lot about this multi-religious faith that was established nearly 200 years ago. It’s so peaceful inside the temple, and I like the way that the faith discourages against the worship of idols, rituals and any form of superstition. There’s a lot of focus on providing free universal education for all and religious harmony as a way towards achieving world peace.

We had dinner at a lovely South Indian restaurant called Naivedyam, which is located in Hauz Khas Village. This place serves a ‘thali’ in the evening, which includes vegetable dishes, lentils, rice, breads, yoghurt and a sweet dish all for around 90 rupees – that’s under £1.20. A lot of it’s really spicy, but the fact it’s incredibly tasty makes up for that I certainly haven’t ended up with Delhi Belly here!

On a different note, anti-malarial tablets taste so bad! I’ve been taking Palurine tablets every day for the past 3 weeks, and Avlocor (which really tastes fowl even if on the tongue for a second) once a week. It’s a 7 week course – so got another 4 weeks to go after coming back to the UK… actually I’ve not been bitten by any insects at all – just as I’ve found with my previous trips to Asia, mosquitoes don’t seem to like my blood! I’m not complaining

Tomorrow we’re off to see the Taj Mahal in Agra, which is in Uttar Pradesh and apparently around 4-5 hours drive from here. Hopefully I’ll have some interesting photos from there to share soon!

Today’s photos are at the usual place – my Flickr gallery.

India Gate, New Delhi

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

We’re staying in the heart of the city, New Delhi, just a few minutes walk from Connaught Place. The Connaught area has a very intereting design – it’s made up of Connaught Place at the centre, then an inner ring (Rajiv Chowk), a middle ring and then an outer ring (Connaught Circus or Indira Chowk). The area is an architecturally uniform series of colonnaded buildings mainly devoted to shops, banks, restaurants, state tourist offices, airline offices and travel agencies.

One of the main differences between Delhi and Mumbai/Bangalore is that here it doesn’t feel so safe to walk around at night in a lot of areas. We’ve spoken to a number of locals and they have advised us against venturing out after 10pm. There are tourist police vans dotted around the city now, but one still needs to be aware of personal safety – probably no worse than London though!

We were really fortunate to be able to visit the Mughal Gardens within Rashtrapati Bhavan (the President’s Estate). These beautiful gardens are only open for one month every year and contain hundreds of different flowers and herb plants. Unfortunately, as with a lot of things in Delhi, photography was strictly forbidden and we had to leave our bags, mobile phones etc at the entrance. In fact, I’m really shocked at how much security there is here. There are armed guards at all of the main metro stations, and all passengers have to go through a security screen which typically involves a bag check too. They are really worried about terrorism here.

The recently-opened Delhi Metro system is really incredible – there are currently only three lines, but new construction is taking place all the time and the entire system should be ready by 2010. It’s very similar to the subway systems in Hong Kong and Singapore – very spacious stations and air conditioned trains. It’s a joy to take the metro and avoid the traffic!

I am pleasantly surprised by the pollution levels here – compared to Mumbai and Bangalore the air is really clean here, mainly due to the fact that the city is now using compressed natural gas (CNG) for autorickshaws and a lot of buses. I think this has made an enormous difference compared to the horrible emissions from old petrol/diesel engines.

It’s time to grab some breakfast now – more later!

Sizzling Brownie at Copper Chimney, Bangalore

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

I’m currently sitting in Bangalore airport waiting to board a Jet Airways flight to New Delhi – it’s about 1000 miles from here and should take around two and a half hours. Most Indian airports now have free Wi-Fi service provided by Tata Indicom – all you have to do is visit their kiosk and pick up a 30 minute voucher. Magic

We had a fairly leisurely day yesterday in Bangalore – we spent some time in the morning at the High Court and watched bits of trials taking place. Everything is carried out in English. I was surprised how accessible the courts are to the public – we were encouraged to go in and take a look at the proceedings! I guess India is the world’s largest democracy

Today’s photo is of food I’m afraid – sorry if you’re reading this and feeling hungry Copper Chimney in Bangalore is an amazing place to eat with fine decor and exemplary service – we had 3 courses and the bill didn’t even come to £5 per head! I think I need to stop eating so much…

Mysore Palace

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

Mysore is another city in the state of Karnataka, located about 160km from Bangalore and connected by a fairly modern highway for most of the way. Mysore is famous for its silk sarees and sandalwood products, including incense sticks, fragrant soap and pungent oils. On the way to Mysore, we stopped at Srirangapatnam – here stand the ruins of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan’s capital, from where they ruled much of southern India during the 18th century. The onion-domed Gumbaz is Tipu’s mausoleum and is also the burial site for much of his family. We also went to the Daria Daulat Bagh, which was Tipu’s Summer Palace and now houses a museum containing family memorabilia and paintings depicting his campaigns against the British.

Mysore itself has some wonderful sights – the key attraction is without a doubt the fabulous Mysore Palace which is breathtaking in size and beauty. Inside there is a kaleidoscope of stained glass, mirrors and enormous ceiling paintings. We also went to Chamundi Hill which contains the Sri Chamundeswari Temple and offers excellent views of Mysore. It definitely feels a lot warmer in Mysore than Bangalore – I suspect it was around 36C – a bit too hot to walk around in for long periods of time – even though I must have guzzled 4 or 5 litres of water yesterday!

In the evening we went to Brindavan Gardens, about 20 minutes drive from the city. Enormous crowds flock here each night to see the illuminated fountains to the accompaniment of film tunes. The display itself wasn’t as impressive as others I’ve seen (Sentosa Island in Singapore has an incredible sound & light show) but it was great fun being amongst so many people who had probably only seen this kind of attraction for the first time – there were so many “wows” and “oooooooohs” from the crowd

I’ve added some photos from Mysore at my Flickr photo gallery.

On a slightly different note, a few days a ago I bought myself a “teach yourself Hindi” book – on this trip I’ve realised that having at least a reasonable grasp of the language would be very useful. Although I can understand around 60% right now due to the similarities with Gujarati, I find it very hard to speak the language as I’m always worried about making huge grammar mistakes. Luckily the alphabet and character set between the two languages isn’t that different, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to improve my Hindi before my next trip to India.

Today is our last in Bangalore – planning to check out a few remaining sights and perhaps do a bit of shopping – Bangalore is a great place to buy books, which are sold at a fraction of our prices.

ISKCON temple at night

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

Yesterday we were extremely fortunate to get a wonderful tour of some great sights around Bangalore by a friend (thanks Pramod!) who lives and works in this city. We started at the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens, which contains a Glass House built in the style of London’s Crystal Palace. The gardens are extremely well maintained and contain so many different types of flowers and one of the four geographical landmark points of the city that were installed many years ago to mark the edges of Bangalore at the time. There are so many paths to follow in this beautiful park – now I know why Bangalore is called India’s Garden City

Lunch was a new experience – we went to the Marvalli Tiffin Rooms (MTR) which is so popular with locals and has a waiting time of up to 2 hours! Luckily we had a reservation, so we only had to wait around 30 minutes. Lunch is served in “sittings” – each one lasting around 45 minutes. At each sitting so many different courses are served one after another – authentic home-made style South Indian food – so delicious! It’s a really heavy lunch though – one definitely needs to go on an empty stomach to really enjoy it to its full – the meal includes both savoury and sweet items.

After lunch, Pramod gave us a tour of his wonderful apartment in Jayanagar and I was lucky to be able to take some photographs from his rooftop. We also visited the shopping area in Jayanagar which contains an indoor market-style shopping complex selling fruits, vegetables and numerous other items. We then went to the ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Consciousness) temple which is breathtaking and made of marble with extremely ornate carvings. By this time it was dark outside, but I manged to grab a really good photo of the temple by using a long shutter time.

Lots more photos at my Flickr photo gallery.

Today it’s another early start, as we head to Mysore, a city south-west of Bangalore.

Super Speciality Hospital, Puttaparthi

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

On Saturday we took a trip to the village of Puttaparthi, which is about 160km from Bangalore and situated in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The village contains Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s main ashram and attracts thousands of visitors every day from all over the world. The village and ashram are truly magnificent – especially the main prayer hall which is enormous and extremely ornate. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take photos inside the ashram area, but I have some of other buildings within the village, including the incredible Super Speciality Hospital which was built in the 1990s to offer free medical treatment and surgery in a wide range of medical disciplines. The hospital is run by volunteers, including a number of doctors from Europe and the US who give up their time and expertise to help those in need.

Puttaparthi is surrounded by seven hills and a river, and we were lucky to be taken by a friend to see the village from high up. It’s amazing how the village has developed over the last 30 years – as well as the enormous amount accommodation provided inside the ashram, there are many hotels and apartments for residents and visitors. We were particularly impressed by the museum, which is built in Chinese style and contains a lot of interesting exhibits about all major world religions and Sai Baba’s key message – that is the importance of service to others, regardless of their religion, caste, etc.

Back in Bangalore, we went to an Afghani-style restaurant called Samerkhand which offers a range of North-West Frontier food, including kebabs (vegetarian ones too!), rich curries and various breads such as kulcha (from Punjab), parathas and rotis. The food was great – but it was so noisy in there – kind of hard to hold any kind of conversation!

I’ve added some more photos to my Flickr photo gallery.

A lady carrying out embroidery

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

As we walked around Bangalore today we noticed that a lot of shops were closed – I discovered that this was due to a protest by the (fairly large) Islamic community here over the controversial material that was published a few weeks back in Denmark. Security appeared to be heightened in a lot of shops, especially those selling
“western” products – whilst we were in a shop called Peter England on Commercial Street, there were staff standing outside ready and waiting to close the shutters in case of any trouble.

We met up with some of the protestors in the city’s green lung (Cubbon Park) which is at the west end of the famous MG Road. Other than boisterous chanting, things seemed pretty peaceful though there were loads of police officers walking around wielding batons. From what I hear, the police here are much less tolerant of troublemakers than back home – the batons do get used quite often!

We came back to the hotel around 6pm to drop some bits and pieces back to the room and were planning to visit Bangalore Central in the evening, which is one of the all-under-one-roof malls that are popping up around the city. However the hotel gates had been closed and the staff in the hotel lobby advised guests against venturing outside. I didn’t get a chance to see exactly what was going on, but I noticed that some flags were being burnt just a few metres from our hotel. The hotel that we’re staying in right now (Royal Orchid Harsha) is in a district called Shivajinagar that has a large Islamic population, so this was probably the centre of the protests in Bangalore.

So, an unexpected curfew (well, an advised one anyway!) for us this evening – and we ended up eating at the hotel’s restaurant (Tiger Trail) which does a rather good and varied buffet for around £3.50 a head.

I like Bangalore a lot – one of the best things is that it’s fairly pedestrian-friendly. Most of the roads in the city centre are wide and have a good footpath, and as a result we actually walked for the whole day! It’s a very modern city, with enormous malls, designer label stores, supermarkets etc. The people are definitely a lot friendlier than in Mumbai – we’ve met some wonderful people here so far. The major problem here is the pollution – it’s horrendous and is mainly caused by the huge number of autorickshaws on the road. I really hope they can do something about that soon. Also the city could definitely do with an underground system – like the one that has been built in Delhi.

Tomorrow we are off to Puttaparthi which is in Andhra Pradesh and around 180km from Bangalore. Going to try and make an early start to avoid the traffic!

I’ve got a few amusing photos to share today – see my Flickr photo gallery to share my experiences of Bangalore.

Sri Sathya Sai Hospital in Whitefields

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

Arrived in Bangalore this afternoon – it’s really hot here! I think the temperature is about the same as Mumbai but it definitely feels a lot warmer here – perhaps something to do with the humidity.

We went to visit Sai Baba’s ashram in Whitefields today, and then stopped to take a look at the fabulous Sathya Sai Hospital which is run on a charity-basis and provides free operations to thousands of people every year. It really is absolutely enormous – I believe there are a few others around other cities in South India.

We have driven past a lot of the IT parks which consist of a myriad of glistening glass buildings – it’s really amazing how much new development is going on as well. The city is very definitely under construction! The one similarily with Mumbai is the traffic problem – it may even be worse here than in Mumbai. Especially around going-home-time, it’s really a struggle to get anywhere.

Feeling very tired today – in fact, I think I’m going to get some sleep now…