🇮🇳 Delhi - Old Delhi and Art Galleries

Temple slop is on the menu

After a far from ideal experience in Old Delhi the day before, I joined a tour of Old Delhi that the hostel was running. Luckily, the tour covered the parts that I hadn’t covered yet. After getting some jalebi (deep-fried batter dipped in sugar syrup), we went to visit a Jainist temple. On the way in, we got bandanas to cover our hair and sat down to listen to the teachings for a bit.

Following this, we got a tour of the kitchen, where a lot of people were making chapatis and mixing curry in huge vats, and sat down to eat.

The curry was surprisingly nice, but the experience of being in the dining hall was a little treacherous, having to dodge puddles of spilt lentil slop while barefoot. Either way, a really cool experience.

After leaving the temple, we got more street food - this time a dish called ‘chore bhature’. Many locals told me to try this, so I’m glad we got to do it on this tour. The dish consisted mostly of chickpea curry and fermented deep-fried bread. The texture of the bread was unlike anything I’ve ever had, with the sauces accompanying it perfectly - it might be my favourite North Indian dish I’ve had so far.

After finding somewhere to wipe my hands, we had this deep-fried dumpling filled with cream inside (which I can’t remember the name of) and followed the tour guide to the spice market. Breathing was very difficult there due to the spices in the air, and the whole tour group started coughing. We went up some tight alleyways and ended up behind the market - this was a highlight for me, truly proving the value of a guide that knows where they’re going.

The guide took us to a kitchen where a local made some chai and shared it with us. The chai was very tasty, and being there felt like being welcomed into someone’s family.

After the tour, the guide gave us some context about the people working in the markets. We saw many people carrying huge bags of spices at the market, which is a job that he told us they do for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. This is common for many similar labour-intensive jobs in India. For this, they’re paid around €150 a month, or around €0.50 an hour. As the guide put it, earning the minimum wage in most developed countries already guarantees a level of income that’s a dream for some people here. India really has a level of wealth disparity I’ve never experienced before, and it put many things into perspective.

To finish the day, we went to a traditional north indian restaurant and had an absolute feast, for less than £2 each.

I quite enjoyed the decor here, with the wall clock donning the owner’s face. A lot of my days here are spent quietly entertained by some of the locals' decor and design choices.

Final day in Delhi

To wrap up my stay in Delhi, I went to visit some art galleries and museums. I’ve never been to an art gallery or museum in Asia, so I was quite excited for this. My first stop was the National Crafts Museum, which was a great introduction to India’s crafts history. Amongst my favourite pieces, there were these figurines made of cow dung and clay. I’m unsure if the studio manager at my pottery studio would support me using this technique, though.

There was also this carpet depicting the miracle of the staff of Moses, which I really liked the style of:

Outside the gallery, there was a small arts market. I thought that was a really cool touch, adding an interactive aspect to the gallery.

Next, I went to the National Gallery of Modern Art. This was a huge gallery, mostly showcasing the work of Indian artists. I was impressed to see how eclectic some of the works were, with more recent pieces seeming to draw inspiration from pop art and Japanese styles. Amongst the pieces I liked, there was this one by Akbar Padamsee:

To finish the day, I went to see Hamayun’s tomb, which is a 16-th century garden tomb that served as the precursor to the Taj Mahal. I was particularly intrigued by this as its colours looked like something out of a Wes Anderson film.

Getting back was a bit of a challenge that night. The rush hour in Delhi at around 6 PM is brutal, with most roads getting completely clogged up and bikers opting to ride on the pavements. I thought walk up the road for my chances of getting an Uber to increase, but I encountered a shrine guarded by a bunch of stray dogs with no pavement on the other side, forcing me to go back and be patient. I managed to grab a bike in the end, sending me off nicely for an early night to prepare me for Agra.