Do not let your first impressions of Delhi remain stuck in your mind as a sacred cow in traffic and go beyond the facade to discover the intrinsic peace of a city rich in culture, architecture and human diversity, rooted in history and completely must for those who appreciate the finer things in life.
Mixed together with four major religions, thousands of years of history and cultural development, large migrations of different populations, invasion and colonization, and here is one of the most vibrant and deep cultures of the world, a civilization that is evident in the amount of Historic Places located in the area of Delhi.
Delhi, the capital of 'India, can be easily symbolized by a lotus petal in which every period and represents the different stages of history. From the age of Mahabharata to the British rule, Delhi has always been the most preferred destination for those seeking power wanted to start their legacy in India. The city is full of memories and carrying building reminiscent of the time. Being the third largest city and capital of India, it is no wonder, Delhi has acquired the position of North India`s industrial hub. It has a beautiful montage of modern and ancient life where Old Delhi brings the heritage of the 17th and 19th century and New Delhi, the city boasts of modern life.
Once the capital of the Mughals, Old Delhi is adorned with cenotaphs, mausoleums, mosques and forts all tell the saga of Muslim history. But if you think this is all over Delhi, then this is a mistake, as the splendor of New Delhi is still open. With the advent of the British rulers, the need for new capital was needed, and then Sir Edwin Lutyens came into the scene with a new version of Delhi with the imperial government, the architecture of buildings and the creation of New Delhi. Delhi, combining both Old and New Delhi seem to never lose its charming mystery with the passage of time. The bustling markets of Delhi need special mention to feel the heat of the city.
From jewelry and clothing traditional to modern electronic equipment, Delhi, markets are the dream destination of shopaholics. Delhi cuisine is another identity that explores the hidden flavor of Delhi culture. His saying dilwalon Shahar ki (city of warm hearted people) loves to steal the hearts of people to feed them. Be it Mughlai paratha or Shammi Kabab, the heritage of Delhi cuisine dates back to the Mughal era.
The delicious street foods of Delhi vendors find their mention in the pages of history and on the screens of celluloid. Once at the smell and taste of this city's heritage, it is for sure that they are intended to come here again and again. The warm hospitality and the merger of the city surely steal your heart and you never know when Delhi becomes the preferred destination of most of your all over the world.
The new city of Delhi was designed and built by the British in 1920, to make the political and administrative center of the capital. Broad avenues, parks and imposing buildings, including the Houses of Parliament, the royal avenue Rajpath and India Gate. The incurable nostalgic British Empire should go to the Coronation Durbar Site, marked by an obelisk desolate and lonely in a field located in the countryside north of Old Delhi.
In Old Delhi you can instead see the Akshardham Temple, Lotus temple, Red Fort, built by Emperor Shah Jahan, the Qutb complex, a set of ancient monuments. The imperious buildings in this complex date back to the dawn of Muslim rule in India. The Qutb Minar, a tower of victory which rises to a height of 73 m, was begun in 1192 and the Jama Masjid, an imposing mosque with a square that can accommodate up to twenty-five thousand worshipers.
Nizam-ud-din's Shrine in Central Delhi on the opposite side of Humayun's Tomb is the shrine dedicated to Nizam-ud-din Chishti, a saint revered by Sufi Muslims who died in 1325 at the age of 92 years. Very interesting is the visit to the Mausoleum of Humayun, the Mughal ruler and the Raj Ghat, the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Humayun's Tomb, at Delhi Centre of the Mughal treasure built in the mid-sixteenth century by the wife of the second Mughal emperor, is the most important structure in Mughal style of India. It is also one of the most beautiful buildings.
The Chandni Chowk, literally the Silver Road, was once the largest emporium of perfumes of the Orient. Today it is a bustling market, where jewelers working in the same workshop where their ancestors served emperors and maharajas. Jantar Mantar at New Delhi city center situated a short distance from Connaught Place, this complex of buildings Salmon was one of the observers of the Maharaja Jai Singh II, a native of Jaipur, who ordered its construction in 1725.
National Museum of Delhi Centre is located on Janpath. The National Museum houses an eclectic and interesting collection of Indian bronzes, terracotta and wood sculptures dating back to the Mauryan period (from the second to the third century BC). Nehru Memorial Museum & Planetarium at Central Delhi near Chanakyapuri, the Teen Murti Bhavan, the residence of Jawaharlal Nehru, was transformed in a museum. The Habitat World is perhaps the most important artistic center of Delhi. Fosters an incredible variety of initiatives, from cultural walks, debates and performances.
Delhi offers a wide variety of alternatives that will satisfy the appetite of travelers, with a heterogeneous landscape of restaurants to suit different tastes and availability. The offer is varied, from delicious snacking on the chapati and roti thali (meals) that combine mouth-watering curries, spices and condiments suited to conquer even the most demanding palates.
The cuisine is based mainly on meat. The chicken is prepared in different ways but the most delicious is the tandoori . It is used to eat it with unleavened bread called naan. The makhanwala, however, a chicken is prepared and cooked together in a sauce made of butter. The art of cooking kebab, consists of small pieces of meat that is grilled over a charcoal grill until it becomes tender. Rice is the element that reigns in all the tables, and use it to steam.
Among the many varieties of dishes based on rice is the pulau to Shah Jahan, where rice with saffron add diced chicken or mutton. In the restaurants of Delhi, however, comes also the fish of the coast, including the famous giant prawns of Kerala. The Indian bread is great. There is a chapati , unleavened, good for the curry, the puris, cooked in a clay oven, the Reshmi parathas, in very thin layers, great to be twisted around Kabab. The curry has a fundamental role in Indian cuisine. It is prepared with a mixture of different spices, minced fresh. Every cook has his combination. India is also famous for its sweets. There are an infinite variety. Remember the laddus and Barfis that are based on pistachio.
One of the best restaurants in Delhi, the Bukhara offers many specialties of Central Asia, in addition to tandoori dishes typical of the region of Peshawar, in northwest Pakistan. Gaylord in New Delhi is one of the most elegant restaurants in the area, with large mirrors and chandeliers and a menu of delicious specialties but expensive. Kwality Restaurant in Connaught Place serves Indian and Continental cuisine. The Jhinga (prawns) tandoori are its specialty, and also great shahi paneer. Moti Mahal in Daryagani located in the old part of Delhi is an outdoor venue that every night is accompanied by qawwali (religious songs), a truly unusual restaurant.
The rules governing the liquor licenses in Delhi have been lightened and young people today in the capital are not only regaining ground drinking beer and spirits, but always modern and imaginative cocktails. The prices are still very high (one drink cost more than a night in a cheap hotel), but not enough to put the brakes on the eagerness of young affluent of Delhi. At Hotel Imperial, the Patiala Peg offers an intimate atmosphere where you can recuperate after the raids in the nearby market of Janpath.
The opportunities for shopping in Delhi are exceptional: here you will buy practically everything that is produced in any corner of India. Among the specialties of the capital there are the attar, an essential oil obtained from the processing of flowers and herbs, and zardozi, embroidery made with threads of gold and silver. Be prepared to haggle to exhaustion: expect it.
Shopping in Delhi can from the popular market Chandni Chowk, where you will find all kinds of sarees and colors and fine silver jewelry. Other places canons for purchases are Karol Bagh and Connaught Place, where there are a lot of shops that offer good opportunities for buying ethnic clothing, accessories, electronics, handicrafts, paintings of Rajasthan. Also visit the Baba Kharak Singh Marg. Here you can buy silver jewelry, carpets, handmade paper, wooden objects, shoes and sandals, incense.
If you have the willingness and desire to mingle with the elite city, Delhi offers a multitude of sports facilities, including gymnasiums, tennis courts and pool halls to. At the Delhi Golf Club is a beautiful golf course and most of the hotels from the upper class have a swimming pool. The pools are the most beautiful ones of the hotels of higher category, are largely restricted to internal customers, but in some cases (usually at hotels less exclusive) outsiders can access the pool for an input which is included in the rent. Alternatively, you can take a swim in the public pool of Talkatora Gardens.
Summer in Delhi is not a joke from April temperatures rise inexorably to reach over 45 ° C in May and June and the heat continues almost uninterrupted until October because of arrival in neighbouring Rajasthan of furious sandstorms called loo. The arrival of the monsoon in late June, results in a high humidity. The period from November to late March is the best, thanks to a pleasant climate with delhi temperature rather cold but sunny. October marks the end of the monsoon, but it's still enjoyable. Night temperatures can be rather rigid in December and January.
This, moreover, is the season followed by HOLI. Swirling crossroads of peoples, cultures and religions, Delhi offers a flurry of festivals of all kinds. In this town you celebrate the harvest, the seasons and the divine mango, you will love the scriptures, he began to stake the evil and pays homage to light, while glittering celebrations celebrate the founders of many religions, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Hare Krishna, Sikhism, and the fathers of the same India. On April, in temples throughout India, including the capital, celebrates the Ram Navami, the birth of the legendary hero Rama.
In April, falls on Baisakhi, the great festival of the Sikh community that celebrates the beginning of the Hindu new year. In July, there is instead an appointment very popular all over India but celebrated mainly in Delhi, the International Festival of mango. It lasts three days and is usually housed in the Talkatora stadium. It attracts thousands of participants and is completely dedicated to the delicious fruit, with tastings of all varieties, fruit juices and desserts made with mango, and even a spectacular race eaten.
August is the month of Teej, a festival that is celebrated all over Rajasthan and North India to greet the arrival of the monsoon. August 15 is Independence Day from Britain, celebrated across India. In September, in all Hindu temples is celebrated on Janmashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna. Also in September is celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi, the birth of Ganesh, the strange elephant-headed god of good luck charm.
On October 2, the nation joyfully remembers the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. On October, however, is also the Ramlila Dussehra. The festival lasts for ten days and is designed to celebrate all over India the triumph of good over evil, represented by the legendary hero Rama and the demon Ravana. In November is the time of Diwali, the main event for the Hindus, which lasts five days. During the festival, thousands of candles light the homes and public buildings to attract the god Lakshmi.
Muslims of Delhi celebrate holidays related the Islamic religion. During Ramadan, the most important, fast from dawn to dusk to commemorate the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad. At the end of Ramadan, the Muslim community gather to celebrate Id-ul-Fitr with gargantuan banquets and prayers at the Jama Masjid.
Put in a suitcase with comfortable clothing, soft as cotton shirts, sweatshirts, sweaters and comfortable shoes, dark suit for the evening to show off in big hotels or fancy restaurants. If you go in the summer taje waterproof jackets, umbrella which you can also buy on the spot. For the evening, and the air conditioning in hotels it is advisable to have at hand a sweater or a shawl. Before entering temples and mosques you must remove the shoes so better to have with socks for the input. For the evening, in large hotels or restaurants, you can show off in a sari, the traditional dress.
In Delhi it is advisable to book accommodation before time with the better accommodation are filled within a very short time, leaving unprotected newcomers who do not have them, and these inevitably become prey to shady characters that bring in a certain hotel from which they receive a commission.
To get the Indian visa you are required a signed passport, valid for at least 6 months from the end of the trip, with two whole pages and streak-free, a completed form by the traveler and two passport photos. English is the second official language of the country. Delhi is the hub of air links India with International and domestic flights readily available in price ranges and in the most diverse classes and a number of travel agents who are queuing up to offer you the best rates.
The domestic and international flights terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport are both quite far from the city - the first 15 km from the center, the second 8 km from the first so be prepared to the usual crowd of taxi drivers that will surround you on your arrival.
The Inter State Bus Terminal at Kashmiri Gate, north of Old Delhi Railway Station, operates long-distance services headed south to Rajasthan and north towards Chandigarh and the hill towns of Himachal Pradesh. From here you can organize long journeys to the east across the plain of the Ganges to Calcutta, and south to Mumbai (Bombay) via Agra. You can start from all airports, with intermediate stops, with major airlines such as British Airways, KLM, Finnair, Air France. To move within the country there are flights of Air India.
Delhi is the entry point in India for international flights, but it is also a good source of tickets at cheap prices. It is connected by domestic flights to all major destinations of the country. The domestic terminal (Terminal 1) of the Indira Gandhi International Airport is located 15 km from the center, that of the international flights (Terminal 2), and more recently built, is located 8 km ahead. There is a frequent and free shuttle between the two terminals
Delhi is a major railway junction and New Delhi Railway Station is the most comfortable place where to make reservations and buy tickets. There are long-distance trains very useful eastbound crossing the plain of the Ganges to Calcutta, passing through Varanasi, and trains heading south in the direction of Mumbai (Bombay) with transit from Agra. In the city there are two main stations: the (Old) Delhi train station, and the New Delhi train station at Paharganj, be sure to know which station you will leave (the New Delhi train station is closer to Connaught Place).
For tourists it is easier to buy a ticket at International Tourist Bureau. When you buy your tickets you will have to pay in rupees and submit the receipt of the change also of the ATM or in U.S. dollars, Euros or British pounds, bring your passport. The same office is at the airport.
The buses that circulate in Delhi are not recommended for the faint of heart and those who need to be on time. They cover most of the city and have cut-rate, but are also overcrowded and in poor condition - in short, it's an adventure every time. In many cities are moving yellow taxis and blacks with electronic fare metres, but do not think that the presence of this instrument is sufficient to ensure that you are using. Learn how to treat the fare before departure.
The bus system in Delhi is recommended for thrill-seekers, anthropologists and those who have the most time available. In general, buses are terribly crowded and entrusted to the guidance of real fanatics. Avoid them at peak times, or try to go up or down to the first or last stop in this way you will have more opportunities to sit and avoid being trampled in a bad way. Some seats on the left side of the bus are reserved for women.
On shorter distances, the auto rickshaw prove generally faster and less expensive, and have an air of romantically old-fashioned. The Delhi Metro offer a better alternative in the busiest hours of the day with fixed tariffs and have fixed routes and are able to make their way through traffic quite easily. If you have time, try to rent a bike, especially in New Delhi where the wide streets make it less crowded and safer journeys on two wheels.
It is not allowed to bring Indian currency into the country, or take it with you at the start. The rupee is easy to change, so there is virtually a black market, even if you will be constantly hounded by people offering to change you money. In cities you can change most major foreign currencies and travelers' checks. In medium to large Indian cities, credit cards, especially American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa are widely accepted. The cards can also be used to withdraw currency in rupees.
In the restaurants and tourist hotels, where the bill almost always includes the service charge, it is sufficient to leave a tip of 10%. In smaller venues, where tipping is optional, you can just leave only a few rupees. Tipping is not required in taxis or in cheaper restaurants. Try not to overdo the request of the tip that can quickly trigger a vicious circle difficult to break. Before putting hand in the wallets ask yourself whether it is really necessary or if your partner really expect it.
From Delhi you can easily reach by land some of the most beautiful and interesting cities in India. Agra in Uttar Pradesh, is the city that until 400 years ago in the Mughal era, was the capital of India. The Taj Mahal, all in marble, built in memory of the beloved wife of the emperor Shah Jahan, is now a universal icon of love.
Rajasthan encompasses beautiful cities like Jaipur, the Pink City, for the typical color of the stone used for its buildings. It houses the City Palace, a museum of manuscripts, paintings and collection of weapons and the astronomical observatory, built by Jai Singh in the seventeenth century. Carved Jain temples and ancient buildings are the heart of Jaisalmer, while the attraction of Jodhpur is the Mehrangarh Fort, which rises to over one hundred meters above the city, dominating the whole.
To fulfill the unique nature experience you need to get away more, up to the state of Madhya Pradesh, where there is a jungle of Pench National Park or Kanha National Reserve, to see the tiger in its natural habitat. Travel details are also those in a yoga, with the best teachers.
From Delhi you can walk the beautiful trails at the edge of the historic Indian trains. The spectacular one that runs in a week all over Rajasthan is called the Palace on Wheels and was started by the Maharaja and Viceroy of India. Thirteen-luxury saloon cars, each with the insignia of the principality of belonging, a true traveling palace furnished with sumptuous brocades and velvets. On board another train, the Orient Royal , you can visit in a week the most beautiful cities of Rajasthan and Gujarat, starting from Delhi.
Both the old part of the capital as the new one (New Delhi) exert a beguiling charm on visitors. Surrender yourself to the mysterious secrets of the city's Mughal past in the labyrinthine streets of Old Delhi, only to re-emerge in the wide open spaces of imperial New Delhi, with its ordered landscapes and lush tree-lined avenues.
Costs
Average prices of meals
economic
average
high
luxury
30-50
50-120
120-450
450 +
Average prices of nights
economic
average
high
luxury
130-400
400-2000
2000-7000
7000 +
Price Index
Purchase
Price
Small beer in bottle
100
Small packet of cigarettes
35
A cup of chai
10
Soft drink
15
Loaf of bread
20
12 glass bangles
150
A liter of milk
20
Taxi from the airport in Delhi, race prepaid
180
You enjoy the mystical atmosphere and live music. In New Delhi, between the districts of the new city, you can get carried away by the qawwali, a genre of Sufi music of India and Pakistan, every Thursday evening from 6:30 to 10. Sufi music is a offer and the qawwali is food for the spirit. The hypnotic notes soar to the sky to do transcend the limitations of physical reality and become spirit. The lyrics are often poignant, singing the replanted for the lost love, a metaphor to represent the conditions of the human spirit that longs to reunite with the divine.
Every night of the week at the dargah (mausoleum) of the Sufi Nizamuddin Auliya , in the south-west of Delhi, musicians who are descended from the court artists of the time of the saint (XIV century) gather to play. On Thursday, the day before public holiday on Friday, attracts a greater number of artists and audiences. Nizamuddin Auliya lived in the area for 60 years and was buried here. The Sufi was much sought after as a spiritual guide and adviser, by the rulers of Delhi. Among his disciples there was Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), court poet and father of qawwali.
The tomb of Khusrau is close to that of the master, separate from the courtyard of white marble on which sit the musicians qawwali . Nowadays the dargah is run by 500 descendants of the saint Nizamuddin. Of the family are also the two main groups of qawwali who live in the area: the group of Meraj Ahmed and to Chand, both of the family Khusro Nizami Bandhu.
For purists of the tradition suggest you go on a Friday night at the dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khan always in the same neighborhood, where you can watch the children of Meraj Nizami Ahmed, who appears sporadically. The patriarch is one of the last traditional qawwali in India and his five sons carry on the art, regardless of fame and earnings. If you prefer to get carried away by the rhythm more catchy and the singing passionate, Chand Nizami and children will not disappoint you.
You find them every Thursday at the dargah of Nizamuddin. Chand and sons have adapted the tradition to modern times, sacrificing the Persian texts in favor of emotional intensity. This is the group's most popular Sufi moment, with a busy schedule on tour from abroad, private concerts and recordings for film soundtracks an example Faaya Kun Kun, for the film Rockstar.
No you have to follow any religion to appreciate the qawwali, as well as dargah are open to all. You do not even need to understand the words of the verses sung. The melodic music of harmonium a kind of accordion, the rhythm of percussion tabla and dholak and the song comes right to the heart. spent a Thursday evening in Nizamuddin dargah is unforgettable, both for music and for the environment.
The two tombs are the treasures of the Mughals and the Nizamuddin Basti, the area around the mausoleum, is a maze of narrow streets full of colorful shops which leads you into another world. Forget, step by step, the world of modern frenzy that you leave behind. So close and yet so far: modern culture and Sufi spiritualism centenary without clinging to unsubscribe.
Without pride you can't have a great capital and Delhi just clings on to its callous, heartless city tag who has no time for those with no money or power and judges you by where you live and what car you drive. Good Samaritans do exist in minority but at large it still is a very crude, insensitive and prideless city, where one can see literally thousands bearing the agony, highlighting the absence of its cultural history.
It’s not talent that counts and it is a fashion in Delhi to attend art and other exhibitions. Audiences in other cities for that matter are much more receptive. Delhi is all about power. These day-time migrants prefer anonymous larceny in the big city perhaps because they do not have the clout or the nerve to play the game at home.
The indifference of the place rubs on you where nothing registers. It'll take Delhi another 50 years to become a Mumbai or Kolkata. They are brash, money-minded, materialistic and vulgar while swearing in phat behenc**d religiously.
Currently India is traversed by strange and controversial trends. In this regard there are development policies in a sense asymmetrical, as the extraction of resources that occurs in a non-sustainable, but also a bad use of the same resources. It seems that we are witnessing a gross contempt of the rights of the people, their rights and their destinies.
It is increasingly evident and obvious sense of unfairness and expropriation forced by the state. And it is almost natural for artists, filmmakers, etc. who lives in our context, to question what is going on around us. What we try to do is look beyond the lens understood as a mere superstructure and instead focus our attention on the intricate changes that change daily contexts and the so-called human ecologies.
We, as the people with whom we work, we are witnesses of these dilemmas, and on the other hand, voluntarily or involuntarily, we become accomplices and if you want to conniving of the same processes. In this scenario, we consider it important cause in the sense of light and tickle, the possible transformations, visible and invisible, that the same people can experience.
Compared to the city, in fact, based on how they are structured or draw, we believe they represent only a thin space of nature and the way we relate to it. The relationship with nature in an urban context is merely functional and utilitarian, but passing through a process of aestheticization and fountains are just an example. According to this paradigm, the resources become means to get to an end, are part of a broader claim of demand in terms of supply in the long chain of consumerism.
There is an ironic paradox in the fact that, on the one hand the city providing easy access to water both in terms of function or aesthetics, on the other hand perhaps this is readily available that prevents us from truly understand and experience the its vital essence. The ways in which we observed the subject look like water and retrace many of the approaches that already belong to us and we put in place in India.
The issue of water does not represent or constitute a concern of daily order. In this perspective, linked to the idea of excess, there is finally the notion of value. What is, in fact, the value of a resource that is felt when this is manifestly in abundance? It was very interesting for us to proceed in this direction, and because in our previous investigations followed in India we had already clashed and widely discussed the theme of water and the conflicts associated with it.
Here is the paradox access vs. excess. Previously, in fact, was the quality of the water rather than its willingness to be concerned. We tend to place our work in the interstitial spaces research, which moves between art and other forms of image creation.
We love to follow the impulses that space and pull out from inside a phenomenon, to understand the various dynamics and counter-flowing deep, before entering into the realm of the universal, or possibly, in its representation. In this sense, in our thoughts, there is a clear distinction between research and art. Somehow, in the process of a work merges into the other, transforms itself and becomes what we call art. As artists, we have all of the individual approaches, our way of looking at the world.
For us, one of the factors that we take as a guide is to carry this mode in conversation with other areas completely outside of our areas of familiarity and treat those conversations, impressions, reality as a starting point of our work. In this sense, each one can always find a common approach, thinking, perhaps even about the language and expression that resonates in the experience of the other.
Although there are similarities and similarities between the different contexts you mentioned, some of the artists involved are everywhere in socially engaged art practices in the public sphere and in some ways, yes, there is definitely an affinity. Sure, approaches, styles, vocabularies and expressions may differ, but it is obvious considering the variability of the different contexts and impulses that lead artists in the development of a job.
The advantage to compete and try to analyze something so recently offered me the ability to grasp the issues still to be refined, the contradictions, the long wave of enthusiasm for a show at the first issues that has not yet entered into the process of settling. My intent was essentially put me in the position of being able to live close to the climate, and use it as a litmus test to measure what was happening outside the stadium and beyond the TV screens.
Whenever in New Delhi you leave the road to get into a public building, shopping mall, museum, subway, etc. you go through a security, for diverse men and women, where pockets and bags are searched by specific employees, manually and through the x-ray. Over the place where you enter is sensitive are more controls.
In this respect entering the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi for a game of cricket is like entering the Pentagon. You go through a series of controls that generate the feeling of a kind of catharsis, clearly defining the separation between the inside and the outside. As if the stadium was a parallel reality, where, under the ever watchful eye of a huge police force is allowed to play wildly.
My feeling is that in some extent there is a relationship between this and other places of life and entertainment, cinemas, shopping malls and even a context of contemporary art in New Delhi, one of the museums, openings and even a little space that have hosted my residence. Here, too, we live in a sort of bubble, with a language and a specific audience, where the separation from the outside as some kind of daily, already so clear, is amplified by the canonical catharsis controls safety, minimizing the sense of sharing.