Wednesday, December 9, 2009

We awoke Wednesday, still a little bit groggy from our jet-lag, but ready to venture out to visit the Red Fort. This is located in the old section of Delhi where it was the palace and fortress for over three hundred years of the Mughal Dynasty from 1526 to 1847 when they were conquered by the British. This dynasty lead a long period of geographic expansion, learning and cultural brillance. Inside the fort, we visited the palace and the adjoining buildings, much of them now in a deteriorated condition. And yes, before entering the main palace area, there were many shops and merchants where we honed our bargaining skills learned the day before to purchase a variety of jewelry, a small painting and other gifts.

I can't believe that I am back, after 45 years. When I was a student at UCLA in 1964, I went to India during the summer as part of Project India, with 13 other students and two advisors. We spent two months traveling around the country visiting with Indian students from many universities and exchanging stories about our respective countries, our cultures and our families and building friendships. It was the most moving and significant experience of my college days and it was in a "classroom" that left an indelible impression upon me and undoubtedly influenced the career path that I eventually chose.

While much of what we are now seeing and experiencing, I do not remember, the Red Fort is one place that I do remember. How can you forget such an imposing and colorful structure with its tall red walls and embankments, the surrounding moat -- now without water, and the passageways and buildings inside. Surrounding the fort is the community that is known as "Old Delhi" teeming with people, traffic, shops and magnificent Temples and Mosques.

We had quite an experience getting there as our driver from the hotel parked about a mile from the entrance and we then got on pedal driven rickshaws to be carried the last distance to the Red Fort. You don't really know what I mean by "experience" until you are actually on the road in these flimsy vehicles along with buses, cars, trucks, motorcycles, taxis, bicycles and other rickshaws -- all trying to navigate to their respective destinations -- in extremely congested conditions and without regard to the marked lanes and even, sometimes the directional flow of the traffic.

However, given that I am writing this account, we somehow made it back safely to our taxi and then back to the hotel -- but not without Linda being a bit tramatized and ready to go in an armored truck the next time. There is a picture of the rickshaw ride on our blog, although it doesn't truly capture the adventure.

Stan