#Jama Masjid Mosque

[omgindiablog]

Jama Masjid Mosque, Patna, Bihar, India: Patna historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. Patna also serves as the seat of Patna High Court. The Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain pilgrimage centers of Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodh Gaya, and Pawapuri are nearby and Patna City is a sacred city for Sikhs as the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh was born here. The modern city of Patna is mainly on the southern bank of the river Ganges. Wikipedia

[glosackmd]

INDIA8786 by a Psychiatrist's view Via Flickr: muslim woman do not pray with men. i have never seen the red ( blood ) stained Burkhas before on Women. they pray on the outer areas of the largest MOSQUE in the largest DEMOCRACY in the WORLD Old Delhi Jama Masjid

[throughmysisterslens]

http://wp.me/p4lztc-as

[wtravelblog]

Fatepur Sikri and Jama Masjid Mosque

Akbar moved the capital of his empire from Agra Fort to the site just 23 miles away from 1571 to 1585 in honor of the Sufi saint Salim Chisti. The city was later abandoned due to lack of water in the region. Also of interest nearby is the large historic mosque (Jama Masjid) and inside, the tomb of Salim Chisti. We got a glimpse of Mughal palace life amidst masses of tourists and the usual touts, scams, and trinket sellers.

[mikeandmaz]

After a day of going round tombs, mosques and forts in Delhi, we found Blofeld’s lair complete with water ready for the sharks.

[joeyseestheworld]

Delhi-vision- The T.V that watches you

So our tour came to an end nearly a whole week ago, yet I am sat upon a roof-terrace with half the of the group of 15 who took the tour as well as the tour guide himself. And just as the group takes on a slightly different look, the scene of our lounging has changed; and changed dramatically.

We now find ourselves in Udaipur- dubbed the Venice of the East- and it's beauty, according to my list of already-visited-countries (AVC's) is unprecedented. But more of Udaipur later. I last left you, reader, in the bathroom of a hotel in New Delhi, slumped helplessly between toilet and sink, desperately clawing at the enamel bowl sniffing for you next fix, desperate for another dose from the toilet of oversea's adventure. Yes, I left you wanting to hear more of our tales from the east and so here it is.

We met with our tour group that same day, Tuesday 28th February, and were given our itinerary for the next 8 days. Our tour leader, Yash, spoke fondly of his native country and answered all of our anxieties with assurance.

We were two of five Britisher's on the tour; this being the name our guide Yash and most of the other Indian guides we came across referred to us as. Without quite knowing whether this was a subtle insult referring to the actions of our imperial fore-father's, we decided it was an endearing term and proceeded to laugh at every referral.

The group was made up of one German (Stephanie), a Finn (Katya), a Swiss (Tanja), a Kiwi (Max), six Americans (Ann and Caroline, Becki and Tara and Elizabeth and Jenna) and five Britishers (your humble narrator, Jo, Jess and Chris from Kent, and John from Sheffield). Luckily the majority of the non- English speaking countries could speak some English, and because all of our Hindi was fairly rusty, we decided to converse in our mother-tongue.

Having met, we went back to our rooms to change before heading out for dinner. Yash, being an experienced tour guide as well as a native to this land, warned us of eating the street-food that yelled at us from every corner, and led us to a restaurant that we were happy to eat at as long as he was.

Myself and Jo both ordered what we thought were pretty hot dishes, and the conversation seemed to compliment the temperature of the food; warm and probing. You can reveal more than you thought you would during the first few hours of meeting someone, but we got the sense that in-doing so it had made us much more comfortable and we went to sleep that night feeling a lot more excited for the tour ahead.

The second day of tour was spent almost entirely in Delhi. We sped into the city centre via the metro, which myself and Jo already felt intimately acquainted with. It was, like the day before, rammed. We walked from the station, passing people of all appearances. Businessmen and women, casually clothed travellers, traditionally tailored families, scooter straddled teens and beggars of all shapes and sizes; ranging from fully clothed and fully limbed to naked and deformed.

Our first place of interest was the Jama Masjid mosque, the largest in India, but on the way we visited a Sikh temple where we were informed (briefly) of the religion's history and some of the customs we were required to obey whilst walking through the temple. We could take cameras and take pictures (not the ones from the wall) and we had to cover our heads. The result was 15 white/western pirates with orange bandanas flashing cameras through holy grounds.

After surviving some backstreets, we arrived at the mosque and it was an impressive structure. High, narrow towers surrounded the mosque itself which consisted of 3 dome structures with the square holding approximately 25,000 worshippers (no worshippers were harmed in the making of this tour; no one praying on this particular day). We hoped to scale one of the towers for a panoramic view of the city but didn't want to spend 20 minutes climbing it, only to see that our group was scuttling off into a dark corner of the city. With the fear of being left behind firmly lodged, we decided to just keep browsing barefoot at ground-level.

We left the mosque, put on our shoes and made for the metro station. We were taken to Connaught Place, which we had heard was a popular tourist spot with shops and restaurants. Yash informed us that before its current use, it was a mass of jungle and a royal spot for hunting partridge. Back of the net.

We were as peckish as a princely partridge hunt ourselves, and found a restaurant specialising in South Indian cuisine. We both had a form of dosa, mine being a masala dosa which was essentially mashed potatoes mixed with veg and wrapped in a pancake (savoury, not sweet like on Tuesdays). You were then given various small pots with different sauces and in the native style, we thought it best to do away with our western customs, throwing down our cutlery and tearing and dipping   till we'd had our fill.

With bellies full (or tummies as our southern friends Jess and Chris corrected us) we continued to walk through the place and eventually made a stop where we waited for a coach, fully laden with our baggage, to take us to our next city: Agra

So what did we think of our brief spell in the country's capital? Whilst we don't like thrusting so much negativity on a place, especially the first of our 6 month adventure, we can't hide the fact that Delhi is manic beyond description for the first-time traveller. We saw brief moments of beauty and there was certainly much to be impressed about, but you cannot ignore how much poverty exists and that there appears to be absolutely no motor/transport code. The saddest thing about our experience was that as white Europeans, we were very obvious targets for all the wrong things: petty theft, scams (not just on the streets but even in establishments such as cinemas) and harassment.

With that said, 24 hours does not constitute a fair judgment, and 24 hours in just one city does not give a true reflection of India. I hope you will find in my next installment, an India that is bountifully majestic, beautiful, generous, graceful and entertaining, because that is exactly what we found.

[glosackmd]

INDIA4946 by a Psychiatrist's view Via Flickr: Jama Masjid Old Delhi

[dreamoff-66]

Mother and Child Praying, Jama Masjid Mosque, Delhi by Peter Cook UK on Flickr.

[brokeninsomanyplaces-blog-blog]

[glosackmd]

INDIA5090 on Flickr.

[glosackmd]

INDIA5056 on Flickr.

[glosackmd]

INDIA4869 on Flickr.

[glosackmd]

INDIA5047 on Flickr.

[glosackmd]

INDIA4910/ "happy Ramadan Mubarak" on Flickr.

[dreamoff-66]

Prayer Mats, Jama Masjid Mosque, Delhi by Peter Cook UK on Flickr.

[dreamoff-66]

Homeless Women, Jama Masjid Mosque, Delhi by Peter Cook UK on Flickr.