Red Fort and Spice Market: Week 5 / Day 34 / Feb 13
New Delhi, India: My first stop of the day was a visit to the Red Fort. So named because of its walls made of red sandstone, the fort is an imposing structure. Built in 1639 by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, it was the palace of his fortified capital Shahjahanabad.
To call this fort large does not even begin to do it justice. After walking through the main gate and then through market stalls, one enters the central open area within the fort.
Within the enclosure of the fort is an enormous area large enough to hold tens of thousands. Just past the entrance to this area is an old market building.
As I moved further along I came across the main entry way towards the royal quarters. Here is where visiting dignitaries and guests would come to be received.
Although significantly damaged during subsequent take overs and looted by the British following the attempted 1857 revolt, one can still the scale and beauty that existed in these buildings.
Through this passageway is another large open area and then a building. This building was the beginning of a large palace complex and it was here that the emperor would appear before the public.
Today, the only one out in the courtyard lawn that he would be appearing in front of was one loyal subject:
Moving through what used to the be main palace grounds, I eventually ended up at the building where the emperor did most of his day-to-day business.
The quantity of white marble used in the construction of these buildings and the detail of the inlaid art is simply astounding. Near this main working location for the emperor was his personal mosque.
It is difficult to see much inside the mosque as it is not open to visitors. Near the mosque is a large garden area with multiple waterways, fountains, and pavilions.
While perusing these buildings I was made aware that there must be a significant shortage of doughy, middle-aged white guys in India. I am guessing this because I had two different groups of people approach me for selfies. The first was a young man who walked up to me with his phone. I thought at first that he wanted me to take a picture of him and his friend, but I eventually understood that he wanted his friend to take a picture of me and him. After that he took a selfie with the two of us. Having watched all of this, a young lady then came up, as they walked away, to see if she could take her picture with me. You know it is a dull day when the high point of it is a picture with me.
Also, looking out across all of the land enclosed within the fort it suddenly occurred to me what this reminded me of. You could basically fit just about any large, midwest state university within this fort (or so it seemed):
Onsite there were also several museums covering the history, art and culture of India. Especially interesting to me was the one covering the path to independence for India. The section on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 was particularly sobering. A new Act had been issued by the British forbidding large public gatherings (due to fear of rebellion). However, no one told the population at large about this. When a large crowd assembled at Jallianwala for a festival, British troops arrived and fired into the crowd of unarmed civilians for ten minutes, killing 379 and injuring approximately 1,100.
Leaving the Red Fort I made my way on foot towards the Chandni Chowk market area I had visited yesterday. Located within this area is the spice market – a wholesale market where large quantities of spices are bought and sold every day.
Along the way I again saw a staggering array of shops and even someone reshoeing a horse at the side of the road.
Arriving at the spice market (which is in a small courtyard off the main road), I was instantly overcome by the level of spice dust in the air. Although not visible, the immediate gagging and coughing was quite real. I did not feel quite so bad when I saw many of the vendors doing the same.
The spice market is not contained on a single floor, but instead encompasses the entirety of the courtyard buildings on several floors.
From the rooftop one is able to breathe some much needed fresh air before heading back down. Back on the street I passed by several more carts of goods heading off to the shops.
From here I took a tuk-tuk back to the Red Fort and then headed home for the evening.
