Delhi 9-26

Bara Gumbad Mosque in the Lodi Garden
Lotus in Lodi Garden

Chatarpur Mandir Temple - Saw a golden Durga Puja in a temple just to the right of this temple. I walked 2 blocks barefoot in order to get in. The only open the room with the Durga Pooja for 9 days a year.

On Saturday a Nandan, a coworker, to me to a few of the less travelled places. First was the Lodi Gardens. It had a few temples and a fort from the 1500's. It also had a large pond with lotus water lillies and a large number of birds and ducks.

Next we went to the Deer Park. We ate at a restaurant in the middle of the park which had one a few awards. I had a fish, pomfret. When they brought it out it still had the head on it and looked like a parana which was laying on a banana leaf. It was pretty good but still had some heat on it. Nandan is a vegetarian and a look on his face when he saw the entire fish laying on the plate was funny. MOst of the time he was looking to the side so he would not have to look at the fish. He said before I ordered it would be ok.

The deer park had no deer, just a few birds in cages. We walked a few more blocks to the Hauz Khas fort which was built in the 1300's. There was a small, heavily poluted lake in from of the fort. Nandan mentioned that many Bollywood films are set at this place.

Then we went to a small modern market. Walked around for about 5 minutes. There were a few Durga Puja idols being set up. One was about a 8 foot tall ice sculptue. In the heat I don't that would last too much longer.

Finally we went to the Chatarpur Mandir temple, which was spread over two blocks. There were large ques, lines, wrapped around a couple blocks to see the Durga Puja. ALso no electonics were allowed in the temple so I did not bring my camera. To avoid more lines we walked barefoot to the temple about 2 blocks away, this included walking through Delhi sidewalks and crossing streets barefoot. Suprisingly we were able to walk right into the temple without any lines. We went straight to the all gold Durga Puja. It was an impressive idol. We then walked around the temple which was very large. A band was playing their religious music and it loudly played throughout the temple. Ther were probably 1,000 inside praying and sitting inside the temple. We walked around a little bit more and saw a few more idols before walking back.

It was an interesting day to see a few new sites and learning a little more about the Durga Puja, the Bengali Puja. There are 9 days of partying for the festival. On the last day the followers take all the hand made Pujas to the river to send them down the river. One tv station shows Durga Puja idol after idol on tv from around the country. Monday is the last day and is a holiday from work.

I posted all the pics again out to http://picasaweb.google.com/JasonsBigAdventure/