Tourists pay how much more?!

The queue for the fort was quite long, but moved quickly. We were pretty happy to be inside, but then realized we were just past the first of four steps to get in to the fort. Next we had to purchase our tickets, another line to stand in, but at least they separate it out into Indians and foreigners, so my line went quickly. I thought the separation was nice, until I paid my ticket and asked Rahul what he paid for his. Indians pay 15 rupees for the admission, about 30 cents US, and foreigners pay 250 rupees, about 5 dollars US. That is right, I paid almost 20 times the local price.. *sigh*

Rahul and I had a good chuckle about the price discrepancy, and moved on to the next step, baggage checking, as you are not permitted to take your bags in to the fort, or so the signs say. Later we found out it was fine. The officer running the baggage check told me to think of a number in my mind that we should pay for the locker. I found this to be interesting, but went along with it. I chose 20 rupees, and he said that was fine. I took the key, met Rahul outside, and opened the claim check to find out that it only costs 2 rupees per bag. Since we put two bags in the locker, it should have been only 4 rupees. I assume he pocketed the leftovers, as he seemed pretty happy about the 20 rupees I was willing to pay. Oh well.

Step four, another security check point, where we found out we did not actually have to check our bags, silly signs. Stepping across the now empty moat, and through the one remaining wooden gate, we had finally arrived inside! Several vendors had set up shops where the market used to exist, and we found a place to grab some water before heading for the courtyard. There were quite a few tourists in the area, which was expected, but I am fairly sure they were all European. Not many of them responded well to my smile and nod, can’t a white guy get a break around here!? Even fellow tourists do not smile back!

The interior of the Red Fort is enormous, with the ability to house over 50,000 troops and supporting facilities/people it had to be large. It now is mostly a historic place, but also houses a small amount of Army soldiers in the converted hotels. The grounds were quite clean, a stark change from the area surrounding the Fort. Entering the courtyard, we were greeted by the Royal Court where the Mughal emperors would address their subjects. It has since been stripped of some of the more extravagant features, like a series of silver guardrails and a golden separation between the emperor and his subjects, but the elaborately hewn marble throne and seating area remain intact. Rising about 20 feet above the subjects’ gathering area, the throne is an ornate, at the least, pure white marble masterpiece. The detail is lavish, and the stone rare, making this costly even when origin actually constructed. But this throne was only a glimpse at what awaited us.

The Red Fort is a true sight to behold. An entire city resides within its’ walls, capable of housing 50,000 soldiers of the emperor’s army, along with all their accompanying support. Waterways riddle the interior, feeding the large and ornate fountains that reside within the courtyard. Buildings made of marble and red stone house columns with intricate stone inlays and meticulously hard carved embellishing. The windows are screened with exquisitely detailed metal flowers, and the ceilings are lavishly garnished with silver working. It is sad that I could not have visited this place around 300 years ago when the waters still flowed; I bet that would have been a majestic sight to say the least. Oh, and I would have been able to take a nice cold dip in the marble lined bathhouse, tempting a more then welcome reprieve from the 100+ degree temperature outside.

At least we had the shade trees to help us stay cool.

Morning chai

We slept through the night much better, as we had a working air conditioning! Rahul got up some time around 6a, and I rolled out of bed around 8:30ish. We did not have a huge day planned; we just had a few things we wanted to see, so there was no rush to be out of the door early.

After we got ready, we took the metro into Chandni Chauk and stopped by a sweet shop for breakfast. That is right, I am on vacation, and I can have sweets in the morning if I want to! Well the real reason we stopped in for sweets was Raksha Bandhan, a festival that day where sisters tie knots on their brother’s wrists, give them sweets, and then demand rupees at knife point. Crazy I know. Well the last part about the knife is not true, but the brothers do commonly give the sisters money. So for breakfast we had a few somosas, kachauris, dhokla, and a few sweets. Kachauris are fried wheat cakes stuffed with lentils and spices, and dhokla is a Gujarati dish made of a cake soaked in some spicy oil topped with chopped greens like cilantro. Out of every dish I have eaten so far, dhokla is the first Indian dish that I just could not handle. I think it is the combination of flavors and textures that just do not seem edible after you start to chew on it. The sweets that we purchased were cashew paste filled with some dried fruit, a drop of saffron juice, and big sugar cubes all wrapped in a piece of silver foil. They say the silver is good for your health, I did not really see any benefit minus making my fingers shiny. Even without the added health benefits, they were mighty tasty.

After breakfast, we stopped by Gaurav’s Tea Emporium for our obligatory cup of morning chai, said hello, and chatted a bit. The special chai here is something I will surely miss when we leave Delhi.