Shah Jahan—King of the Universe!!

I went to the Lal Quila (Red Fort) yesterday, which was originally built by the great Moghul and King of the Universe (no kidding, exact translation of his name) in the 17th century. Yes, yes, yes, very impressive and a must see in Delhi, but the trip to get there is what turned me on!

We took the metro, originally opened in 2002 and quite honestly not quite up to the task of transporting 13 million Delhians who have places to go!! After we went through some serious security, including preliminary metal detector, physical search and bag screening like at the airport, we were on our way! The BEST thing about the Delhi metro is the ‘Ladies Only’ car. In bright pink on the floor of the train platform are signs that say Ladies Only. In some places they also have the area roped off and in particularly busy stations (you can imagine the hoards!), there are monitors insuring that men don’t get on these cars. The cars are HEAVENLY!!! Not particularly crowded, no one rubbing up against you inappropriately (a widely practiced sport) and because the cars don’t have proper doors between them, you can see the overflow of men squeezed into the remaining cars. The first time we changed trains, there was one in the station already. We ran to get on and didn’t end up in the Ladies car. Needless to say that is an experience not to be repeated. However, the metro experience was only a prelude to Chandni Chowk Road. Oh my!!!

I had heard that this was a shopping road. That is putting it mildly. I have NEVER seen so many people, vehicles, crates-cartons-bags surging in all directions in my entire life! It can’t be more than half a mile from the metro station to the Red Fort, yet it took almost 40 minutes to weave in and out of the human, dog and vehicle traffic. Despite the very apparent dangers, people tend to walk in the street, unless they have business with the shops or a natural break in the traffic occurs on the sidewalk and the flow of street traffic is temporarily impeded. At the end of this mighty shopping road stands the imposing fortress Lal Quila—a sanctuary in the midst of mayhem with a seemingly endless complex of buildings in marble and red stone. It is gorgeous, though crowded by my New York standards—isolated by Indian ones. Despite the grandeur, I confess that my fascination was held almost entirely by walking the streets of Delhi, a task not for the faint of heart. I loved it!