India 2012

Thursday22November

Last day of our 4 Indian weeks! If my stomach is craving good French food (non-spicy, of course), my camera is, for its part, craving other sights to capture!

Hanuman's temple and its gigantic statue

The New Delhi metro, worthy of a great capital. With the detail that some carriages are reserved for women. These carriages were implemented in October 2011 following complaints of harassment...

After the Red Fort of Agra, here is the one in New Delhi!

It was the Mughal emperor who had this fort built around 1640. The same one who commissioned the Taj Mahal for his deceased wife.

It is the red sandstone used for construction that gives the fort its color.

The fort was added to UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2007.

The Diwan-i-Am, made of red sandstone, used by the emperor for public consultations.

In the Diwan-i-Am, the imperial throne of white marble.

Three superpositions of arches for the Hayat Bakhsh pavilion.

The Diwan-i-Khas, the hall of private audiences.

The stone flowers inlaid in the columns of the Diwan-i-Khas.

The central basin of the Rang Mahal.

An Indian school calls out to us... In Rajasthan, it was us who were being photographed. In the capital, they are the ones who want to be in front of the lens!

Humayun (March 17, 1508 - January 27, 1556), son of Babur, was the second Mughal emperor. His widow commissioned this mausoleum to house her husband's body.

The monument was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1993.

Outside on the large terrace, tombs face the edifice.

An eagle (steppe eagle? aquila nipalensis) has found its perch right next to it.

The interior of the dome

Other tombs in the adjacent rooms.

Humayun's tomb.

Here we are, last visit of the trip! We conclude with Gandhi's house. A calm and soothing place, from the Mahatma's last days.

Upon arrival, Gandhi's statue welcomes you. The pavilion adjacent to Gandhi's residence is a very modern museum that originally recounts Gandhi's struggle (India's independence through non-violence).

It was here, in the garden behind the houses, that Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1949. He was 78 years old.

On the ground, Gandhi's last steps have been symbolized in plaster, up to the spot where he was shot by Nathuram Godse's revolver, a Hindu extremist convinced that the Mahatma was weakening the country...

Right next door, a fresco summarizes the highlights of Gandhi's life and struggle.

The portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, detail of the fresco.

The French windows of Gandhi's house. He had just moved in 4 months before his death.

The metro in the late afternoon

We end the trip with a Bollywood film, at the "Odeon" cinema in New Delhi. The film ("Jab Tak Hai Jaan", "Until My Last Breath" in English) lasts three hours, so an intermission is planned halfway through the screening... We took the opportunity to slip away, and it was a shame because the danced and sung scenes were very enjoyable, but above all the reclining seats were of unprecedented comfort in a dark room!   But despite the comfort, we had to leave to prepare our luggage and get up early the next morning...

Saturday23November

Last morning... The luggage is in the trunk and on the roof of the small car that will take us to the airport where 9h25 of flight to Paris await us.

9h25 that will give us plenty of time to remember these 4 busy weeks. The majestic Himalayan mountains, the sumptuous palaces of Rajasthan, the incredible Jain and Hindu temples, the colors of the cities, the kindness of the Indians, the tigers, the antelopes, the tantalus... in short, so many good memories! But only a very small part of the country! All that's left for me is to visit the south of the country! Who knows, maybe one day the India 2054 travel diary???