Sorry again! Another long one! We had to cross the street
once again to get to the bus, and we had to walk on the street with tons of
cars to get on it. The traffic in New Delhi is absolutely atrocious. It is a
city of almost 20 million people so you can see why. When our bus got on the
main road we fell into a MAJOR traffic jam. There were cars in front of us for
miles and cars behind us for miles. I don’t know if I have seen that many cars
at once in my life. It ended up taking us an hour to drive about three miles to
Humayun’s tomb. I used to think that driving in India was the best thing ever,
but now I can see why city people don’t like it. Here is some background on Humayun’s tomb: Humayun was a man who was
the second Mughal emperor. He was alive in the late 15th and early
16th century and his wife for him built the tomb nine years after he
died. Many other members of the Mughal family are buried there as well. Right
as we walked through the gates and entered the general grounds of the tomb, I
heard a piercing shriek that was worse than nails on a chalkboard to my ears.
It sounded like it was coming from some kind of animal, possibly a dog. I found
out what it was coming from when I caught sight of something I wish I had never
seen. There was a big, black dog that was on top of a tiny little puppy and the
big dog was scratching and biting the little dog. At first a thought that they
might be playing, but then I realized that this big dog was about to kill this
tiny little one. He was all over him and trying to tear him apart like a piece
of meat. It was becoming unbearable to both watch and listen to, and a crowd
began to form watching the scene occur. Luckily, something happened that caused
the big dog to stop trying to kill the small one (I think a person went up and
kicked him or something) and the small one got up quickly and sprinting away
squealing. It’s something that’s difficult for me to write because of how
horrible and almost fatal the whole scene was. After all that, we went through
another set of gates and walked closer toward the tomb. Humayun’s tomb itself
was not yet visible. About five minutes later we approached this arch. Right as
we walked through the arch a spectacular building became visible. This was
Humayun’s tomb. The entire thing was VERY reminiscent to the Taj Mahal. In the
Taj Mahal there is also an arch that disguises the Taj and once you walk
through it you can see the actual building. Humayun’s tomb was absolutely
stunning. It is so huge and has so many different designs that put you in awe.
We walked around there, saw the tomb itself, and then walked back. Once again
there were people that wanted to take pictures with Will and me. I thought that
in New Delhi, where there are lots of tourists, this wouldn’t happen. Of
course, we accepted because it is actually quite fun. After the tomb, we went
to see another tomb called Jahanara’s tomb. Here is some background: Jahanara was Shah Jahan’s (the man who built
the Taj Mahal) daughter and was drawn to Sufism, which is a version of Islam.
She is buried at a temple for a Sufi saint because she was very devoted to that
saint. We walked over to her tomb, which meant we had to cross even more
streets, which you know I love to do. When he entered the street leading to the
temple where she is buried, my eyes gazed upon an India that I had never really
seen before. This street was filled with people and had the most amazing smell.
There were shops left and right selling food and clothing and flowers and it
was just a clump of people. It was the definition of hectic, which means that I
absolutely loved it. When we got to the entrance of the temple, we had to take
our shoes and socks off. I did so and walked through the entrance with all of
the students, the guides, my mom, and Will. One you got through the entrance
there was another path leading to the temple itself. About 100 feet into this
path a man came up to Will, my mom, and me and told us that we NEEDED to wear
white caps because it was Sufist temple. Will and I took the white hats (which
he said cost ten rupees), not really believing the man but just wanting him to
stop talking to us. My mom came up and was about to buy them right as one of
the guides came in and said that we didn’t need them. I was kind of disgusted
with the man who was trying to sell us these hats because he lied to us, so I
just gave him the hat and walked away. The path leading to the temple itself
was full of beggars left and right. Many of them seemed tired of begging and
just looked up at the passers by. Even though this was my fifth time in India,
I was beginning to experience quite the culture shock because I had never seen
this many beggars and this many Muslim people before. We walked through the
halls of beggars and finally entered the temple. I thought that it might be at
least a bit more peaceful than all the stuff leading up to it but it was the
absolute opposite. There was no open space in the entire temple. It was crowded
with people praying, walking, and doing whatever. We were starting to get some
looks (because we were white). There were people pushing past us and coming at
us and the entire thing was just absolute chaos. Jahanara’s tomb was located in
the back right corner of the temple, and we entered from the bottom left
corner, so we had a ways to go. When we finally got to the general area of the
tomb, I began to hear screaming. When I got closer to the tomb I saw that it
was a man who was screaming. People do get into trances here, but I don’t think
that is what happened with this man. He seemed to be playing a joke on us,
because all of the people around him were laughing. Of course, it was not funny
at all and actually rather frightening. I began to get a little big scared. The
entire place felt quite unsafe. I finally saw what we came to see, which was a
small white tomb. As I was trying to get a picture, I heard LOUD screaming coming
from a woman to my right. This scream did not appear to be a joke. She sounded
like she was in agony and I thought that maybe someone had hurt her or
something. I think that she was in fact in a trance. It was the second awful
sound I had heard in less than two hours. I quickly got a picture of the tomb
and we started to walk out of there because it was definitely becoming unsafe.
At the beginning of our walk out a man came up and shouted at us to get out. He
didn’t like us because we were white, and I am not just saying that. He truly
did not like us, and it was the first time I have ever felt someone be racist
towards me. Anyways, we continued our walk out and were greeted with the same
amount of havoc. I was holding on to my phone because I knew there was a good
chance it could be pick-pocketed. We walked once again through the hall of
beggars, got our shoes, and were back on the street we were on before. We found
out as we were walking on the street that one of the students’ phones had been
stolen. She and my mom went to the police station while we all went back to the
bus. I know that it was dangerous, but this is definitely one of the coolest
things I have done in India. It was amazing to see a whole new side of the
country that I really never thought I would see. My dad later told us that it
was stupid to go there because of the danger, but I’m glad we did. When my mom
and the student got back on the bus, we drove over to the hotel that we would
be staying at for the night. It’s called the Jüsta hotel and it quite cute.
When we arrived at the hotel, we listened to a speaker talk about the history
of India, which is difficult because there is so much. He did a great job and I
actually found it interesting, which is saying something because I am on break.
After the talk, we went to dinner and then to bed after a long day. It turned
out to be a great day, even with all the travel. I saw multiple things, some
that I never wanted to see, some that I never thought I’d see, and some that I
never wanted to see AND never thought I’d see.
A Part of the Street leading up to Jahanara's tomb:
Jahanara's Tomb:
Humayan's Tomb:
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