We asked the hotel to get a taxi for us and they evidently misunderstood, believing that we wanted a tour guide to take us round Delhi. He took about an hour to turn up due to very heavy traffic because of a festival, and took us to the Red Fort. Arriving at the car park he suddenly remembered that the Red Fort was closed on Mondays so he took us a short distance to the Jamaa Masjid, said to be Asia’s biggest mosque. We had to wear some silly slippers and got accosted by some little jobsworth who insisted on explaining everything to us: “this a mosque, this is Arabic writing, these are steps, don’t fall down them etc”. After being as useful as a one-legged man at an arse-kicking party, he wanted paying so we told him to go away. Or words to that effect. The mosque was simply a large space where the worshippers stood plus an ornately carved area where the imam stood to conduct prayers. A bit of a rip-off for £4 each plus £1 for the hire of the slippers. I kept mine.
The we went to see India Gate built in 1948 to signify independence. It was very similar to the Arc de Triomphe and we thought it odd that having won independence from Britain, the Indians should copy something French. The flowers in the garden were beautiful. On returning to the hotel, the man running the travel bureau said he could give us a much better tour of India than my plan so, full of scepticism, we looked at it and it did seem better and at somewhat lower cost, PLUS a guide, the excellent Mr Mukesh. A major advantage is that we travel most of the way in his car, not having to risk waiting for hours for trains which are delayed because of the fog. So we signed up.
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