Day Eleven

Today was our Delhi sightseeing trip. I was lucky to get a full day last Sunday to wander around and see a few sites, but most of the group has seen only the YMCA Hotel and Bawana since they arrived. It’s nice we got to see a bit more before we leave.

Our first stop was at one of the oldest structures in the area. Built in the 1100s, by the first islamic king of India, it’s a giant tower of stone and marble. While structures like the eiffel tower are impressive feats of engineering, they cannot match the sheer magnitude of such a weighty monument. More modern buildings are impressive because of how they defy expectation with their weightless conquering of the sky. This is a brute force assault against gravity, pitting the honest strength of stone against the forces of nature. The top is clad in a newer marble after nature won out with a particularly bad lightening strike a few hundred years after the original construction.

On the same grounds as the tower sits the ruins of the first mosque in India, as well as some aborted attempts by subsequent rulers to outdo the first temple. This is the only place I’ve seen in Delhi where a clear effort has been made to clean the surroundings for tourist consumption. The grounds are manicured. The paths are clean. It was a refreshing sight after so many dirty days in Bawana. It leaves me with the impression than the ancient days of India’s past were cleaner than today. It’s hard to imagine the splendor of these ancient buildings amidst the squalor of the slums, but I suppose it’s possible that only now have the grounds been cleaned.

Next we went to the industrialist’s home where Gandhi was staying when he was assassinated. In some ways it’s fortuitous that he was staying in a luxury home in Delhi while meeting with the British to discuss the terms of their departure. Had he been staying in the slums as was his habit, it would have been difficult to memorialize the location and build such a museum as now sits on the site. I’m glad I saw the film again on the flight out here, but the tour guide’s commentary alone was enough to make this an emotional visit. We so rarely see men live their lives beyond the shadow of compromise, and the tragedy of their absence only highlights our need for them. I don’t know that Gandhi’s philosophy can stand up against all the conflicts that plague us today. Maybe his was a special force against those that threatened the world of his youth. Against the same religious fanaticism we now fear, he was powerless to stop the violence and walked headlong into death because of it. His philosophy is centered around Truth, and wielding it as a weapon against injustice. I suppose that is an adequate weapon. The trick is finding the right truth for the fight.

Amidst the plaques lining the walks around the property, one quote stood out for me where Gandhi laments his own shortcomings and failures. I’m about to start his autobiography and am curious to see in what dark corners his mind dwelt when he felt regret. I don’t like to build men into heroes. As a rule, we’re all just men. But I know of no other who did so much for so many with such a simple message. I feel so helpless to overcome my own faults. I don’t even where to start. Gandhi had a clear moral center that guided his beliefs. This is not to say he was dogmatic. He did more to modernize Hinduism, one of the worlds oldest religions, than centuries of changing social structures ever did. But the discipline of following that code was central to his entire life. When I was young, and life was more simple, I never regretted my freedom from the rules of others. But as I age and the weight of my actions get heavier and heavier I wish I had a stronger base to on which to rest. I now see the appeal of life guided by historical values and not trial and error. While it doesn’t seem like those rules keep the world a kinder place, I imagine they keep consciences cleaner.

Next was the first of our trilogy of religious sites around Delhi. The second largest mosque in the world, it can accommodate up to thirty thousand supplicants. The details of its construction escape me, but it was a beautiful compound built from red sandstone. Tourists tiptoed around Muslims kneeling towards Mecca. It was all very peaceful and serene.

Muslims make up about a third of India, but their impact on the culture extends far beyond that. For almost a thousand years prior to the British occupation, India was ruled by Islamic kings who legislated their culture into every corner of the country. Our guide filled us in on some of the back-story behind the development of the Indian nation. It sounds like the natural protection offered by the Himalayans kept India safe from invaders for thousands of years. But when Alexander the Great proved they could be crossed, and India could be challenged, he opened the floodgates to Islamic invaders. Never before needing a serious defense, India was ill equipped against the invaders and soon fell. This theme of weakness inspiring attack, and strength degenerating into weakness seems cyclical though India’s history. When the Mugal kinds got weak, the line of succession was ‘adjusted’ by a youngest sun who killed his brothers and imprisoned his father. His iron fisted rule of fifty years was followed by weaker kinds who lost their line to the British East India Company, and then the crown itself. The British had the strength of the West, but fell to Gandhi under their moral weakness. Gandhi had the right weapon for that point in history, though I doubt he would have fared any better against the Mugals than he did against the religious extremists.

Our sequel stop was at a Sikh temple. Sikhism is an offshoot of Hinduism attempting to correct many of the social problems so ingrained in Indian society. The caste system especially restricts social movement and keeps the lower class imprisoned in poverty as untouchables. Sikh are a small minority in India, but have a visible presence all over the world. Their distinctive turbans make them easy to spot, though I’m sure they’re often mistaken for desert dwelling Arabs. The temple had its beautiful parts, especially a large bathing pool that reflected the sunset in a dramatic way. But overall it was a bit gaudy. I think it’s hard to pull of opulence these days. Marble and gold leaf sing songs of Las Vegas, and unless they’re kept up well, they hums tunes of Atlantic City. I’ve seen in a few places that ancient cultures focus on brightly colored artwork, and a style of art I believe is termed ‘primitive’. Perhaps the Islamic ban on depictions of natural beings (like Jews and I think Lutherans) is a guard against the infiltration of such icons. I’m sure they appeal to some people, but everyone has different tastes, and it’s tough to find fault with the austere beauty of the Islamic structures.

The Hindu temple that was the final stop in our trilogy had a more consistent design aesthetic, but falls into the same category as the Sikh. The building is beautiful but has an It’s A Small World quality to it. Inside, the dioramas for the major Hindu gods depict them as bedazzled manikins selling folk costumes. I don’t mean to make light of a rich culture that’s thousands of years old, but I’m sensitive to production value and can’t give them a pass just because it’s a foreign culture. The aesthetics of Bollywood have advanced ages beyond what I saw today… of course now I’m remembering a plaster Jesus I saw encased in a glass coffin outside a church in Brooklyn last year and I’m feeling less judgmental. Let’s just say religions across the world are going to need to step it up if they hope to present an inspiring image of divinity to the modern world. The renaissance had Michelangelo. We’d be lucky today to get something that looked like Edward Scissorhands.

Tomorrow we head off to Agra for the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. It’s a long drive for just a bit of time there, but I’ve still got high hopes. If the ancient structures I saw today are any indication, then I wont be disappointed. This is a nice transition for my drive across Rajasthan that starts Friday. I’ve been part of this group for almost two weeks now and it will be an adjustment to be on my own.