Chondi Chok

My first 24 hours in India were complete immersion by fire. We took bicycle rickshaws to the oldest and most hectic market in Delhi complete with the largest mosque in India during Friday prayers (read as the busiest time to be at a mosque).

The adventure began with a stop at a Jain Temple (which I have no pictures of because you are not allowed to bring electronics inside). I honestly have no clue what it was or what anything meant or how old it was because the man who gave us our tour spoke the most garbled English I have ever heard. It was beautiful, intricate, and exotic and smelled like hundred year old incense.

Next stop was the spice market which was beautiful. The colors of the spices are just stunning (I have some good pictures but this one related to a different part of a story). Also they have premade spice packets to create the curry you want now. In other words instead of having to purchase every different spice to make chicken tikka masala you can now just buy a tikka masala spice mix and it is the correct ratio of spices to make the mix. The largest problem with the spice market was the peppers. Almost all of us ended up in nasty coughing fits because the air is so spicy just to breathe.
At the end of our walk through the market we found ourselves looking down on the largest mosque in India mere minutes before Friday prayer (the most sacred prayer to Muslims during the week). In this picture you can see the Muslim men washing themselves in preparation as other men begin to line up in the mosque for prayer time. It was so comforting to hear the call to prayer. I should say though that the melody here is very very different to the Palestinian one. What can I say, I'm biased?
After the market and the mosque we drove around parts of colonial India. New Delhi, I guess is the better way to put it. We saw the prime ministers building and the picture above is the parliment building originally built by the British but still in use by the current government. It's late here so I'm going to cut this short. But I'll say this. I'm not overwhelmed by the poverty here. I've seen pretty shocking conditions before so I felt ready for that. What I wasn't ready for is the juxtaposition of wealth and desperation. Mansions (or at least what would be considered mansions here) with Lamborghini's are built on land that is right next to a highway and under the highway are ten tarp tents with malnourished children bustling in and out of them. A man with expensive shows walking with the latest blackberry will pass starving men as he heads to his armored car from a hotel. There is no division. I'm yet to figure out how I feel about this. Anyway. Monsoon starts soon.