Day One: New Delhi

What a great day in New Delhi! It's 95 degrees and mostly sunny. We had a few sprinkles this afternoon, but nothing problematic.

Today was sight seeing. A new site for me this year was Hunmayan's tomb. It was built by the five of the deceased leader and is the precursor to the Taj Mahal, predating it by about 80 years. It is a beautiful red sandstone building, a bit worse for wear than the Taj, but much more interesting and peaceful on the inside. I really enjoyed it.

The next stop was the Ghandi Smriti (memorial). This is where the Mahatma lived the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated. It was as peaceful as I remembered, but this time I spent more time inside the house, which is now an extensive museum. Last year I missed most of it. This year I was surprised to discover that the entire second floor is a gallery and they had a lot of interesting multimedia installations. I didn't expect it, and it was a bit crowded, and we were too rushed to take it all in.

Our final stop was another one of my favorite sites from last year: Qtub Minar. Knowing the parts of the grounds I missed last year, this year I headed out in a different direction on my own and took some interesting photos. (Most of my pictures will be uploaded to Facebook after I get home.)

One thing about Indian culture is that platonic male friends often hold hands and put their arms over the shoulders of their buddies in public. I noticed a lot of that today, and I always find it so sweet. Today at Qtub Minar in the gate, two such friends noticed me taking pictures and stepped out of one of my shots. They gave me big smiles and held out their hands in greeting as they left the building. It was a nice connection with some locals, as brief as it was.

The photo here is the view from my hotel room, which is on the "wrong" side of the building. Last year I looked out over the pool and mini-golf course toward the forest. This year I'm only on the second flood and I overlook the driveway, street, and nearby buildings. Still, the trees are nice. Soon we're heading out to dinner at the home of one of our alumni. We're hoping he hasn't planned a wild party for us!