Mar. 10 - Delhi, India

Friday, March 10 :: Delhi, India :: 0km today / 5740km total

Went to the Jama Masjid (India's largest mosque), the Red Fort, and the Gandhi Memorial/Museum today. The first two were uninspiring, after seeing many similar buildings in the past 3 months. Gandhi was cremated at a park now called "Raj Ghat" (Ghat of the Ruler/King), I'm not sure he would have preferred to be linked to the concept of a king, in fact I know he would rebel against it and demand a namechange. Why they don't change the name of the park is beyond me. They could name the place something more along his lines like "Ghat of the People", or "Truth Ghat".

The Gandhi Museum was great, but disturbingly unattended, in contrast to Delhi's other tourist attractions. I mean, Gandhi IS India, he has to be India's most well-known and respected man. Every Indian banknote has Gandhi on it - every denomination - and no other people represented. The museum was very moving, with items and pictures from his life interspersed with his simple, direct speeches concerning his philosophies about truth and nonviolence. I've read his biography so much of what I saw was quite familiar to me. A detailed map showed his Salt March through Gujarat - I could pick out towns on the route that I had cycled through, and one or two that I slept in. This type of thing made the experience that much more personal - I've felt the same landscape and climate, ate the same food, met the same people. They actually had the bullets on display that "took baba-ji away from us". Very sad.

After that it was more shopping, oh joy. It rained today, and the road through the backpacker's district was all sludge - there are many cows in Delhi - so you can imagine...