Monday Morning.
The plan is to wake up early and visit Humayun's Tomb when the crowd is less and day is just starting. And I did wake up early! Since I wanted to come back to the hotel room as early as possible as I was working from home (hotel!).
Opened up the curtains, peered out to see some trees swaying in the breeze. A little wind never hurt anyone, I thought to myself. Closed the curtains and we both got ready in ten minutes flat. Just to check if the day has brightened further, I opened up the curtains again. And saw that the winds were accompanied by rain now.
Wow. Middle of summer. Middle of our trip. And it starts raining. We had not bothered to carry our umbrellas to Delhi and now Delhi has decided to treat us to summer rains. But we were not to be dejected. On and aboard, we decided. Called an Uber in deference to the rains and we set out for Humayun's tomb.
It took us less than half an hour to reach the complex. Contrary to our expectations, the Uber driver had no clue that a UNESCO World Heritage Site exists in Delhi and it has a front gate. He did a full circle of the complex, entered a residential area and promptly stopped where Uber told him to. Being skeptical, I asked the guards lolling around whether this is Humayun's tomb. They nodded 'Haan' and we got down.
The guards chose that exact moment to enlighten us that we cannot enter through the gate in front of us since it was not the entrance. But wasn't that implied in my question?! The Uber driver was already putting his car in reverse and driving off. Seeing our dejected faces, the guards chivalrously stepped in for us and demanded the Uber driver to take us to the front gate instead of stranding us in someone's front yard! And the Uber driver replied with the same nonchalance that he has done his job, completed his drop and so, Bye Bye!
So there we were, at Humayun's back gate, armed with the information that to enter the tomb complex we can walk ahead or backwards but either ways it would be a trek of 1.5-2 kms. Cool. No. Literally, cool. It started raining.
Since standing where we were was not an option, onward we went. And instead of a tomb, we saw a lot of nice apartments and houses. If not for our tragic situation, it was a perfect morning. Teeny tiny raindrops falling around us in a drizzle, chirping sparrows and squirrels running around, yellow and orange flowers in a carpet on the ground and a cool breeze to top it all.
In Google Maps we place our trust. And ended up in front of another locked gate. Then we decided to trust our direction sense and walked back the way we had come to reach the main road. By then, the drizzle had intensified into full blown rain. We took shelter under an old banyan tree with chaiwallas, rickshaw wallahs, office workers and some stray dogs. Every time the rain let down a bit, we would walk a little and then take shelter when it pelted. Finally we reached the front gate.
The one good thing that came out of the morning rain was that our wishes came true. Crowd - zero. But wedding photoshoots wait for none. We encountered another one there which prompted yet another wisdom snippet from hubby dearest, "Oraal mayyathayi kidakumbozha avarde okke oru wedding shoot!"
The place was bliss. No other words to describe. The rain had lend brightness to all colours and washed the place free of even the tiniest specks. Everything smelled fresh, clean and dewy.
After spending close to an hour there, we bid goodbye to the tomb and soon reached our next destination. Rashtrapati Bhawan and India Gate. After wandering around a bit, we went to Agrasen ki Baoli, an old stepwell which was saturated with pigeons and the smell of their poop. Spend some time there and finally returned to our hotel room to 'work from hotel'.
The plan is to wake up early and visit Humayun's Tomb when the crowd is less and day is just starting. And I did wake up early! Since I wanted to come back to the hotel room as early as possible as I was working from home (hotel!).
Opened up the curtains, peered out to see some trees swaying in the breeze. A little wind never hurt anyone, I thought to myself. Closed the curtains and we both got ready in ten minutes flat. Just to check if the day has brightened further, I opened up the curtains again. And saw that the winds were accompanied by rain now.
Wow. Middle of summer. Middle of our trip. And it starts raining. We had not bothered to carry our umbrellas to Delhi and now Delhi has decided to treat us to summer rains. But we were not to be dejected. On and aboard, we decided. Called an Uber in deference to the rains and we set out for Humayun's tomb.
It took us less than half an hour to reach the complex. Contrary to our expectations, the Uber driver had no clue that a UNESCO World Heritage Site exists in Delhi and it has a front gate. He did a full circle of the complex, entered a residential area and promptly stopped where Uber told him to. Being skeptical, I asked the guards lolling around whether this is Humayun's tomb. They nodded 'Haan' and we got down.
The guards chose that exact moment to enlighten us that we cannot enter through the gate in front of us since it was not the entrance. But wasn't that implied in my question?! The Uber driver was already putting his car in reverse and driving off. Seeing our dejected faces, the guards chivalrously stepped in for us and demanded the Uber driver to take us to the front gate instead of stranding us in someone's front yard! And the Uber driver replied with the same nonchalance that he has done his job, completed his drop and so, Bye Bye!
So there we were, at Humayun's back gate, armed with the information that to enter the tomb complex we can walk ahead or backwards but either ways it would be a trek of 1.5-2 kms. Cool. No. Literally, cool. It started raining.
Since standing where we were was not an option, onward we went. And instead of a tomb, we saw a lot of nice apartments and houses. If not for our tragic situation, it was a perfect morning. Teeny tiny raindrops falling around us in a drizzle, chirping sparrows and squirrels running around, yellow and orange flowers in a carpet on the ground and a cool breeze to top it all.
In Google Maps we place our trust. And ended up in front of another locked gate. Then we decided to trust our direction sense and walked back the way we had come to reach the main road. By then, the drizzle had intensified into full blown rain. We took shelter under an old banyan tree with chaiwallas, rickshaw wallahs, office workers and some stray dogs. Every time the rain let down a bit, we would walk a little and then take shelter when it pelted. Finally we reached the front gate.
The one good thing that came out of the morning rain was that our wishes came true. Crowd - zero. But wedding photoshoots wait for none. We encountered another one there which prompted yet another wisdom snippet from hubby dearest, "Oraal mayyathayi kidakumbozha avarde okke oru wedding shoot!"
The place was bliss. No other words to describe. The rain had lend brightness to all colours and washed the place free of even the tiniest specks. Everything smelled fresh, clean and dewy.
After spending close to an hour there, we bid goodbye to the tomb and soon reached our next destination. Rashtrapati Bhawan and India Gate. After wandering around a bit, we went to Agrasen ki Baoli, an old stepwell which was saturated with pigeons and the smell of their poop. Spend some time there and finally returned to our hotel room to 'work from hotel'.
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