Delhi-Amritsar-Chandigarh (part II)

So, last time, I was telling you that I was in Amritsar and we could see many people covered with different colours in the street…

Everyone, covered in colourful powder, 

on the way to a temple.

It was Holi! After leaving Mata Mandir, we went to look for them. At the beginning, we followed them discreetly, but then they offered to paint us a bit, and then other people joined… and we ended up covered in colourful powder! Everyone was very nice, they gave us food and drinks (although we couldn’t have the marihuana juice, because we cannot drink the water in India) and were all the time throwing powder at us and saying “Happy Holi!”. It was amazing. Then we went dancing with them to a temple and, at the end, the guys were climbing on each other to take the water from a suspended pot (it seems that Krishna would steal butter like that). You can see, in the following pictures, the state in which we finished the celebration… We were even thrown an egg at! But that is not really part of the Holi tradition…

Dancing at Holi.

The floor of the temple covered in petals and powder.

We started like that...

Here we looked a bit better...

A guy trying to get the butter.

And we ended up like that. 

Next day we went to Chandigarh. It was a bit stormy, but we had to go out, because we only had that afternoon there. We went to the Rock Garden, built with recycled material. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Mosaics on columns.

Ecology, the foundation of the garden.

Waterfalls.

Even the trees are recycled.

A wall covered with plugs. You had to get closer to realize.

Sculptures of what I'd say are giraffes.

The clothes of these sculptures are made with bracelets.

Small sculptures. This is a small selection. There were loads!

More sculptures.

And people looking at you...

Tile bits to cover a wall.

Here we can recognise the shape
of the material used.

More figures with bracelets.

We also visited and artificial lake and a rose garden. By then, we were quite tired, so we went back to the hotel to rest, as the following day we were going back to Delhi.

In the Rose Garden.

Margaret Thatcher Roses. They had odd names 
(I published this photo before she died; nothing to do
with me agreeing with her or honouring her!!!).

Already on Friday, we visited the Red Fort (Lal Qila). We had to pay 250 rupees for being foreigners… for Indians it is only 10 rupees! And it wasn’t that good… Just ok.

Lal Qila, the Red Fort, seen from the outside.

The entrance to Lal Qila.

A building in the Red Fort.

Another building in the Red Fort.

Red Fort's Gardens.

Lal Qila and an Indian Flag.

Swaminarayan Akshardham.

 On Saturday, our last day, we visited Swaminarayan Akshardham, a Hindu temple. It is quite new, from 2005, but it is amazing. It has gardens and the walls are all sculpted. For example, on the lower level we can see lots of elephants in different situations among them, with humans, in nature and with the gods and goddesses. Unluckily, we can’t get the camera in, so I don’t have any pictures, but you can maybe go to their website to have a quick look.

By the way, the entrance is free, as it is a place of worship (unlike Westminster Abbey, e.g., that is a touristic place, not religious, right?). Moreover, the food and the books, postcards and souvenirs were at a reasonable price.


And, lastly, we went to the Lotus temple. Outside, it is quite impressive, but in the inside there’s barely any decoration. That is because it is a Bahá’í temple, a religion that seeks the spiritual union of humanity. Everyone enters in silence and you can stay as long as you want, meditating or praying to the god you believe in.

Lotus Temple.

Then, we took the train back to Ahmedabad. As you may have realized, I just talked about the cultural side. We have done and seen so much! But I didn’t want to bother you with details, and all that information will be part of future entries, devoted to specific topics, as transport or food. I leave you for some days! See you soon!