India Day 3: Chhatarpur Temple

Our next stop was Chhatarpur Temple. An auto driver offered to take all of us in one auto so we squished in and off we went. The driver drove us to the local metro station where he then had us get out of his auto and into the auto of his "brother" who took us the rest of the way to the temple. (Everyone in India is related to everyone else it seems as we'd often be told someone was someone else's brother or cousin or family.)

Us squished in the auto--my dad sat in the front and the other three adults sat in the back, each with a child on our lap. It was our normal mode of transportation around Delhi.

Chhatarpur Temple. It is the second largest temple complex in Delhi. We were told it is 70 acres with lots of little temples within the complex. There are many, many statues of the many, many Hindu gods. The head priest of the temple is the brother of one of the women my parents know and he offered to take us on a tour of the temple, which was nice.

The courtyard of the main building. They were busy getting ready for Navratri, a 10 day festival which started the day after we visited. This particular temple feeds 100000s of people every day during the festival. 

This temple was built by a man named Baba Sant Nagpal ji (the priest referred to him as Baba ji). The main goddess of the temple is Katyayani who is one of the incarnations of the goddess Durga, wife of Lord Shiva. The next two photos are from a couple of rooms that are part of a shrine to Katyayani and include a living room, dining room and bedroom. The statue is of Baba ji.

Part of an inner courtyard. Very pretty and ornate!

A cute little Indian girl who was following us around. She kept saying, "Hello!" We asked her if we could take a picture and she was happy to pose.

A gate that the gods were going to ride through for the festival.

They took us to another shrine where we received a blessing and threw flowers on the shrine. My mom and I received dupatta from the priest's wife which she had made for us. In addition, we were given a small treat to eat there (plus the kids received food at a few other locations, which they really liked).

Me after receiving the dupatta and blessing.

My mom with her dupatta.

Sarah's selfie after her blessing.

A shrine to Ganesh. He is one of the gods we saw everywhere as he is the god of good fortune. He's also easily identifiable since he has an elephant head.

Another courtyard.

A few more gods. I think this one might be of the three most important gods: Brahma (creator god), Vishnu (preserver god) and Shiva (destroyer god). Many of the other Hindu gods are incarnations of these three. For example, Lord Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu. These three are manifestations of Brahman, the ultimate reality.

Our group minus grandpa. The priest is standing between U and Me. The Sharmas, the couple my parents know, are on the two ends. She has on a beautiful pink sari.

After visiting that site, we went across the street to visit more of the complex. This is an interesting turtle statue.

Another one of the temples. This is the one that Baba ji is buried in.

Also, if you look at the sun, you can see the pollution in the air. This is why you will often see us wearing vogmasks. When we were in Delhi, the pollution was often between 150-200 (limit for "good" air is 50). By the time my parents left Delhi, the air was regularly over 1000, with one day having the worst pollution ever at 1600! So it gets much worse than this.

A bell that is rung with the festival.

They were setting up a bunch of scenes outside the temples. If we were Hindu, we would probably know what these were depicting (kind of like how we go to nativities around Christmas and know what those scenes are). They certainly look interesting.

Entrance to the temple where Baba ji is buried.

This is where Baba ji is buried. Apparently he foretold his death to the high priest who gave us the tour.

God with snake behind him. I believe this is Vishnu.

Hindu goddess Kali.

When it was time to go home, we ordered an uber. We asked the driver if we could all go in one and were told no. Sister Sharma then went over, talked to the driver and then told us we could all get in. We aren't sure what we said but were thankful to be able to travel together even if it was a bit squishy.

Traffic on the way home.

Once we got back to my parents' flat, we ate dinner, visited a bit and then went to bed.

When we asked the kids what they liked/disliked about the day, this is what they said:

Matthew: liked everything

Megan: liked candy/treats at the temple, didn't like all the walking

Sarah: liked the Hindu temple, didn't like all the beggars (they'd come right up to the car/auto and ask for money) and the walking

India Day 3: Qutb Minar

Our first place to visit wa Qutb Minar. I'd really been looking forward to seeing it. (Note that there isn't standardization in how many Indian words--locations, names--are spelled in English. For instance, Qutb Minar is also spelled "Qutab Minar." So I'm just picking one and sticking with it:) )

We headed out to Qutb Minar via auto. Actually, we took two auto. It was the only time we took two (when in India, do as the Indians.....)

Grandpa and Megan

Matthew and Me.

Us as Qutb Minar.

Qutb Minar is a 73m tower built around 1200. It's very tall (the tallest brick minaret in the world) and very beautiful! It has five distinct levels.

Some of the engravings on the tower.

Balcony and carvings between two of the levels. Very impressive!

The kids enjoyed wandering around the complex.

Beautiful archway.

In a structure with a tomb.

With the iron pillar. This is pillar is 7m high and is thought to have been built around 400 AD. The most amazing thing is that it has never rusted.

Me and U with Qutb Minar.

Me holding the Qutb Minar.

A view of some of the complex. It really is beautiful!

My mom and I walking and talking.

At another tomb. (They are everywhere!)

Sarah. This is right by the tomb from the above picture. It's a beautiful wall with white marble and red sandstone.

Matthew wanted me to include this photo. He likes it because he has on his awesome shirt and he's wearing Grandpa's hat.

Next door to Qutb Minar at the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. There were some more ruins here. (There are ruins everywhere in India!) We were particularly looking for a stepwell. We think we eventually figured out that it was behind a wall so we couldn't see it.

Exploring the roof of a building.

"Hello Sarah!"

Megan and Grandma going into a tomb.

India Days 1-3: Travel and First Experiences

Here we are at Phoenix Sky Harbor, about to embark on our journey. Everyone was feeling pretty good. And  yes, that is all the luggage we took with us. It was nice to just have carry on!

We arrived at the airport about 2 1/2 hours before our plane departed. After getting checked in and through security (where we had no problems with our liquids but they inspected all our food), we had a couple hours before our plane left. We talked a lot about how plane travel is a bunch of "Hurry up and waits". Our first flight was 5 hours from Phoenix to Newark. At first, the kids were pretty interested in the plane and flying. Matthew said it was like a ride at Disneyland. However, about an hour in, he used the "b" word: "This is boring." That being said, the plane travel went remarkably well. I was prepared for lots of whining and "Are we there yets" that never materialized. And many of the activities that I had packed for the kids never got used.

We had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Newark and we used all of it: going potty, waiting for a bus to transfer terminals, getting dinner, going potty again, talking Matthew's moldy bun back to the restaurant, waiting in line to get visas checked and waiting in line to get on the plane. Getting in line for the visa check was an adventure are U was gone getting a new burger for Matthew so the kids and I got to move all the bags over to the line. The kids were big helpers!

The second plane was really nice with wider seats and more distance between the seats plus every seat had its own free entertainment tv. It was definitely the nicest plane we flew on, which makes sense since it was our longest flight at 14 hours. The kids loved watching whatever movie they wanted (there were lots of options). We did get some sleep. Matthew slept the most at six hours straight while Sarah got the least at two hours. She really enjoyed the free food. I'd been concerned about how everyone would do on a 14 hour flight, but honestly, it was fine and could have been longer without issue!

As we were coming in to land in Delhi, I looked out the window and thought how it looked a lot like any other city I flew into at night. However, I knew it would be much different once we were on the ground. As we were about to touch down, I saw the Indian homes and knew it was definitely not America!

Once we arrived, we went through immigrations and customs. It took awhile to get our visas but finally we were through and went to meet my parents! It was great to see them!

Outside the airport in Delhi.

After our long trip. It was about 10:45 pm here, which is about 25 hours after we were dropped off at the Phoenix airport.

The mission driver picked us up, which was very nice of him. The trip home was interesting. Definitely a good introduction to Indian driving. We saw a motorcycle with three people on it, lots of dogs, an ambulance, four lanes of traffic in three (what's the paint for?) and heard lots of honking!

Here is a picture of the traffic as we were leaving the airport.

The first police car we saw. Matthew loved spotting "helper" cars everywhere we went.

By the time we got to bed, it was after 1 am. However, Matthew was up as soon as the sun came up and I was up with him. 

We went on a walk with Grandpa to a park near their flat. Here Matthew and Grandpa are with some Lodhi ruins behind them. The Lodhis ruled Delhi from 1450-1525 AD so the ruins are pretty old.

Sliding down the slide. We had to lift Matthew onto it as the top 18 inches of the ladder had no rungs. Also, if you look, you can see that there is a big hole in the top of the slide.

Sarah, Matthew and I went with Grandma to the market to buy some fruit and veggies.

Grandma, Grandpa, Matthew and I did some yoga.

Then we ate some lunch and got ready to head out for the rest of the day.