Monday, March 15, 2010

Jama Masjid and Old Delhi

Receiving visitors provides always a good opportunity to discover a new piece of Delhi.

Yesterday we visited Jama Masjid and Old Delhi.

Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India. Situated at the center of Old Delhi, it represents the heart of the Muslim community in Delhi: not less than 20,000 people crowd together in the mosque’s courtyard every Friday to attend the Friday’s prayer.

Old Delhi is the bursting heart of the city. Messy, chaotic, stinky: a stream of pestering hawkers, decaying beggars, rusty rickshaws, and holy cows. And yet colourful and vibrant. Old Delhi embodies the image that most people have of India.

Definitively, Delhi is not a place for demophobic…

5 comments:

  1. Matteo,
    Ti consiglio questo articolo di Tim Sebastian (quello che faceva Hard Talk alla BBC) apparso ieri sull' International Herald Tribune. Secondo me definisce bene la sensazione di tutto e il contrario di tutto che uno prova a Delhi e in India piu' in generale.
    Ciao.
    e.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/opinion/15iht-edsebastian.html?scp=1&sq=tim%20sebastian%20&st=cse

    ReplyDelete
  2. stampato, me lo leggo stasera.

    grazie :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. nice post, i have been around the place once, i got stuck in traffic that was compromising only old rickshaw for two hrs. wish i had time to visit the masjid, it was a beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  4. come potevo non aver capito che "rickshaw" significa "risciò"????

    ReplyDelete