Old Delhi rickshaw ride

What an experience!  Old Delhi is old and full of history.  Our driver, with Praveen Beesa along, picked us up at our hotel. Praveen wanted to go with us and check out this new and upcoming rickshaw ride company tour.  Praveen can arrange tours anytime of the day, including private ones, where you only have to pay for a guide and a rickshaw puller.  We met up with one of the two directors of When In India, Taruna Nagpal, across from one of the gates to the Red Fort (which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site) and almost just in front of the Digambar Jain Temple (though we did not go in to this oldest temple of the Jain religion within the capitol).  We started down some of the historical roads of Chandni Chowk (famous market area):

We stopped to visit the Jama Masjid.  It is one of the 10 largest mosques in the world:

 Rickshaw mechanics line the side of the road.  "Setting up shop" would be a very loose term:

This is the Gurdwara Sis Ganj.  It is a Sikh place of worship.

We did ride around the Fountain Square.  The fountain was the place where three devoted followers of the Sikh religion were tortuously executed for not converting to Islam.  I preferred the next picture of Ghantewala, the oldest sweet shop in Old Delhi, established in 1790:

On the main street of Chandni Chowk,  is this building currently being renovated/preserved.  It is Chunnamal Haveli (private mansion).  It spans over one acre with 128 rooms, has three floors and is surrounded by 139 shops.  It was built in 1848 and in 1864.  It was owned by merchant Lala Chunnamal.  After the Indian Rebellion in 1857, he emerged as the wealthiest person in Delhi.

We were pulled everywhere, even through this covered road where the electricity wires had to be pushed out of the way:

And this one:

And these, including a mouse kept in a cage on a front doorstep:

Some of the doors are just old, too:

This is the Town Hall.  It is one of the biggest landmarks in Chandni Chowk.  It was built in 1865.   I didn't get the sense that it is still in use.

Some buildings continue to be used:

We entered this very large, historic spice market.  Pictures were not allowed to be taken inside, except for the spices at one particular vendor.  In the inside there were about three or four stories of windows.  You were standing in the inner courtyard/market area of a palace.  Taruna had brought wet wipes and began dispensing them to us at this point.  We used them to cover our noses, as the strength of the smell of the spices was overwhelming.  Jeremy likened it to the effects of tear gas...he'd know, so we'll trust him.

India is absolutely fascinating.  It is a bit hard to comprehend seeing a driver such as this commonly using the same road as a rickshaw, auto/tuk tuk, and a regular automobile:

There is trash everywhere (which is an understatement)!  This is the only time I ever saw anyone cleaning any of it up:

More four-wheeled "wagons" selling more fruit, and more telephone and electrical wires:

I enjoyed learning why the streets are so narrow.

1.  the closer the houses and buildings, the less the sun beats down and heats the streets up

2.  the women were not allowed out to shop, so they were able to socialize with each other from their windows and doors on the second and third floors

This is where we had lunch:

We ate:
Jalebi:  Golden-colored rings of deep-fried flour batter soaked in sugar syrup.  (Crazy good.)
Samosa:  A triangular fried patty stuffed with a filling of potatoes, onions, peas, coriander, and lentils.  (A long-time favorite of mine.)
Kulfi:  Indian ice cream made with lashings of double cream.  (It was fantastic!)
Paranthas:  Unleavened bread stuffed with potato, cauliflower, and/or peas and shallow fried in clarified butter.  (Yum!)
Chaat:  A local street food, generally a mixture of boiled potato pieces, crispy fried bread, gram or chickpeas and spices including chili, topped with coriander leaves and yogurt.  (Different and interesting, but also good.)

When we finished, we were pulled out through the other end of where we had started...into a very, very, very busy intersection.  I am sure that even a video did not give it justice, but we took it anyways:

 

*I'll be honest about our rickshaw ride:  It was definitely something that I wanted to do.  I can enjoy group tours (our bike one in Bali was awesome).  The normal price during this seasonal time for a group was US$50 per individual.  We couldn't get a group tour, therefore normally the price would have been doubled.  I think that the $50 would have been worth it for the experience.   We got a discount on the private tour, but still paid $85 per person.  Taruna was delightful to meet, and we wish her the best with her new business (that is getting quite a bit of chatter on TripAdvisor).  She is very well educated.  However, we could only book a morning ride and still felt rushed due to tour time constraints.  I enjoyed seeing the marketplaces before they were open (to actually see them) but I would have preferred to also see them when they do open (late morning) and get the real feel for the crammed feeling.  I would have liked to gotten out and wandered and stepped inside stores to find hidden treasures.  I would have liked to have paid a lot less for these privileges with a travel company who employs guides (such as Melissa Travels), as well.  But, no regrets.  Next time.