A quick recap from the blog post in this series. Taking off from Chennai, we landed in Delhi. From there, we embarked upon a journey to one of my dream destination, Amristar via train. Visiting golden temple was definitely one of the blissful experiences in my life. Then, departed to our next destination, Agra via Delhi.
Day 3 – 30th March 2018
It must be around 12 am the information board just outside Hazrat Nizamuddin station notified that our train to Agra was delayed by more than an hour. In the meanwhile, we decided to relax with some tea in a nearby shop. The main reason behind our visit to Agra was none other than the most famous Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. Our train was scheduled to arrive at Agra quite early in the morning, we checked for the opening visiting hours on the official site. I noticed something that momentarily broke my heart, highlighted in red, it read, Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays for general viewing. It’s a moment of realization and how true when they say The devil is in the detail. Just missing a tiny detail has put the whole pan jeopardy. As a result, we were cluelessly stuck at a railway station in the outskirts of Delhi, that too in the midnight.
So, we decided to shuffle our plans to roam around the Delhi that day and catch up with the Agra plan the next day. As Shashi suggested, we called the hostel that we booked for the next day to check if they could be of any help. How lucky, in spite of being a popular and a busy one, to our surprise, they had a few empty beds to spare to squeeze us in. It was around 2 am when we reached the most awesome Madpackers Hostel, New Delhi. If you are traveling to Delhi and keen to meet interesting travelers plus a great place to stay without burning much cash, this is the one to go for. After a long and tiring day, you would have expected us to knock ourselves off on the bed. But to the contrary, we went up to their relaxing rooftop garden and chilled out with some drinks that we got at the Delhi airport. Close to the dawn, Remya and Shalini decided to catch up with some sleep. On the other hand, Shashi, Kavin & I woke up all night chit chatting and even took a morning walk in search for some hot tea.
Back to the hostel, post munching our complimentary breakfast we sat down at the common area to plan for the rest of the day. That’s where we met Danniele & Justin, 2 friends from the USA and Alex & Ali a couple from Germany all planning for the same. So, we teamed up on the common cause to explore Delhi. To our comfort, the Hauz Khas Delhi Metro Station was just a walk away from our hostel. To cut down on the cost, we bought the One Day Card at a Rs 150/- (Rs 100 + Rs 50 refundable security) which gives us unlimited metro rides for the day.
Delhi Metro Day Card
About an hour of traveling in the crowded Delhi Metro and a short walk from the Kalkaji Mandir Metro Station, we arrived at our 1st destination for the day, one of the prominent landmarks in Delhi, The Lotus Temple. It’s a Bahá’í House of Worship, primarily the place of worship of the Bahá’í faith, a religion teaching the essential worth of all religions, and the unity and equality of all people. So, this temple is open to all humans irrespective of their religion, caste, color or qualification. Surrounded by the garden, stood a beautiful Lotus shaped structure. No wonder this temple has won numerous architectural awards for its unique Lotus shape with 27 pure white marble-clad petals. Inside the temple is a large auditorium with tall ceilings where no one is not allowed to talk. I totally got immersed in my own silence and the peace that surrounded that place. Though no photographs were allowed, I did manage to click a few. For me, this place conveys a strong message of peace in unity. It was already around 3 pm when we came out of the temple.
After munching on some snacks and tender coconut, we resumed our journey to the next and the last destination of the day. Yet another hour of a ride in the metro, we reached the Akshardham station. By then we all were a bit tired and super hungry as we were yet to have our lunch. We just managed with some short bites that we could source from the station kiosk as we had to rush to our next destination that was due closing in a few mins. A few mins of walk from the station took us to the famous Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple.
One of the huge drawbacks of that place is that they don’t allow you to carry mobile phones, camera or any gadgets inside the temple. So, we had to stand for more than an hour in a long queue to deposit our mobiles and bags in their cloakroom. It’s quite safe as the mobile phones and valuables are photographed prior depositing. Finally, we entered the temple complex after passing a security check that involved frisking. There stood a marvelous marble structure that felt worthy of going through all the trouble. This magnificent temple made of pink stone and white marble is a result of more than 300 million man-hours of hard work by 11,000 artisans and volunteers. I was totally awestruck by its sheer beauty. The intricate patterns and sculptures are definitely a treat to our eyes. Though not a big fan of temples, I must really thank Shashi for recommending this place. The below pics are from the official temple site. I don’t own them.
Then came the best part of the day, the water fountain show, AKA The Sahaj Anand Water Show. It was such an immersive experience mixing multi-color lasers, video projections, underwater flames, water jets and surround sound. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. After the show, we had our dinner at the temple food court. To my surprise, our foreign friends loved the masala dosa.
I was totally exhausted when we reached back to our hostel after riding the last metro of the day. I even dozed off on the common area couch as Remya gave me a nice massage and that’s how a yet another awesome day came to an end.
To Be Continued …
Gokoulane Ravi 
It’s been so long since we took that trip. I’m surprised you remember such minute details from then 🙂
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