Beautiful Delhi

Summer, at least summer as I know it, has arrived in Delhi. This weekend the temperature was warm, the air was clear and I finally went to Lodhi Garden and the Lotus Temple.

I was prepared for the Lotus Temple to be a quickie tourist stop but I ended up sitting inside the temple on a cool marble bench for over an hour. To enter the Bahai temple I removed my shoes and walked up a set of warm stairs before entering a structure that looks very similar to the Sydney Opera House. The temperature was 10 degrees cooler than the outside and guests were directed to sit on very plain, white marble and teak benches in silence. Within the stark white interior and enforced silence I realized that over the last 6 weeks I've become accustomed to sensory overload of the visual and aural kind. It was almost unsettling....but I have a feeling the Lotus Temple will be a great place to escape in the future.

Lodhi Garden is Delhi's version of Golden Gate Park or Central Park...though much smaller. It's also a place where couples go to make out. It's actually quite funny because these may be lovers who's families don't approve and so they make out in private....kind of....there are a handful of green park benches which are perfectly placed facing a large hedge or bush so that when other people walk past, they can't see the faces of the couples smooching. I sat down in the wide open, on slightly damp grass and read Shantaram.