Moving right along...our thrilling bike rickshaw ride dropped us off at the foot of the Jama Masqid, which, for your information was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, was completed in the year 1656 AD and is the largest and best-known mosque in India.
The massive dome on the mosque watching over Old Delhi.
We were lucky enough to come on a Friday, right after prayers and they were cleaning up these huge communal prayer rugs. Pretty cool to see.
Since I was dressed imprudently (jeans and a long sleeve sweater and offered to wear a pashmina, if you were interested) I was requested to wear this really lovely pink flowered robe. This had the unfortunate side effect of just making me that much more of a freak show for the locals to gawk at. On the upside, I do love me some pink, so their choice of color was appreciated. And, after having to wear a few of these at mosques in Egypt a few years back I can say that while this one was far from "clean" they come worse, much worse. And they didn't charge me for it, which was also nice of them.
The mosque had a great vibe- a lot of people were clearly just there to hang out, spend the afternoon with their family in this beautiful place. Its nice to think of a place of worship also as a safe place for families to come spend a sunny Friday afternoon together.
So, after balking at the idea of being barefoot in a public place at the Lotus Temple (it was mainly the communal foot bath that freaked me out) I gave the sans-shoes approach a shot and it went ok. I did scrub my feet like the dickens when we got home and if you saw how dirty Delhi is, you would understand my apprehension. I guess I don't really get how a bunch of barefoot people is really cleaner than a bunch of people with shoes on. Its hard to get a disease from someone else's shoes when you have shoes on too. I have to imagine that people's feet are generally not that clean, and are better conduits for disease than rubber soles. I am all for respecting other people's religious practices, so I risked infectious disease to experience the mosque, but I also really appreciated being able to slip my New Balances back on when we excited.
Beautiful reflecting pool in the middle of the square. Also of dubious hygienic standards (there was lots of washing as well as drinking happening at this watering hole), possibly more threatening than the barefoot-ness. But it was pretty, and a good place to sit down and take in the majestic mosque.
Really impressively tall minaret. You could hear the call to prayer from everywhere in Old Delhi.
More of my admiring fans. These people were sneaky though- they (and 10 of their closest friends) launched a sneak attack. I was just sitting here, sweating to death in my pink polyester robe, enjoying the view of the main mosque when I notice that the people on each side of me seem to be scooting closer and closer to me, and then, boom, someone else sneaks out with a cell phone and the photo scoot began.
Oh yea, time for the unrequested hug from a stranger. I think she happily confirmed that blonde hair feels pretty much like normal hair, even though its funny colored. The first 8 people that wanted to pose with me were mildly entertaining, but the crowd started to gather (no really, I am not kidding, people were practically lining up) so my body guard husband had to whisk me away from the paparazzi.
My body guard is is such a good guy.
As demonstrated here, in addition to ensuring my safety and keeping my adoring fans and their cell phone cameras at bay, he also happily carried my scarf and purse.
Also, despite his short sleeves, was not asked to wear a beautiful bathroom through the mosque.
People chilling out in the steps of the mosque.
Upon leaving the mosque, we braved a bustling market, where one could have bought all manner of religious decorations or second-hand clothes and shoes. Unfortunately it was really crowded, really hot and also filled with some pretty aggressive beggars, so it wasn't a good time to be pushing my big ol' camera in people's faces so there is no photographic evidence of this particular adventure.
No, thank you for visit!
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