Sunday, July 20, 2008

Here is a short video of a bicycle rickshaw ride I took with Sonu during my first week here. We went to see the Red Fort, which is a series of structures built by emperor Shah Jahan constructed in the medieval city of Shahjahanabad in 1639 A.D. This palace, mosque and fortress wall was the capital of Delhi's seventh city. Delhi is said to be the "city of seven cities," as civilizations would be conquered and new cities built in their place throughout the millenia. You may know the Emperor Shah Jahan because he commissioned the Taj Mahal as a burial place for his wife. The Red Fort displays a lot of the same Mughal Empire design characteristics, such as the onion-shaped domes, intricate stone carvings and inlaid marble.

The Red Fort is in Old Delhi, so we couldn't drive Sonu's car close enough to it to park. Old Delhi's roads were built before the British got here and are narrow and crowded. Instead, we parked about a mile away, then Sonu talked to the gentleman in the video and wrangled us a ride right up to the gate of the fort.

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