Delhi Darshan Trip - Part 1

Plans started of very well on 25th. Day 1 was to be a trip to Akshardham starting by 9 AM and return by 4 PM. But... plans to bigad hi jaate hain naa... But this time it was for good. read on to see how...

Saturday, 27th December 2008 (Day 1)

Woke up at 7 in the morning first time in 17 days. By 10 we were all ready to set out on a full day trip to Akshardham. On the way, my uncle said, 'We can visit Lotus Temple, it wouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes, why waste another day just for this'. Although I was a bit reluctant at first but then I agreed.

So Destination 1 became The Bahai House of Worship: Lotus Temple. It is a temple of no religion. No idol is worshipped in the huge auditorium (or the Main Temple), that can accomodate over 1300 people at the same time. I don't think I need to give factual descriptions of the places, that can be found anywhere on the net. We moved on, checking the Delhi CityGuide Map every now and then.

The map did misguide us a bit since it was a 6-year old edition. So on Outer Ring Road we moved a bit ahead from what was required and thus thought of popping in at the (Destination 2) Indraprastha Park (Popularly known as Milennium Park to Delhites) and have a look at the Buddhist Temple there, which my aunty had visited on 9th (and I had only seen the pics). The Park is spread over an area of 34 acres (Is this much?). Seen in the picture above is one of the entry points: Gate no. 3.

Does that look familiar?(above)

Buddha and me (below)

By the time we moved again it was 1 PM. We now found the correct way (after a bit of enquiry) and went on the Nizamuddin Bridge trans-Yamuna. There are many many nurseries there and such beautiful flowers. From the road I could see one of the jhopdis with a Tata Sky disk!!! We moved on and saw the Commonwealth Games Village, under construction. Multi-storeyed buildings for the athletes to stay during the Games are under construction here. A bit ahead and we got the first glimpse of the dome of the main temple of Akshardham. Moving ahead and nearer to our destination, we just sat unblinking, looking at the vastness of the whole temple complex. Time was 20 minutes past 1 PM.

Akshardham darshan in Part 2. Coming really very very soon...(May be it is there already, even before you read this)