The capital of the world's largest democracy has a truly fascinating history, but with a population of 14 million sprawling over some 1,500 sq. km (585 sq. miles), and plagued by the subcontinent's highest levels of pollution, growth, and poverty, Delhi's delights are not immediately apparent. Even Delhiites, the majority of whom have been born elsewhere, seldom show pride in the city they now call home, bemoaning its drab mixture of civil servants, aspiring politicians, and avaricious businesspeople; the ever-expanding slums and "unauthorized" colonies; the relatively high levels of crime; and the general demise of traditional ways. Yet Delhi is in many ways the essence of modern India, with its startling paradox of old and new, foreign and familiar. And it remains the best starting point for exploring North India, not only because of its excellent transport connections and relatively sophisticated infrastructure, but because the history of Delhi, one of the oldest cities in the world, is essentially the history of India.
The city is littered with crumbling tombs and ruins, most of which are not even on the tourist map. They -- like the elephant trundling alongside a traffic-logged road, where handwritten posters for CUSTOM CONFISCATED GOODS SOLD HERE vie with glossy fashion billboards -- are just part of the strange fabric of Delhi. It doesn't have the vibrancy of Mumbai or the atmosphere of Kolkata, but in one day you can go from marveling at the sheer grace of the soaring Qutb Minar Tower, built in 1199 by the Turkish Slave King Qutb-ud-din Aibak to celebrate his victory over the Hindu Rajputs, to gawking at that 1920s British imperialist masterpiece, palatial Rashtrapati Bhavan. You can wander through the sculptural Jantar Mantar, a huge, open-air astronomy observatory built in 1725 by Jai Singh, creator and ruler of Jaipur, to the still-sacred atmosphere surrounding the tomb of the 14th-century Sufi saint, Sheikh Nizamuddin Aulia, or the 16th-century garden tomb of Mughal Emperor Humayun, precursor to the Taj. Or, after the chaos of exploring the crowded streets of 17th-century Shahjahanabad, Delhi's oldest living city, you can escape to Rajghat, the park where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated in 1948; or to Lodi Gardens, where lawns and golfing greens are studded with the crumbling 15th-century tombs of once-powerful dynasties. And still you haven't covered the half of it.. .. But despite its host of attractions, unless you're staying in one of its top hotels (of which The Imperial is almost a destination in its own right), Delhi is not a very relaxing destination, and it is as famous for its pollution (it was rated the fourth-most-polluted city in the world through the 1990s) as it is for its sights. Unless you're a history buff or here on business, spend as much time as you need to recover from jet lag, choosing to view only a few of its many attractions, and then move on. The rest of India, with its awesome array of experiences and beauty, awaits you.
The Plight of the Delhi Beggars
Some 50,000 people live on Delhi's pavements or squalid open lots. These squatters are predominantly from rural areas, many of them forced to move off their ancestral lands to make way for a network of dams that are being constructed across North India despite fierce opposition. Oblivious to the blatant injustice these people have suffered, Delhi's municipal authorities passed a law in September 2002 that makes it an offense to give money to beggars at traffic lights, in part because "it portrays an adverse picture of our country." Begging has in fact been illegal since the 1959 Beggars Act, and those arrested have to bribe the police to avoid spending up to 3 years in jail, but this is the first time the actual act of giving has been penalized. As local human-rights lawyers argue, the authorities are effectively criminalizing poverty. And if you deny the desperate the right to beg, they are left with one alternative. Crime.
