Mosques, temples and markets

What a full day. It begins with a step into the hallway of the hotel thinking there must be a fire. The smoke from the outside seeps through the hotel each time the main door opens from the street. The fire are small wood fires that people use to keep warm, make tea and cook. They do this along the side of the road. Did you know that most buildings have no heat and get water for maybe 15 minutes a day. The power goes out constantly. We had two power outages last night but the hotel has a generator. Arvind warns us that in India nothing is measured in distance it I measured in time take. Once on the road you can see that it will take forever to get through the city. As we began driving the smog was so bad you could see nothing through the gray haze. You feel the effects immediately in your throat and eyes it is so bad. I guess this time of year is especially bad because of humidity and the need for fire to keep warm. Our first stop was the Jama Masjid India's largest mosque. The Mosque was beautiful. Stone archways with many men praying. The women had to cover their clothes with a wrap. There we're men bathing their feet in a pool preparing for prayer. it was a very peaceful place. As we drove through the Muslim quarter you could see the butchers on the side of the road, chickens in cages waiting to be dinner. Nothing, I mean nothing can prepare you for a drive in Delhi. It's a battle of wills, who will give first or who is bigger. We made our way to the Birla temple. This was a beautiful temple with an altar for the different gods. people would bring the marigolds as b Offerings and their were priests who gave blessings and put the red dot on your forhead to show your inner guru. The drive continued to show the craziness.It is truly going back in time.