she paints; she is a painter

One of the requisite tourist events in Old Delhi is to take a bicycle rickshaw ride through the alleys and warrens of one of the oldest bazaars in India, the Chandani Chowk. Originally conceived for the veiled ladies of the 1650s and constructed with a canal reflecting the moonlight by the daughter of the great Mogul Emperor, Shah Jahan, himself, this market place is now a captivating and frightening experience.

(Click on photo to start slide show)

Once we are all settled into our rickshaws, we try to relax and take in the surroundings. Not possible!! First, it is very difficult to balance a camera and keep yourself secure! The energy, the sounds, the smells, movable objects are all overwhelming! Finally, you look towards the sky and realize you are in a 19th century nightmare of exposed, loose, uninsulated, and tangled electrical wires!! “Old, precariously-placed, open transformers lie in the midst” (of all the shoppers, cars and rickshaws) “like deathtraps.” You can barely believe your eyes!! (Click on photo to start slide show)

 The shops and little warehouses are so overstocked with all sorts of goods, including paper, plastics and other flammables that there would be no escape routes in case of fire!!

By the time we finished our close encounter with the microcosm of everything for sale in India, we experienced a kind of elation , like having accomplished an extreme sport!