Before flying out to South Africa, I had a last morning in Delhi. Time for a little stroll into the old part of Delhi, the ‘grown’ part, that is so distinct from New Delhi’s constructed and planned-out map.

It’s pure Indian craziness in there, with the traffic, the people, shops, Bazaars… like Varanasi, maybe a bit better-off.

The one big difference is that mostly no one cares about foreigners. You’re not constantly being solicited to visit a shop or go somewhere. Tuk-Tuk or rickshaw drivers will offer their services but if you decline leave you alone.

That alone is a big relief and gives you some breathing space.

I walked over to visit the Jama Masjid, the principal mosque in Old Delhi. Shoes off, and I enjoyed a little walk through one of the biggest and best-known mosques in India.

 

It is nice to see how easily Hindus and Muslims seem to live together. A temple here, a mosque there… where is the problem…?

But unfortunately, when India gained its independence, it split up, or tried to, into a Hindu and a Muslim part, today’s Pakistan and Bangladesh being predominantly Muslim, India predominantly Hindu.

Of course it was impossible to draw a line after centuries of living together, and people fled to the other side of the new frontier, unfortunately some 2 million lost their lives in the process, as massacres occurred.

And still today, massacres do happen, in the 21st century. Narendra Modi, leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party and India’s Prime Minister, is rumored to have had a hand in the massacres in his state, in 2002!

So the co-existence is not as easy-going as it might look on the surface, for the unsuspecting tourist.

Enough history, the last hour I spent getting lost in a bazaar nearby, this one dealing mostly with cloth, and decorative material.

It was a true maze and I wandered nearly into people’s homes trying to find a way out… until it was time to head home in Delhi’s modern metro, get my luggage and head on to the airport.

Thank you, India, it’s been a ride!