We spent quite a few days in Delhi in 2011, and I really loved it. The city exceeded all my expectations. Our imminent shift to Malaysia, however, meant my blog post on India at the time was terribly sketchy.

We actually covered a lot in Delhi back then: the National Museum, India Gate, Connaught Place, the Gandhi Smriti and Raj Ghat, the shopping/dining area of Karol Bagh, the Red Fort, the Jantar Mantar, the Purana Qila, Qutb Minar, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum, the Jawaharlal Nehru Museum, Humayun's Tomb, Safdarjang's Tomb, the Jama Masjid and its nearby streets of Old Delhi, a Sikh Gurudwara, a couple of malls...

A few days into the trip, I remarked in my diary:

"I have to say I'm enjoying Delhi very much. There's so much green space. There's so much history... And -- toi toi toi -- it's so much easier than I was imagining. Yes, the pollution is bad, the traffic is exhausting, and there are certainly people who have to be avoided or deflected -- but it's not markedly worse in those respects than other places I've been to. And its riches amply -- amply -- compensate for its disadvantages."

On the final evening, the verdict was in:

"I have thoroughly enjoyed Delhi... I would happily come back here."

Well, finally, we did go back there. From Kolkata, via Sikkim, Darjeeling, Varanasi, and Lucknow, we finally made it to Delhi. The train from Lucknow was late, so we didn't arrive until the early hours of Saturday. Nevertheless, we still had two days:

Day 1

After tracking down some parathas and curds (it was starting to feel like a long time since Indian Railways' copious dinner the night before), we took the metro to the Hauz Khas area.

Delhi's metro is cheap, efficient, and easy to use. The trade-off is that it seems it's always uncomfortably crowded.



It took us a while to work out where the "good" stuff was in Hauz Khas, but even the warm-up was interesting: the tree-lined streets of a pleasant residential area; little parks filled with five-barred squirrels, pigeons, and parrots; a modern Orthodox church; an ancient monument with little niches where the severed heads of thieves used to be displayed...







After a while we started finding tombs. Tomb after tomb... Elegant, venerable, amazingly intact.







From this area we took the metro to Lodhi Gardens. I had thought this was just a green area where we could stroll and people-watch. But here, too, are historic tombs, mosques, and gateways. It's a lovely area to explore.









From the Lodhi Gardens we pressed on to Khan Market. This is an enclave of fairly upmarket and/or specialized shops arranged along narrow streets. We squeezed into Cafe Turtle for expensive but delicious cakes and coffee. Mine was a spicy take on carrot cake. On the floor below is the excellent Full Circle Bookstore. I guess this is the kind of complex you now find the world over in middle-class areas. It reminded me of The Bookworm in Beijing.

Day 2

Ramas Cafe in Karol Bagh serves a "mini-tiffin" breakfast that is absolutely fantastic.

One small masala dosa, one idli, and one vadai; one upma and one dish of pongal (the menu said I had to choose between the latter two, but actually I got both); dal, three chutneys, and some chili relish; and a wonderful masala chai.

All first-rate quality. What a transcendental breakfast with which to end our trip.

Our first destination, reached by the again-crowded Delhi metro, was the Swaminarayan Akshardham. In its own words, it "showcases India's art, architecture, culture, values and wisdom as a tribute to Bhagwan Swaminarayan (1781-1830), a torchbearer of Indian culture... Akshardham is the eternal abode of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, a place of pure devotion and spiritual bliss".



I don't claim to understand these things, but the divine essence, it seems, manifested itself in this person at an early age. He completed a long and austere journey round India, and then started to gather disciples. It sounds as though he was quite progressive in his attitudes, supporting women and those of lower caste.

The site is enormous, and the buildings are extraordinarily ornate and complex, a labour of love. The outer walls, which surround the mandir like a garland, are made of dark red sandstone. The exterior of the mandir itself uses a tawny sandstone, and the inside an ivory-coloured marble. Suddenly you reach the inner sanctum, which is alive with pinks and blues, glittering surfaces, twinkling lights, and plinths of green marble.

All around the outside runs a rather lovely frieze depicting all manner of manifestations of elephants, religious, mythical, environmental, and so on.

The geometric form of the pools and gardens reminded me of Islamic places of worship.

We spent about three hours there. Those who want to do the ceremonies and visit the (payable) exhibitions could easily spend the day.

Photography is strictly forbidden (and it is kind of nice to view something without the usual obstacle course of cameras, phones, and selfie-sticks). I snapped some pages from the guide, just for the record:



We then took the metro to Patel Chowk station, where there is a little metro museum. Quite interesting to read about the big debate between broad gauge and narrow gauge, see the mockups of tunnel boring machines, and observe the plans for new lines which are obviously desperately needed.

We decided to walk back to Karol Bagh. Initially this was a good move, and we were rewarded with more of Delhi's broad, tree-lined streets. But then the route deteriorated. We persisted. But what we should have done at that point was pick up a tuktuk or a rickshaw.

For old times' sake, we had lunch at Shudh, the same place we'd patronized in the early days of our 2011 trip. I even revisited my first dish: pav bhaji, with salad, and a cumin-infused lime soda. The food was good, and the music was jolly.

Unfortunately, though, by now it was time to start all the tedious pre-departure stuff...

I can only repeat:

"I have thoroughly enjoyed Delhi. I would happily come back here."