Lotus Temple - New Delhi, India

Located in Kalkaji in the south of Delhi, it is lotus shaped and has rightly been given the name. It is made of marble, cement, dolomite and sand. It is open to all faiths and is an ideal place for meditation and obtaining peace and tranquility.

It is a very recent architectural marvel of the Bahai faith. The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder, Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad. The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. God, Bahá'u'lláh said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of unification.

Read More

Jwalaji Temple - Dehradun, Uttrakhand

Situated at an altitude of 2240 m, this temple is 9 km west of Mussoorie. It is situated on the top of Benog Tibba (Hill) and contains an old idol of Goddess Durga. There is a marvelous view of the Aglar River valley. It can not be accessed by vehicle although a motor road goes most of the way from Mussoorie.

Read More

Robbers's Cave - Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

Robber's Cave locally known as Guchhupani is a river cave formation located approximately 8 km from the centre of Dehradun City (Uttarakhand, India).

The cave is about 600 metres long, divided into two main parts. The cave has a highest fall of about 10 metres. In the central part there is a fort wall structure which is now broken.It consists of an extremely narrow gorge formed in a conglomerate limestone area on Doon Valley's Dehra plateau.

It is a natural cave formation where rivers flows inside the cave. The place is a popular tourist spot and is now being maintained by Uttarakhand State. Local bus services are available up to Anarwala Village, from where it is a kilometre's trek away.

Read More

A Visit to Red Fort - Delhi - India

The Red Fort (usually transcribed into English as Lal Qila is a 17th-century fort complex constructed by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in the walled city of Old Delhi (in present day Delhi, India) that served as the residence of the Mughal Emperors.

The fort was the palace for Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's new capital, Shahjahanabad, the seventh city in the Delhi site. He moved his capital here from Agra in a move designed to bring prestige to his reign, and to provide ample opportunity to apply his ambitious building schemes and interests. It served as the capital of the Mughals until 1857, when Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled by the British Indian government.

The fort, also known as the Qila-e-Shahjahanabad and the Qila-e-Mubarak, was designed by the master-builders Ustad Hamid and Ustad Ahmed. Construction began in 1639 and ended in 1648, though additions continued into as late as the 19th century.

An oblong, irregular octagon in shape, the Red Fort has a perimeter of 2.41 km and is pierced by two main gates, the Lahore Gate and the Delhi Gate (not to be confused with the Delhi Gate of the city further south).

Although the Yamuna has now shifted its course, in Shahjahan’s time it flowed along the Red Fort and water was channelled from it into the moat that surrounds the fort. The main palaces – those occupied by the royal family – were situated along what was then the river front.

Today, only a part of the Red Fort’s original buildings remain; the rest were destroyed during the period after British troops occupied the fort in 1857. There is, however, enough left to give some idea of the grandeur of this splendid citadel.

Timings: 8.00 am – 6.00 pm, Monday closed.
Tickets: Indian Citizens – Rs. 15.00, Foreigners – Rs. 150.00.
Amenities: small canteen, toilets, wheelchair access, parking, guides.

Lahore Gate
The Lahore Gate and the approach to it consist of at least three separate sections, each contributed by a different individual. The bridge you cross before entering the fort was built in 1811 during the British administration of the city. Shahjahan’s successor Aurangzeb added the 10.5m high barbican – the
fortification enclosing the Lahore Gate and making its approach less straightforward. Beyond the barbican, and at right angles to it, stands the Lahore Gate itself, so named because it faces the city of Lahore .The Lahore Gate, incidentally, is where the Prime Minister addresses the nation from on Independence Day.

Read More