Disclaimer: i am not a "swaminarayan" follower. or maybe my family is, i am not really sure. but thats not why i am writing this. i would be saying this even if it was a monument of buddhist, jain, muslim or any other religion.
Ok, it’s a little bit of an exaggeration, or maybe not. But it truly is a monument of epic proportion. The New Delhi Akshardham, it’s a monument rather than a temple. It is majestic in its size, its beautiful in its landscape, and its breathtaking in its architecture. There are few structures in the world that have impressed me more than I have been impressed by this place.
This my friends, is the closest thing to the modern day Palace that the Maharajas used to build for themselves in ages gone by. The gardens, the landscape, the area, the various buildings, the exhibition halls, the huge idols, everything you lay your eyes on is either grand, serene or exotic.
It is probably guarded more than the Taj Mahal is guarded, and it probably gets many more visitors than the Taj Mahal does. On a Saturday and Sunday, there is a MAD rush to just get in there. People are lined up in hoards and I definitely would not want to be the one in the queue when the gates up for people to go in, because you will be stamped on, jumped on, and pushed from all sides by people who want to push past you.
But once you are past the grueling frustrating hour or two long wait of getting in, the rest is shear joy to the eyes for someone who likes grand things. The carvings all over the place are quite exquisite. The exhibition halls are so well planned and designed, that you know some smart people have put a lot of effort behind it. There water ride through the history of India is also beautiful done. The only drawback it has for universal acceptability is the fact that it’s a monument in appreciation of a particular religion and a particular god. All displays and videos are based on that religion and so ‘might’ not give the people from other religion who are visiting the same satisfaction that someone from the same religion would have.
But without being too critical, I will say its one of the best modern day monuments that has been build in world, and definitely the best one built in India since the Taj Mahal.
You know how a Lotus blossoms in the midst of dirt, and how a rose is surrounded by thorns. Well, believe you me, there is something similar to this monument as well.
The city of Delhi is by far the worst big city that I have been to. There is no surety of the time it takes for you to visit from point A to point B even if the two might only be a couple of miles apart. People living in the NCR themselves admit, that they can only complete one errand in a day, and when they go for a meeting to any location, in most cases, they are late at the meeting, or reach after the meeting has finished. Driving in Delhi is a nightmare that I wouldn’t want to wake up to everyday. There is construction going on everywhere, and all that is at such a slow pace compared to the growth of delhi, that by the time the new roads and bridges are made, they will become inadequate for the increase in volume of delhi traffic.
Yes, there are some beautiful areas, but those are only for the MP’s and politicians to enjoy, once you get past those areas, nothing in New Delhi fascinates me.
For the capital of our country, New Delhi leaves you wanting so much more than what it presently offers.
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