Cathedral Church of the Redemption

The Cathedral Church of the Redemption has been just behind the parliamentary houses in Delhi since the 1930s.
It was the Viceroy Church, built near to the Rashtrapati Bhavan for the British Viceroy and other officers.

It was decided that a church was needed in the Raisina Hill area and Sir Edwin Luyten oversaw a competition for it's design.  

Henry Medd's design was chosen and construction begun. 
 Even King George donated toward its construction.

The walls were built thick and heavy with the intent of keeping out the heat and creating a cool interior.

The church can still keep a person cool on a Sunday morning during one of it's three services in English, Tamil or Hindi.

Republic Day lights

For Republic Day, the Rastrapati Bhavan, North and South Block are all lit up.
It's something I have wanted to see for some time now.

It was a beautiful sight.

Beating the Retreat

There's an annual event in Delhi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.  It's the closing ceremony of the Republic Day events, known as Beating the Retreat.

I have no pictures of my own because cameras--and anything else you might carry--are strictly not allowed (which is a story itself).

What I do have is a picture in my memory.
Imagine this...
The sun is setting behind Rashtrapati Bhavan with the silhouettes of the BSF soldiers and their camels standing at attention, while the chimes in the towers rang out 'Abide with me'. 
It was beautiful. 

Beating the Retreat is a leftover from British days.  It's a ceremony that marked the end of the day retreat of troops from the battlefield.  The Indian military today still takes great pride in making this ceremony their own, with the President as the guest of honor. 

Myself, I felt like a guest of honor to be let in at all.

Rashtrapati Bhavan--from the INSIDE!

I had to look up who the President of India is.  I thought it was still that other guy, the one with the long hair, but it's not.
...I don't really pay much attention to this stuff...

President Patil is India's first woman president. 
And I had to know this because I was going to her house:  the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

I've been here to the presidential residence before, but not on this side of the gate.

This time I had permission to go inside and take a tour.

And the president was home, too.  That's what it means when the flag is flying.  She didn't come out to say 'hello', though. 
I did not get to meet the president, just to see the cool place where she lives.

From inside, it's much easier to get a look at the Jaipur column.  It really is a massive thing.  It looks smaller when they make you stand far away on the other side of the gate.

And here, the back side of the elephants is one last view I am thrilled to have seen--because you can only see it from the inside of the gates! 

Rashtrapati Bhavan

Rashtrapati Bhavan is fun to say.
And fun to see.

It has a beautiful gate, which stops you from getting any closer to the presidential residence, but you can stand there and admire it for as long as you like.

Standing here beside the gate, you can also see the Jaipur column, which was a gift from the Maharajah of Jaipur to the British when they were constructing Luyten's Delhi. It has an inscription on it which reads:

In thought faith,
In word wisdom,
In deed courage,
In life service,
So may India be great.

Rashtrapati Bhavan stands at one end of Rajpath and can be seen from India Gate.

I wouldn't recommend walking that distance, though.
Or walking from the back side, where the entrance to the Mughal Gardens is.
Both are farther than you imagine. Especially when it's hot and there are not enough ice cream sellers around.
When those auto drivers go past asking whether you want a ride, don't shoo them away. This is good advice--I know because I ignored it twice.

This last picture shows what is known as Lutyen's Waterloo.
Sir Edwin Lutyen, in his design, wanted there to be a perfect eye line from India Gate to the residence on Raisina Hill. The original site of the building was pushed back by several hundred meters, which meant that the hill blocked the view and made the building look small.
Lutyen fought to have the road leveled to a long, inclined grade so the view would be unobscured. He was convinced the overall architectural design would be ruined.
He never won this battle, though, and his defeat was compared to Napoleon's at Waterloo. It would cost too much money at a time when the British were not looking to invest in building projects in India.

I have to agree with him. It's a shame that you can't see the full extent of what an imposing and immense structure lies at the end of Rajpath. It would be a sight worth seeing.

Rajpath

Rajpath is the boulevard that runs from Rashtrapati Bhavan, through India Gate to the National Stadium.

It's a historic place. Designed by Edwin Lutyens and built by the British, it's still where the seat of the Indian government is, ceremonially speaking, and where several administrative offices are located.
The panoramic view is almost unparalleled anywhere else within India.

And so, considering how important it is, I think that some of the sights along Rajpath are rather amusing.

It's also a popular spot for Indian tourists and picnickers. Therefore, it's also full of hawkers and snack sellers.

Some find it to be a good place for an afternoon nap.
For both people and street dogs.

And, oddly, it seems to be a good place to take a bath and do some laundry.

I think that's incredible.

It's the equivalent of bathing and washing clothes in the National Mall of Washington D.C. Would anyone do that?

But this is India, and so it seems to be a naturally accepted part of the scenery.
How could Rajpath ever expect to fit into India if it didn't have the hawkers, the nappers, the bathers and the masses of varied humanity swarming around it?
It just wouldn't.
It all all belongs there, right down to the very last street dog sleeping beside the tree-lined pools.

Mughal Garden

The lovely dahlia here is from my balcony, not from the garden. I would like to show you some of the wonderful garden, but I cannot.
Nothing but ourselves was allowed into the garden.
No cameras.
No phones.
No food.
No water bottles.
No pens.
No chapstick.

All I had in my pocket when I went to visit the Mughal garden of Rashtrapati Bhavan was my keys and some money.
I searched for information about whether or not there would be a place to deposit anything before entering, thinking surely there must be dozens of people showing up with their belongings and needing somewhere to put them. I even called the tourist department in Delhi, but I couldn't find evidence of any such possibility, other than one article that mentioned "depositing" your things at the entry gate.

The gardens are opened once a year during February and March when the flowers begin to bloom. Otherwise they, and the rest of the Presidential residence, remain off limits to the general public.
There are over 250 varieties of roses--not to mention all the other kinds of flowers--in the gardens. And right now, they are wonderfully in bloom.

For there to even be 250 varieties of roses, people have come up with some unique names, which lead to some confusion in one of the articles I came across. It gave a list of some of the famous international visitors to the gardens, and Abraham Lincoln was on the list.
Huh?
Abraham Lincoln was dead long before Sir Edward Luytens was even born, let alone designed the Rashtrapati Bhavan and it's surrounding gardens.
Yet when I was there, I noticed that Lincoln had been to the garden--the Lincoln rose, named after him.
The Christian Dior rose, too, another of the famous people like the article mentioned.

Haha. These are the distinguished visitors--roses.
Ya, the roses are pretty nice, but don't believe everything you read online.