Monday, September 26, 2011

Welcome to Delhi

For those of you that want to see the sunrise at Humayun’s tomb, I have some news. The wonderful authorities at the beautiful mausoleum want you to get lost. I reached the mausoleum just at sunrise but the ticket counter was closed, but the place was full of walkers and stray dogs. When I entered the premises, I was told by a petty official that I can’t enter without a ticket. The man asked me to come back 1 and a half hours later, despite my pleas to be allowed to take photos in such good light.


He asked me what I would do in his position. I told him I would allow the tourist from Bombay to take wonderful pictures. The man claimed that it was a dereliction of his duty to let me in, without a ticket. I was as stubborn as a mule and forced him to open the ticket counter so that I could pay the Rs 10 ticket and get in.

It’s amazing how these petty officials “exercise their power.” I will definitely file a complaint with the Ministry of Tourism as well as the Archaeological Survey of India. The Indonesian Government charges 20 US dollars to tourists who want to take pictures of Borobudur at sunrise. But the officials and bureaucrats in the Indian Government take great pride in being useless.

Finally I did manage to take fabulous pictures in excellent light. My persistence was strong enough to make the petty official relent.

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