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An anchorman rehearses before a news show at NDTV, India's top news network, similar to CNN in the U.S. |
In our last days in Delhi, our smaller group got to work to lay the groundwork (we hope) for next year.
The day after our students left, we, Carl and I, visited the very high-tech and modern NDTV studios, in which we were were given a full tour of the facilities, housed in a six-story high-rise. Within the building there are production facilities for news, entertainment and financial programs. The network has channels that broadcast in English, Hindi, Tamil and other languages. And it's growing, according to our tour guide, producer Rachna Nayyar.
And NDTV is truly international and connected to the US, the UK and other markets. Rachna was headed off to San Francisco, New York and London after or tour to help coordinate an international "green" telethon to raise money to help address climate change.
We next went the Times of India, the largest English-language newspaper in the world, with more than 7 million readers worldwide, according to Devlin Roy, the principal of the Times' journalism program, a one-year post-baccalaureate degree program which aims to prepare young journalists to work in the multi-media company. The Times company has affiliate companies working in multi-media, financial management, marketing, advertising and a vast array of publications. Roy really rolled out the red carpet for us; he took us to visit with Punit Jain, vice president of development for the company, Vikas Singh, resident or managing editor, and Arindam Sen Gupta, executive editor.
In both media outlets, the executives with whom we talked were anxious to work with us to help develop ASU's ties with Indian media and to support us on future tours.
We barely had time to catch our collective breaths as Sangeet Seth, owner of our hotel and CEO of the small chain the Velvet Apple, and his wife, Anu, took us to Sangeet's private club, the Roshanara Club, for dinner. The club, a large marble cricket club built by the "Britishers" in the 1920s, had a full array of activities, restaurants, and a men-only bar area, where Sangeet was happy to introduce me to his many friends in the business and professional community.
Indian restaurants often don't open until 7 p.m., and Sangeet's club was on the other side of one of the world's major cities, so it was a late night.
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Gautama, the Buddha, is said to have sat under a bo tree to meditate before starting his ministry, and the bo leaf is the model of of the shape of many Buddhist burial sites, called stupas. It is also similar to arches and doorways throughout India. The style of architecture was used by Buddhists, Hindus, Moslems, the British and modern builders. |
The next day, we explored pre-Mughal artifacts and monuments. Sometimes, with the Taj Mahal and other monuments, the Mughals seem to dominate Indian history. But there were more than 3,000 years of civilization in India before them. We started at Lodi Park, the capitol of the Muslim Afghan dynasty that preceded the Moghuls as rulers of north India. Their monuments were hundreds of years older, smaller, but similar, and no less impressive.
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One of India's ubiquitous house crows makes its hoarse call as it seeks shade at Emperor Sikander Lodi's tomb at Lodi Gardens park. |
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Sara E. McNeil explores the Bara Gumbad mosque in Lodi Gardens park. |
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A groundskeeper weeds the garden in the 98-degree midday heat in front of Emperor Mohammed Shah's tomb in Lodi Gardens park, the former capitol of the Afghan Lodi dynasty, in Delhi. |
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A local man finds shelter from the heat at Emperor Sikander Lodi's tomb in Lodi Gardens park. |
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| Jack Zibluk and Kate Zibluk enjoy the shade at Lodi Gardens |
We then went to the hot and dusty National Museum, which had exhibits dating back to the Indus Valley civilization that was contemporary with the Egyptians, the Sumerians and the Chinese. We also saw a photo exhibit on some Indian tribes which practice unusual traditional lifestyles in which women plug their noses and wear traditional tattoos.
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Moghul Emperor Jangahir admires a painting of the Virgin Mary in a painting at a the National Museum of India. The Mughals honored the traditions and practices of the christians and Hindus under their rule as well as the religions and cultures of their visitors. |
On our last day, we stayed close to our hotel, the Velvet Apple, located in an upscale neighborhood, Greater Kailash I, and did some shopping in two local shopping precincts, M-Block and N-Block markets.
Our next stop is Mumbai, and then home.
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