A Bollywood film, a mosque and mughal fort

Well, Dabangg was brilliant fun - totally hilarious! It was kind of a spoof of itself, very tongue in cheek and over the top: big song and dance numbers, matrix-style combat scenes (in which the hero regularly wipes out huge gangs single handedly), and some extraordinary moustaches. No subtitles, but Raghu explained the crucial bits of dialogue so we could keep up. Here's a clip of one of the songs, to give you a flavour of the awesomeness of Bollywood!

On Tuesday we got up a bit earlier (slowly getting over the jetlag), and went with Raghu to visit the Jama Masjid, which is the largest mosque in India, built in 1644-1658. We walked there through the streets of the old city (an area which has apparently been designated a slum) - winding, mucky alleyways with electricity cables hanging tangled along them, full of people, shops, cycle rickshaws, dogs, and goats. The mosque has a lovely big courtyard where people come to hang out, and we climbed one of the 40m-high minaret towers, from which you can see amazing views of Delhi sprawling out below (the city is really colourful from above).

The Jama Masjid:

Views from the minaret:

After visiting the mosque, we hopped in a cycle rickshaw to the Red Fort, which is a grand, fortified area built by the Mughal empire. Inside there is a covered bazaar, gardens and several royal chambers built of sandstone or marble. We got caught in the monsoon while we were there, and again later that evening. The monsoon is usually finished by now, so everyone seems surprised that we're all getting so regularly drenched! It's so hot though that the rain is often something of a relief.

Caught in the monsoon at the Red Fort:We're both loving the food here too: we had an incredible South Indian thali for lunch yesterday, and also we've been eating loads of Indian sweets, which I seriously can't get enough of!

Our first day in Delhi

Hello, Stu here. So that was my first day in India, ever. Ania's been here before, so I think she's settled in a bit faster. I'd been warned what to expect from India, and Delhi especially feels very 'in at the deep end'. We went into Old Delhi today and had a great few hours including a delicious curry for lunch (of course!), a couple of rickshaw rides (one through rush hour traffic that was... interesting!) and visiting Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi that marks the place where he was cremated.

The city is huge and to my Western senses (and to my Stuart Duggan senses) feels extremely overcrowded. It's also hard to know who to trust. You read in every guidebook that there are scams everywhere and I'm sure they're right. The thing is it's hard not to get lost under a cloud of pessimism when some kind soul is genuinely offering to take your picture or help you find your way; and not secretly hoping to steal your wallet.

As I write this we're sitting in Raghu's flat. Raghu is a friend of Ania's from childhood who has kindly let us stay for a few days. Tonight we are going to the cinema with him and some others to watch 'Dabangg', which I'm assured is a massive Bollywood hit. It's 'the story of Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan), a totally fearless but corrupt police officer with unorthodox working methods.' So either he's a tough cop who gets the job done, shoots first, asks questions later; or he solves crimes from his lighthouse hide-out, using his experience in professional magic to save the day.

So there's a little flavour of what we've been up to so far. Stay tuned and we'll post again soon. I'll let you know how Chulbul Pandey gets on with those unorthodox working methods.