Trumpet blowing

Sometimes we all fall prey to great media coverage and loud trumpet blowing.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to visit the new Akshardham Temple in Delhi. For a week, I had read nothing but of the magnificence of this 'monument for the ages'. Read one here... The newspapers, online channels, even forwards on my corporate inbox, were all filled with stories and pictures of this heavenly place.

Ok, fine, I'll bite. Saturday afternoon, my wife, my friends and I decided to visit. We were all self confessed photography enthusiasts. Equipped with our cameras, our expectations built high we drove for over an hour through the dusty Delhi traffic to the banks of the dirty Yamuna. As we entered the big almost pearly gates, we had our first shock. A big sign which listed 'No cameras inside' along with the usual but utterly useless 'No weapons' signs. Like anyone is going to claim they didn't know it wasn't allowed!

No cameras! What did you write so much about the architecture for then? So we could come with our naked eyes and relish in the beauty? The security guard told us that we could take photos of the complex from the car park. Great! Here is what we got. Can you all see the beauty?




I firmly believe that public photos give a place more publicity than any other media. The Akshardham publicity crew had done a good job posting the best photos and inviting us shoot-at-sight members to come but now with us posting photos like this, I can only see the interest dwindling.

Ok so back to the temple, given that we can shoot from the parking lot we took our 300mm zooms and went to the 15 feet high surrounding fence. Within seconds we had guards rushing at us with their whistles! It would have been more fun if it were trumpets I know, but they whistled and whistled till we found out that we couldn't even go up to the fence. We had to literally shoot from our car! I had had enough!

Leaving our cameras in the car, we went to the entrance. If you are under 21 please skip to the next para coz this one talks about the atrocious man/woman handling at the entry post. It isn't really nice to hear your wife say she got felt up more by the woman guard than she'd ever been before! Exaggeration, of course, but point made. I know YOU* guys had an incident at Ahmedabad but seriously, next time we will sue!

Somewhat embarrased we walked on. The main complex was grand. Super grand! Confusingly, too grand! All the man hours, all the effort, but just too ostentatious for my liking. And I was still pissed I couldn't capture it all! If you have seen the Taj Mahal, you will know what makes a grand but yet strikingly simple building. The life -size elephants they had touted about must have been modeled from the relatively-unknown, now extinct vertically-challenged species. Inside, too many carvings, too many statues, too much distraction! But if I had my camera, I could have seen it all at leisure!

At 6pm the musical fountain switched on. We sat with the crowd and saw the well choreographed water dance for 15 minutes. Had it been longer and I might have actually forgotten my cribs. But after spending crores on this building they couldn't afford to waste too much water. We then ate at their no-onion food canteen, food was ok, and came back home.

So should you go? Yes, only if you believe in Swaminarayan.
If you want to take photos, be treated civilly or have a pleasant evening, NO!
Next time YOU guys blow your own trumpet please make sure we get ample opportunity to do so too.

Have any of you been there? What do you think?
Were you treated well? I am no VIP but maybe you are.
And in an entirely new crib, what is the need to spend millions on a structure like this today? Feed the poor instead!

P.S. I left a critical message in their guestbook, and here is what they said. Operative word: "Selected"
'Thank you Jyothi Karthik Raja for your opinion. Selected opinions will be listed in our guest book within one month.'

*YOU in capitals in the post refers to the Akshardham Management.