Delhi: Day 8

Raisina Hill and Secretariat

Herbert Baker: Secretariat North Block (1928)

After a lovely outdoor lunch at the Lodhi Gardens, we drove to the diplomatic area to visit the United States Embassy and Ambassador’s House (1959-62) designed by Edward Durell Stone. We could not photograph the buildings, leaving our cameras on the bus. The buildings were beautifully maintained. We toured the Ambassador’s house finding that the interior had been modified to enclose the dining room and side rooms, previously open across the double-height interior hall. The Embassy’s interior was a wonderful surprise with a large courtyard pool surrounded by offices on all sides. It had a playful feel with the stepping stones across the pool and the wooden doors to the offices. In fact, it gave me more of a sense of a resort than an office building.

We departed the Embassy for the train station. Our group of forty must have been quite a difficult task for our Delhi administrator, Piyush, to move us through the massive crowds of people meeting arriving passengers and departing for all parts of India. The train station was immense, or so it felt. And, we thought we wouldn’t have to wait long for our train, but again, the fog descended onto Delhi. Our train and every other train moving through the capital was delayed by hours. We finally reached Chandigarh after midnight.