It’s Republic Day in New Delhi

Today, January 26 is Republican Day which is a national holiday. This is a big event here in New Delhi with massive crowds of people and traffic everywhere.

”Republic Day is a national holiday in India commemorating the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of India and the country's transition to a republic which came into effect on 26 January 1950”

We hire a car for the day and attempt to venture out on the national holiday and find that many streets are diverted and blocked around the major areas of town where the parades and events are happening. There’s no opportunity to get anywhere near it. We still manage to hit a few landmarks.

The Qutub Minar is our first stop.

The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and victory tower comprising the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi's oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs.[3] It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Lotus Temple. a Bahai house or worship, was another site we attempted to visit. We got close but did not go in.

Lotus Temple ^^

Much of the day was spent in traffic and driving the streets of New Delhi. Of course a tour with a local driver would not be complete without a visit to a rug market.

I’ll leave you guessing which one I purchased.

Driving the streets of Delhi, tuktuks, motorcycles, cars are everywhere with no regard for lines on the road. Amazing to see how this chaos of traffic flows, lots of horn honking as a courtesy to let others know you are coming. Beautiful street art on bridges and underpasses.

Tomorrow we leave for Agra.

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