Is this your father?
He's my father.
Handsome man.
You’d be lucky to look like him.
Hi, I'm Tom. I'm traveling through one of the most colorful and vibrant countries in the world
and with the help of local knowledge, I’ll be trying to find out what makes this place so special.
Join me on a journey through India.
Our final stop is Delhi.
Located in northern India, this is the country’s capital city and home to all three branches of government.
One of the oldest cities in the world, the monuments to lost empires showcase its ancient culture,
while the sleek and efficient new metro is evidence of a rapidly modernizing city.
With a bigger population than Australia, pollution is one of the biggest challenges for this pulsating metropolis,
and its frenetic speed can be experienced even before the sun rises.
You’ve got to get here early at Azadpur Mandi. This is Asia’s largest wholesale vegetable market.
It’s about 6am and the place is absolutely buzzing.
So it looks like these are just sacks of grass, but actually, it’s been used to protect these cucumbers inside.
Green chilis over there.
I’m sure they’re pretty spicy.
Looks like you can get pretty much get any vegetable you want inside this place.
Lots of coriander, peppers, garlic. Wow, look at these garlics.
Over 100 different varieties of fruit and vegetables make up the more than 13,000 tons of produce
that pass through this vast market every day.
At nearly two million square feet, Azadpur Mandi is a crucial link for supplying food to the city.
There’s about 100 different sellers of onions that I’ve seen. I don’t really know how you decide who buy from.
Maybe you have to make friends and make sure they get you a good price.
It’s not just people that are among the market’s many visitors.
Monkeys of all ages traverse the lines and cables that interweave over the bustling activity below,
waiting to pounce on any unattended food.
I’m not sure they’re paying for the corn that they’ve just taken off the top of ones of these trucks.
They got away with it though.
Thank you very much, thank you.
It’s an early and chaotic start, but it’s well worth it and you can also buy your breakfast.
As the rest of the city starts their day, I’m heading south
to find out more about Delhi and its thriving tourism industry.
When you come to a new city, choosing where to stay is an important decision.
I’ve come to meet a man who runs a boutique hotel chain
that are trying to entice you with an interesting proposition.
Ashish?
Hi Tom.
Hi, how are you?
Ashish Vohra is founder and CEO of Justa Hotels.
Thirteen years ago, he opened his first hotel in Bangalore.
Today his boutique hotels are renowned for its focus on art.
Everything in life comes through art, and every artwork in all our hotels is original.
We have a lot of customers who actually define our hotel rooms by the artwork that they have stayed in last time.
We get artists from around the world, almost 40, 50 of them for seven-day workshops.
Artists paint as per whatever they are willing, and then we display it in our hotels or sell it for charity.
These are all pretty well-known artists.
Jogen and Sanat Kar are among the top 50 artists this country has ever produced.
These are some of the young aspiring artists I’m sure over a period of time they’ll become bigger and better.
He’s from Kolkata actually, does a lot of pop kind of artwork.
There’s a bit of chaos going on in the background.
Absolutely, so the whole theme here is there’s chaos and still someone has got his back.
There’s a real mix in the style of art hanging here,
so how does Ashish decide what makes it onto the walls in his hotels?
The first thing is to like the art and the artist, and once you connect with him
then we figure out which hotel, which place, which location we put it.
We actually do curated tours in the hotel for the guests.
You can actually get attached to one of the artists and go through with him,
his whole thought process and the art he draws over a period of seven days.
So you can really immerse yourself in the art?
Absolutely. You normally buy the final product.
Here you’re really going from the first line drawing that the artist makes
to the final product and that’s what excites the guest.
Ashish now has five boutique art hotels in Delhi and with 10 more dotted around India,
he’s experienced first hand the challenges of doing business in different parts of the country.
First and foremost, I don’t come from a family of entrepreneurs.
So the laws are complex.
Everything can change in India within a few hundred kilometers.
Because things operate differently, people think differently,
people react to the same things very differently.
Tell me a little bit about Delhi and what makes this city unique from others in India?
There are very few people who can say that, "I’m Delhiite," everyone is an immigrant in that sense.
The way people react possibly is a little different.
South would be more understated and subtle, Delhi could be more in your face.
If you just look at the amount of monuments, culture, heritage that you can see in Delhi,
half the time people won’t even notice if you’re not from the city.
After listening to Ashish I’ve decided to visit one of the city’s many historical monuments.
While some you may not notice, there are others which are hard to ignore.
Delhi does provide a pretty good history lesson on the nation of India.
This is called the India Gate and it’s a memorial dedicated to 70,000
soldiers from the British Indian army that lost their lives during the First World War.
Completed in 1931, this imposing stone arch is just under 138 feet tall
and bears the names of several thousand Indian men that lost their lives in conflict between 1914 and 1919.
It’s also a popular spot for the city’s locals to meet up with friends and family.
Traffic’s pretty bad in India wherever you go, but in Delhi, it’s particularly bad.
So the best way to get around is on a rickshaw and this is electric.
I’m heading to Old Delhi to one of the cities most famous bazaars, Chandni Chowk.
Crammed down narrow alleyways and along the main drag are small shops
selling everything from street food to electrical goods to jewelry.
However, this famous trading hub can get very crowded.
So, it was a nice idea to get on an e-rickshaw but, we’ve sat here for about five, 10 minutes not moving at all, so.
Why did you get in the rickshaw, it’s so slow?
It’s not moving.
There is a huge traffic here.
I know.
Better to walk?
This is a unique vehicle in India.
Do you think it will move soon?
Yeah.
Yeah? Let’s hope because I’ve been here for 10 minutes.
What you got packed in here?
Candles.
Candles?
What color?
Good candles?
Diwali candles.
Diwali candles?
While Chandni Chowk is very busy, it also provides a great opportunity
to chat with locals and get a feel for this enticing city.
I’m heading to the eastern end of the market’s main drag to visit the iconic Red Fort.
Built by the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in 1648, the palace fort is an area of 124 acres
and enclosed within one and a half miles of towering red sandstone walls.
The aesthetic and architectural style had a strong influence on later buildings throughout northern India.
It’s definitely a popular tourist spot, but it’s still worth visiting the Red Fort.
Not just to understand the city and country’s pre-colonial history, but also to get an idea of the size of it.
It’s absolutely massive.
To really understand how India became the country it is today Delhi is a must-visit.
There is so much of the country’s heritage on display here.
Yet it also showcases some of the best features of a modern city with sprawling greenery
and a renowned cuisine, which will ensure the city remains one of the country’s undisputed highlights.
Delhi is the last stop on our journey, and what a journey it’s been.
I’ve seen and learnt a lot, different cities, the cultures, the people, the food
and I suppose discovering and experiencing that is what made this trip so special.
Hi guys, thanks for watching our Journey through India.
Sadly this is the last stop but if you want to see more of the cities we visited then click here.
And do let us know what your favorite part of the journey was by commenting below the video.
And remember don’t forget to subscribe.