Lotus temple.... If only it smelt like flowers

T, S and I braved the monsoon weather and spent our Saturday afternoon at the Baha'i House of Worship or 'Lotus Temple'. It is one of the more modern and striking buildings in Delhi (turns 25 this year), built to be a place where all religions can be and pray together. In 25 years it has apparently seen over 70 million visitors.

Once again our arrival with S caused quite a stir and a flock of paparazzi. S is going to find it very odd when we go home and people aren't pinching her cheeks, grabbing her arm or falling over themselves to take pictures of her.

Help me Daddy........

Daddy...... get me away from these people....

After running the gauntlet and entering the grounds, we then had to battle with the masses and remove our shoes, put them in a bag (kindly provided) and drop them to the men working underground in the shoe storage. Would I ever see my shoes again? I didn't care, I was too distracted by the stench of hundreds and hundreds of feet that have been trapped in shoes during some of the hottest and muggiest weather I have ever experienced. It was a mildly unpleasant experience, you know what I mean .......we've all smelt a bit of bad foot odour and this was on masse.

Of course, the initial shock passes and you make your way towards the amazing temple and turn focus to this, a pretty impressive piece of architecture.

Obviously my first thought was how much this looked like the Opera House in Sydney. Yes,but it's modelled on the beautiful Lotus flower and has been designed in line with Baha'i requirements.

We were there in time for 3pm prayer, so lined up with everyone and waited our turn for entry and were given strict instructions as to our expected behaviour inside the temple.

Patiently waiting in the queue.

- absolute silence (practically impossible with a one year old...)
- no camera (shame but completely understandable)
- stay as long (or short) as you like (many people just walk straight through to the exit as can't follow step one and two above)

Inside the building is quite stark but lovely. Again this is in accordance with Baha'i scripture that says no pictures, statues or such can be displayed inside. Compared to other religious sites around Delhi it could appear to be pretty dull (and a bit western). Redeeming features: enormous high ceilings, light flooding in from outside and the silence.

Silence turned out to be easy for some of us but once again we were surrounded by curious peeps wanting to sit next to S and cluck at her. S managed silent bemusement, others not so much.

After a bit of self reflection we made our way to the exit and spent a bit of time looking at some of the cleanest water surrounding the temple I have seen in a long time while the rain slowly trickled from the sky.

It was then shoe collection time, which I made T do, I couldn't face it! Poor blikes working down there all day.

In summary: the Lotus temple is a nice space, the gardens are really lovely but you can't sit on the lawn or anything....obviously in an attempt to keep it looking nice. It's easy to see why people would come here to hang out, it's free and a nice, tranquil little spot in the chaos of Delhi. Worth a visit.

Surrounding gardens.

Note: Closed on Monday.