Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • 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 in 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 been 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.

Is this your father?

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it