Bahá'í House of Worship at New Delhi

Despite having flu that was worsened by the awful smog, I decided to visit the Lotus Temple on the morning of our last day in Delhi in December 2023. I was pretty sure I was gonna regret it if I didn’t visit the site since it was close to our hotel (we were staying in Friend's Colony). My visit turned out to be quite wonderful, contrary to what Ralf had unfortunately experienced. Some notes about my visit:

1. The Information Centre - the centre is at the opposite end of the walkway leading to the temple. It contains heaps of information about the Baha'i faith: its origin, contemporary history, basic teachings and philosophy, religious sites around the world, social work, and community service projects. The staff were nice and happy to answer any questions. The centre was therefore a must visit before you go to the temple itself. 

2. The temple (aka prayer hall) - first, entry into the temple is allowed. Shoes were to be deposited before you walk up the stairs. The security guards and ushers would then guide you and ask you to wait for your turn to enter the prayer hall. I found it quite organised and everything was flowing well despite the substantial amount of people arriving. When we got to the entrance of the prayer hall, the usher gave some reminders in Hindi and English. When we entered, we were asked to sit quietly to admire the interior architecture of the prayer …

The Lotus temple in New Delhi is a Bahai temple built in modern style - something special in a land where almost all places of worship are built in a traditional style. The design of the temple is quite pleasing and sure looks good on photos, however actually visiting the place can be a bit underwhelming. Firstly, visiting takes a bit of effort - you can't just walk in. Arriving is the easiest part - you can take the Delhi metro to get near and then walk the rest (or take the inescapable tuk-tuk). You then have to wait in a long queue - there are a lot of other tourists (mainly indians) who want to visit the temple. Don't take any bottles with you (even empty ones) - they throw them away, then send you back to the end of the queue. After entering, you have to deposit your shoes at a busy storage station and walk through the gardens without them, all while being pushed around in a long stampede of visitors. The gardens are well-kept, but offer nothing special. The view of the main building could be great if the Delhi smog does not spoil it - you are still within the city's dust dome. You can't enter the temple itself, but you can peek inside and see that it is almost completely empty - no lavish treasure, statues or decorations in this temple. You will not learn much about the Bahai faith, and don't expect any …