Tonights adventure was to a Sufi shrine, Hazrat Nizam-ud-din Dargh. Thursday is the day of devotions, after the evening prayer service singers perform in the square. The driver dropped us off ( I was with one of the teachers from the school) after being warned about the men grabbing and told not to talk to anyone, we wandered down a street lined with dirty cars, beggars and street food, which gave way to an alley lined with shops selling rose petals and other stuff. It gets increasingly hot and crowded as you get closer to the shrine. Before you enter the square in front of the shrine you must take your shoes off and cover your head. This is as close as women are allowed to get. We paid a kid at one of the rose sellers to watch are shoes, as we wanted to make sure they were there when we returned. When you enter the square it is hot, and crowded, I pretty much felt a hand somewhere on me at all times. The qawwali singers are seated with people standing and sitting around them. Admittedly I do not have a discerning ear when it comes to Sufi devotional songs, but it sounded like the same song over and over. Well worth the adventure a bit crazy and I am beginning to see the overwhelming sides of India.
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