All language subtitles for BBC.Great.Indian.Railway.Journeys.Series.1.2of4.Jodhpur.to.Delhi.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

I am in India

with a 1913 Bradshaw's Handbook to
Indian, Colonial And Foreign Travel.

HORN HOOTS

Published at the height
of the British Raj,

my 100-year-old guidebook

will lead me on a spectacular
railway adventure

through a land of majestic mountains
and holy rivers.

Where magnificent beasts roam...

..and epic stories are told.

I will encounter Maharajas,
explore ornate palaces,

witness the technology
of modern India,

and ride some of the most
exhilarating trains in the world.

I will discover how imperial
railways and the English language

inadvertently spread ideas
of independence

among hundreds
of millions of Indians,

who today live in the
largest democracy in the world.

This journey, one of four
that I'm taking across India,

begins in the north-west
of the country

on a route that was already
a magnet for tourists

at the time of my guidebook.

I'm on the battlements
of the imposing fort of Jodhpur,

with the great desert to the west

and the vast state of Rajasthan
to the east.

My Bradshaw's says,

"No greater mistake can be made than
considering India as one country.

"It contains more nations, more
climates, more races, more creeds,

"more racial, religious
and social feuds,

"and its peoples differ
more from one another

"than those of the continent
of Europe."

I look forward to exploring
the vivid variety

of this vibrant country.

My journey begins in the city
of Jodhpur,

known as the Gateway to the Desert.

After a trek into the wilderness
at Osiyan,

I travel to the state capital
of Rajasthan, Jaipur,

famous as the Pink City.

Passing through Bandikui Junction,
I will stop at Agra,

home of one of the world's most
celebrated monuments.

Journey's end is in the
Indian capital New Delhi,

a megalopolis where old and new
sit side by side.

As I tour the heart of this
energising country...

THEY SING AND LAUGH

..I play the sport of kings
with royalty...

Hit it, hit it.

It's your timing. My timing indeed.

..discover that a hole in the ground
can be exquisitely beautiful...

My goodness, Sanjay, that is a
fantastic thing, isn't it?

..I'm moved by India's architecture
of passion...

For the millions of visitors,

the Taj Mahal is the greatest
monument to love in the world.

..and relate to some of the
country's most revered animals.

Was it something I said?

At the time of my guidebook,

the British Raj colonials

had made some parts of the country
a home from home,

but other areas remained
wild and undeveloped.

Before I view some of India's
greatest splendours,

I want to experience life
at its simplest.

Following my guidebook, we plunge
into the Great Desert of India,

"which might be compared to the
Kalahari Desert of South Africa.

"It's only within the last few years
that the locomotive has penetrated

"through the heart
of the vast desert."

I'd be interested to know what
was the impact of the railways

on peoples of this arid region

whose life had scarcely changed
in thousands of years.

I've come to the ancient oasis
town of Osiyan,

an important trading hub
in medieval times,

but now a quiet place.

Around it, the Great Desert,
also known as the Thar Desert,

stretches for 200,000 square
kilometres

across the state of Rajasthan,

Punjab, Sindh, and into Pakistan.

Good to see you.

Do we mount up on that camel? Sure.

My guide is Raj Bakshi.

These are fantastic animals, Raj,
aren't they?

They are. They can go without water
for three days at a stretch.

I'm quite surprised there are people
living in this desert.

Yes, it's become much different
than what it was.

It was very sparsely populated
once upon a time.

And in the old days,
this was a trading route?

This was the trading route,

this used to be part
of the silk route

where they used to have
the camel trades.

Once the trains and railways
started, things changed overnight.

So a lot of people
started coming here.

But though the numbers living here

and passing through as tourists
have grown,

this desert tribe relies
on traditional subsistence farming.

I'm Michael. Michael.
What's your name?

Gattu. Gattu. Gattu. Gattu.
Hello, Gattu. Hello.

Thank you very much, thank you.

Mm! Very sweet.

Tea flavoured with cardamom.

Thank you.

The staple cereal here is millet,

ground by hand to produce flour
used to make bread.

May I do that? Is that OK?

Now this is extraordinary,

because I learnt about this
in Bible class in primary school.

The two round pieces of stone
that grind the corn or the seed,

or whatever it may be -

but what surprised me is although
they are clearly very heavy,

it goes round very easily
with this wooden handle.

Although I'm not sure
I would want to do it all day.

I rejoin the railway at Osiyan

to head east across the state
of Rajasthan

towards its capital, Jaipur.

The train is crammed with families
snatching sleep and enjoying meals,

each on their own rail adventure.

My journey into Jaipur
is only about five hours... Hello.

..so I was rather surprised
to get on this train

and find it was nothing
but sleeping compartments -

but I discover that the train goes
all the way to Puri,

which is nearly 2,000 miles,
it's on the Bay of Bengal...

Hello! Hi!

..and it doesn't arrive there

until the morning of the day
after tomorrow.

Hi. So, no wonder people elect
to have a kip on the way.

How are you doing?

Hello, may I join you a moment?
Sure. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Where are you off to?
Jaipur. Jaipur.

You are going to Jaipur? I am going
to attend my brother's marriage.

Oh, wonderful.

And how long will that last,
will that be days?

Three days - and one day they are
doing some like...blessings,

and we are doing some prayer.

You should come and see, like,
how colourful is his wedding.

Indian wedding is very colourful.

And what colours
will you be wearing?

OK, I am wearing one day,
like, green and red -

it's the traditional colour
in Rajasthan.

Rajasthan is known as a very
colourful state, isn't it?

Very colourful. You'll see, like,
red, orange, yellow.

These colours - very traditional
colour in Rajasthan.

Those opulent colours for which the
state of Rajasthan is famed

are a vibrant link
to its royal traditions.

At the beginning
of the 20th century,

this area was known as Rajputana.

My guidebook tells me
"so called from the Rajput people

"who speak Hindi, claim to be
the race of blood of kings,

"for which the word is 'raja'

"and belong to
the soldier caste of the Hindus."

So, from "raja" comes the expression
"British Raj,"

the word "maharaja"
meaning high king,

and nowadays the state is Rajasthan,
the desert state.

I'm about to embark on the Golden
Triangle of Jaipur, Agra and Delhi.

Within the British Raj,

there were over 500
semi-independent princely estates

spread across India,

each with its own ruler.

In Rajasthan alone
there were 22 such dynasties

occupying lavish palaces.

Today, the Maharajas of Jaipur
maintain a regal lifestyle,

but the doors of one
of their palaces

have been flung open,
as it is now a pampering hotel.

Such splendid surroundings
and first-class service

make me reflect on life
under the British Raj.

Having a G&T at the Rambagh Palace

provides a good opportunity
to see what phrases in Hindi

Bradshaw's thought
were necessary in 1913.

So...
HE READS OUT PHRASE

"Continue moving the punkah,"
meaning the fan.

HE READS OUT PHRASE

"Bring the cold meat
in the twinkling of an eye."

HE READS OUT PHRASE
"Get the carriage ready."

And...
HE READS OUT PHRASE

"He is a blockhead."

The arrogance of colonialism
leaps off the page.

My Bradshaw's describes Jaipur
with its carefully planned streets

as a modern native capital...

..but it is the city's
many beautiful palaces

that really impress.

The guidebook tells me
that Jaipur stands

"on a rock in a basin amongst
granite hills,

"even the broad streets laid out

"after the American pattern

"cannot prevent Jaipur from being

"one of the most picturesque cities
in India."

Well, rest assured, Bradshaw's,

there is no US influence
at all evident

in the wonderful Jal Mahal palace.

Jaipur is a busy city.

The largest in Rajasthan.

Known as the pink city,

after a 19th-century maharaja
repainted it to welcome Bertie,

the future King Edward VII during
his tour of India in 1876.

Having slept in one palace,

I would like to see how maharajahs
live today.

The current Maharaja and his family

live in the largest
of Jaipur's palaces

in the centre of the old city,

and it will be my privilege

to spend some time
in royal company later today.

Architecture - the palace
is a mix of styles,

blending Indian Hindu and Rajput

with others from the Mughal Empire
and the British Raj.

Bradshaw's calls it -
"a bizarre and fantastic structure,

"a pyramidal pile of innumerable
balconies and verandas

"projecting windows and turrets."

Before I meet my host,

Pankaj Sharma, chief
curator of the palace museum,

will show me around.

So, Pankaj, who built the palace
in the first place?

Construction of the palace
was started in 1727

and Maharaja Jai Singh II,

he laid down the foundation
stone of the Jaipur city

and the construction
was completed in 1734.

Why would the Maharaja have needed
such an enormous palace?

This palace is like a city,
because they have a big family.

The women's quarters are there,

so this is for the concubines
for the maharanis,

so this is their living apartment,
and if Maharaja is going there,

then household staff is there.

So, in the old days,

how many women might there have been
in the maharaja's life?

Some maharajas, they have
five wives, some have seven

and maybe, like
Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh Ji,

he had a very large number
of concubines and maharanis.

He had more than 20 maharanis.

Over the centuries,

the royal family of the princely
state of Jaipur

maintained its immense power
and wealth

by negotiating terms
with mighty invaders.

First the rulers of the Mughal
Empire and then the British Raj.

And nowadays, what sort of power
does the Maharaja's family have?

After the independence of India,
they do not have any power,

and nowadays they have
the Princess of Jaipur -

Princess Diya Kumari. She is
a member of legislative assembly,

but they do not have any power
to rule over Jaipur.

And the people of Jaipur,

do they still show great
respect to the royal family?

Yes, still we are calling the
Maharaja, then, His Highness,

and if we are meeting them,

then we are greeting them
in the traditional manner.

And what does that look like?
We are greeting in that manner.

So this means we are pleasing her,

we have high regards
and respects for her.

During British rule,
the dynasty in Jaipur

positioned itself as
a leading influence amongst

the hundreds of princely states
and mixed socially

with the British royal family.

Tell me about this wonderful
artefact.

These are the silver urns,
and these are recorded

in the Guinness Book
of World Records

as the world's largest silver urns.

Because one of the maharaja,
Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh Ji II,

he was invited to attend
the coronation ceremony

of King Edward VII in 1902.

So he went to England, but he was
always using Ganges water

for bathing purposes
and for drinking purposes.

So he carried Ganges water in the
silver urns from India to the UK.

What is their capacity?

The capacity is 900 gallons
of water.

42,000 silver coins were released...

..to make the three silver urns.

Tell me, Pankaj,
when you go to London,

do you take Ganges water with you?

Actually, I am satisfied
with tap water.

And I think you would pay a lot
of excess baggage, too. Yes!

The Jaipuri and British royal
families remain close today.

It is a relationship cemented
by sport.

Originating in Persia,
polo was considered

the national game of India
as far back as the 15th century.

Formalised by the British,

by the time my guide book
was published,

the sport of kings provided an
important social link

between the colonial power
and Indian nobility.

The present Maharaja of Jaipur,
19-year-old Padmanabh Singh,

continues the family tradition.

I'm meeting his father,
Narendra Singh,

at the world-famous
Rajasthan polo club -

and it seems the young royal
wasn't always so keen

to get his hands on a mallet.

When he was eight years old
and I used to play polo here

and my late father-in-law was alive
in those days

and he himself was a great polo
player and great polo patron.

So he was very keen that I play and
that my son should also play polo.

It is in the blood, you know?

There is a rich tradition and
culture in the royal family of polo,

riding and horses
and things like that,

and the first time I brought
him here on the ground,

I made him sit on the horse's back

and he howled and howled,
he didn't like it at all.

But it's all worked out well now.

Today, if you ask me, in his
age group, I think he's the best.

He is the outstanding player.

Outstanding player and he's
a very good rider, by the way.

Why do you enjoy polo so much?

Well, you sit on the horse's back,
you feel out of the world.

It really gives me a lot of
pleasure,

the game - it looks so beautiful,
you're very disciplined,

you have to have passion for it
and it's such a beautiful animal.

It really gives me a lot of
thrill to play polo.

But it's very dangerous.

It is supposed to be the
second-most dangerous sport

in the world after car racing.

But I don't care. I enjoy.

My thrill is so
much...than the danger.

Well, I don't think I share
your passion for polo,

but perhaps you will give me
a few pointers.

Come, come.

Right.

Aha. Aha... Aha.

That's good. That feels good.

Take it like this.
Go like this first.

Wait, wait, now hit it.

Bend a bit.

Bend a bit. Bend, bend, bend.
Hit it! Hit it!

No, bend a bit. You have to bend.

I have to bend, indeed I do! Yes.

Oh! Hit it.

Oh. It's timing. My timing, indeed.

Oh, well done. Ohh!
LAUGHTER

Yes. Yes.

See? Now the ball starts travelling.

Yes, well done.

Well done, Michael.

You're really doing good.
I'm impressed.

Another animal is strongly
associated with Indian royalty.

The elephant is part of the national
psyche, a treasure, a work of art,

a deity and a beast of burden.

I have travelled just a few miles
from Jaipur to Amer,

where alongside the tourist
elephant rides,

there are now signs of more concern
for the animal's welfare.

This mesmerising piece of grandeur
is the fort at Amber or Amer.

The Maharaja is having built
this wonderful defensive fort

then moved to Jaipur, so that by the
time of my Bradshaw's guide,

it was already a tourist attraction.

"At the palace, you avail
yourself of transport,

"elephants provided at the gate."

For at least a century, people
have been travelling by Jumbo.

Today, elephant rides up to the fort
remain popular,

but concerns about cruelty

have inspired an alternative
attraction for tourists

who want to engage with the animals.

Not far from Amer,
I meet Rahul Choudhary,

a fourth-generation mahout,
or elephant driver,

and the founder of a sanctuary
which is now home to 24 animals.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

Rahul, this is a tremendous
sight for me,

seeing these elephants playing
in the water

and they're apparently so happy.

What is the origin of the farm?

We used to work at the fort,
doing weddings, festivals,

that sort of thing
with the elephants

and after a while
I started realising

this is not something
they are meant to do.

Getting people in a heavy saddle
and backing and forwards up and down

and doing weddings and
noisy firecrackers -

and somehow I had this idea -

let's do something that is more
interesting for the people

who really want to see the elephants

in their own atmosphere,
in their own life.

How close does the bond become

between a human being
and an elephant?

These elephants
are domestic elephants.

So their nature is not wild.

Their nature is social
with human beings.

They do consider us as their family,
as their herd.

So relationship is the same as
mum and child or father and son.

They are very intelligent animals.

And very different,
one from another?

Oh, yes. Each elephant has a
different personality,

the same like us.

Some are more naughty, more
mischievous, some are more gentle,

some are just teenager behaviour.

Don't listen to you at all
and just do what they want to do.

Just going through a phase? Yes.

Rahul believes that human-elephant
interaction benefits both.

I want to find out whether
that is true.

The sensitive parts of the elephants
are here, around the eyes,

behind the ears, or the
cheeks and here on the trunk.

What you have to do is come close
to the elephant

and try to give them a very good
massage on these parts,

then she will be comfortable
with you

and you will be very
comfortable with her -

and even you will become good
friends in a few minutes.

Hello, elephant. Hello.

And, really, around the eyes?

That seems extraordinary.

And behind the ears. Yes.
Or the cheeks. And over the cheeks.

Below the chin. And below the chin.

So when you offer the food
to the elephant,

you need to learn the command.

First, legs to take from your hand,

into the trunk, second to eat
from the trunk into the mouth.

OK. Leh.

Aha. Dharr. Dharr.

Duh.

D-H-A-R-R. Dharr. Dharr!

Yes. Dharr!

Whoa! In it goes. How was that?

Ooh, Ellie, what a big tongue
you have.

Was that good?

Gourmet.

And after dinner comes bath time.

Ah!

Mother always told me to wash behind
the ears, but it's a mammoth task.

Was it something I said?

I thought we were going to get
on so well.

Oh!

From Jaipur, the Golden Triangle
route continues eastwards.

At the time of my guidebook, Indian
trains boasted lavish dining cars.

Nowadays, many people simply pick
something up before they board.

Excuse me interrupting you, sir.

I hope you're enjoying your
breakfast.

What do you like to eat
for breakfast?

What is that? This is a
South Indian dish. South Indian.

Quite spicy? No, medium spicy.
Medium spicy...

..but even so, you like spicy food
in the morning?

Yes. Where are you travelling
to today?

I am travelling to Delhi. Delhi -

and what is the purpose
of your visit?

Attending a marriage. Marvellous.

And you, madam, have
beautifully-decorated hands.

Tell me about... This is mehndi.

Because she attended a marriage
yesterday.

So, looking nice.

This is one type of make-up.

My next stop will be Bandikui.

My Bradshaw's says the district
suffers constantly from drought -

the soil produces enough
in ordinary seasons

for the vast herds of camels,
horned cattle and sheep,

but the people depend on the
south-west and east monsoons.

Famines every 40 or 50 years.

One step people could take
was to dig a well,

and they were deeply resourceful.

Bandikui Junction wasn't an alluring
stop for tourists

at the time of my Bradshaw's -

but for the inhabitants
of this very arid region,

it was an important hub,

and I'm curious to see
what had brought them here.

I'm heading for a village
called Abhaneri.

It's 43 degrees,
the earth looks parched

and yet somehow there is no shortage
of people somehow living here.

Despite the desert conditions
described in my guidebook,

people have managed to survive here
for hundreds of years.

Historian Dr Sanjay Sharma
will show me

how they sourced precious water by
building an extraordinary stepwell.

Such a narrow entrance.

Yes, that's right -
but quite beautiful, as well.

This is lovely.

Absolutely. Very ornate. Lovely.
Yes.

My goodness, Sanjay,

that is a fantastic thing, isn't it?

That is so different
from what I imagined.

I mean, to me, a stepwell

meant a well is a round thing,
I thought, you know,

quite a big round thing, I had no
idea it would be on this scale -

and so fantastically decorated,
these wonderful geometric designs.

64 feet deep with 13 floors,

it's one of the largest and deepest
stepwells in India

and was built a thousand years ago.

You get such a sense of the scale
when you begin to go down inside.

It is absolutely stunning, isn't it?

The Chand Baori stepwell reflects
as much grandeur and ambition

as any palace that I have visited...

..but this was always intended
as a palace for the people.

What do you think the scene would
have been here a thousand years ago?

In the desert, you will have
caravans passing,

people who would actually not
have access to water anywhere else,

so they would come here.

It would have been a place
bustling with people

and there would be, I can imagine,

lots of women with pots
on their heads going down,

perhaps singing in the process
and filling water,

early morning, late in the evening -

and it would be an activity
full of mirth, I suppose,

of happiness.

Parts of the structure would be
reserved quarters for the elite,

for the more important people,

but the rest of the community

would also have access to the water
and also the cattle.

Now, this area, unfortunately,
has suffered from terrible famines.

Tell me about those.

This particular area
has had droughts

leading to famines, historically,

but there were ways
in which the communities

know how to use water very carefully
and how to use it rationally,

how to use it frugally -

and perhaps this attitude
enabled people

living in various parts of Rajasthan
to avoid acute starvation deaths.

By the time of my Bradshaw's,

most of the 3,000 stepwells
in India had fallen into disuse...

..and today fewer than 1,000 remain.

From one of the less well-known
treasures of India,

I'm moving on
to one of the most legendary...

..but first,
there's the little matter

of negotiating the platform
at Bandikui Junction.

How rude.

I am now halfway through my trip

around the Golden Triangle,

heading for the city of Agra

en route to my final destination,

the capital of India, New Delhi.

The railway line crosses the border
from Rajasthan into Uttar Pradesh,

India's fourth largest state
and its most heavily populated.

My next stop will be Agra.

My Bradshaw's tells me
that the architectural monuments

of the Mughal sovereigns at Agra

are amongst the finest in the world.

Indeed, I expect to find
there one of the most beautiful,

one of the most perfect,

one of the most sublime buildings
ever conceived.

Already a popular destination
at the time of my Bradshaw's,

today, Agra is on the itinerary

of a quarter of all foreign tourists
to India...

..but most of the 13.5 million

passengers who pass through this
station each year are Indian.

They arrive at a
busy industrial town

which is also home to three
Unesco World Heritage sites.

In India, says Bradshaw's,

good hotels are rare outside
the largest towns and as a whole

accommodation is not luxurious.

Well, if so, that is something that
has most certainly changed...

Good evening. Good evening.

..and the Oberoi Amarvilas hotel
is a case in point.

What makes for
the perfect early-morning ablution?

Is it the softness of the towel,
the quality of the soap,

the fragrance of the rose petals?

No, it is the view.

I believe this bathroom has
the greatest vista on the planet.

"The Taj Mahal..." says Bradshaw's,

"..a mausoleum built by Shah Jahan

"for his beautiful queen.

"The light of the world.

"A graceful dome structure
of polished white marble

"as fresh as when first built,

"decorated with rich mosaics,

"inlaid with jasper, agate,

"carnelian and other
precious stones."

From here, it seems
to hover weightless

above the garden of the hotel, built
by a man out of love, out of grief,

it is the world's greatest monument
to passion.

Historian Najaf Haider

is my guide to the husband-and-wife
relationship

at its heart and to the grandeur

of the vast empire
over which they reigned.

Najaf, this is not the first time
I have seen the Taj Mahal,

but I'm still absolutely smitten
by its beauty.

It is a fantastic building,
isn't it?

It is indeed. Partly because it is
a product of love and passion

and partly because of the enormous
amount of resources,

work material and intellectual

that went into the making
of this monument.

And tell me about the love story
that lies behind it.

Shah Jahan was married
to Arjumand Banu Begum,

who was given the title
of Mumtaz Mahal.

Even though he was married to two
other women,

she was the one who spent
most of the time with him,

and travelled with him and produced
children with him.

So it is fair to say there was
a strong bond

and love between the two -

and once she died,
Shah Jahan was devastated.

When he came out of the statutory
mourning period,

his moustache and hair
had turned grey

and he looked much older,

and one way to address the grief,

this enormous amount of grief,

was to plan a monument
of this proportion -

which Shah Jahan could, because
he was an ambitious builder.

He was also a mighty emperor,

able to summon 20,000 craftsmen

and to use the best
and costliest materials.

It took 20 years to complete
the building

which now stands as a testament
to the wealth, political power

and cultural influence
of the Mughal Empire,

which ruled India for over 200 years
from the 16th century.

The Mughals were an invading race,
tell me about them.

The Mughals came from Central Asia
and Afghanistan,

they were part Turk, part Mongol.

They built a huge empire which
survived for over three centuries

and they not only politically
united the country,

but also left a rich legacy
in terms of culture

which one could see in a
large corpus of literature,

manuscript, some of them
beautifully illustrated

and brilliantly illuminated,

which you can find in museums
and libraries outside India.

When Shah Jahan died in 1666, he was
interred here alongside his wife.

In the two centuries that followed,
the monument fell into disrepair.

There were marauders and invaders

who did not treat the monument
with the same kind of respect

that it had during
the classical Mughal period.

There were cases of vandalism.

It took the representative of
another great empire

to restore what had been lost.

Lord Curzon, the British Viceroy,
had a deep interest

in preserving the cultural
and material heritage of India.

He was extremely fascinated
by the Taj,

and visited Agra many times,

and then decided to undertake
a huge project

repairing the monument
and its ancillary buildings,

but also landscaping the garden.

The garden really took the lion's
share of his attention.

The people who come here, what do
you think they take away from it?

Well, they take away the memory
of the Mughal era.

They find the monument
extremely beautiful,

and for the millions of visitors
who come here every year,

the Taj Mahal is the greatest
monument to love in the world.

I will now complete
the Golden Triangle

as I embark on the final leg
of my journey to India's capital.

My train to Delhi is unfortunately
50 minutes late,

which is not an unusual
occurrence in India.

On a rail network of 71,000 miles
of track and 8,000 stations,

delays are par for the course.

Hello. Thank you.

23 million passengers per day
use the system,

so feeding them is big business

and requires innovation.

Indian trains sometimes strike you
as a little old-fashioned,

but when it comes to ordering food,
this country is bang up to date.

For my lunch,
I'm going to use an app

and I'm going to choose the thali,

I'm going to ask for my food
to be delivered to coach A1,

seat number 11 at the next station
which is Mathura Junction.

Oh! My mouth is watering already.

There's a little time before
my thali and I coincide.

I will pass it as many Indians do

on journeys that can last
for several days

by striking up conversation
with fellow passengers.

Are you travelling a long way?

Yes, we are coming from
the southern region of India.

That is a long journey.
How many hours?

It is approximately 40, 48
hours to Delhi.

40 hours on the train.

Obviously there will be a lot
of stops.

Yes. Train travelling is something

of a different experience
all the times.

Different languages, different
people, different lives -

but it's amazing sometimes.

All the people you meet
on the trains. It's funny.

All parts of the train reach the
destination at the same time.

Same time. Yes. Would you prefer to
fly or do you prefer the train?

Train. Really?

Even though it takes so long -
aren't you tired?

No, it's not a problem.

Not a problem. That's nice.

We've got young train fans here.
Yeah!

Oh, thank you. Perfect.
Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you.

Well, I must say
I am mightily impressed -

my thali was delivered
to the right carriage,

to the right seat,
and it looks very good.

A thali is a complete
Indian meal in itself.

Rice with cumin, this is a cottage
cheese curry, this is a pea curry,

that is chickpea in yoghurt.

Here is my dahl, spicy lentils,
little salad

and what I do is I dip my bread
in my curry

and I put a little pickle on...

And the flavours explode
in the mouth!

The 120-mile journey
from Agra to Delhi

on the Kerala Express
takes about three hours.

Excuse me, please.

For a taste of India in the raw,

I have moved into that compartment
which is known as unreserved.

Of course it is un-air-conditioned,

it is extremely crowded.

At each station
it turns into a sort of bazaar,

because all the hawkers
get on and sell food and water

and I'm struck by these
people resting on the luggage racks

which look about as comfortable
as a bed of nails.

How are you up there, are you OK?
Achha, OK?

Hello! Do you speak English?

Yes. Where are you going today?

New Delhi.
You are going to New Delhi.

New Delhi. Where have you come from?
Agra.

Agra, like me - and how do you find
the unreserved class,

are you comfortable?

Yes, small journey, two or three
hours I'm going to...easy.

In the unreserved class. Yeah.

How much was your ticket?

90 rupees. 90 rupees.

In Britain, just over £1.

Is that good value?

Bus, I'm going to bus,
ticket is 135 rupees.

Ah. On train only for 90 rupees.

So the train is better.
Yes. Train is better.

Very, very good. Enjoy your journey.

Thank you. Thank you for talking
to me. Thank you very much.

The British built railways in India
in order to export raw materials

and to transport troops -

but the provision of fast
and affordable transport

had unintended consequences.

It spread ideas...

..and the idea which swept
through the nation

at the turn of the 20th century
was independence for India.

From 1915, nationalist leader
Mohandas Gandhi

travelled the length and breadth
of the country by train,

greeted everywhere
by adoring crowds.

Today, cheap transport is still
important in India, economically,

politically and socially,

but you have to travel
unreserved class

to find out how it really brings
people together.

CLAPPING

Oh, thank you.
APPLAUSE

Where are you going, Delhi?

You going to Delhi? Punjab.

You're going now to Punjab. Punjab.

Where? Amritsar? Amritsar.

Very good. Have a good journey.
Thanks for the dance!

Balle, balle. Balle, balle.

LAUGHTER

TRANSLATION:

OK? OK!

Bye-bye. Bye-bye! Bye! Bye-bye.

TRAIN HOOTS
Bye-bye.

Finally, my journey has brought me
to the capital of modern-day India.

Arriving in Delhi, I am plunged
into a teeming metropolis

full of contrasts.

With 19 million inhabitants
and growing fast,

it is on track to be the
second-largest city in the world.

At its heart is the Red Fort,

another grand project built
in the 17th century

by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan,

this time as his imperial seat.

According to Bradshaw's,

the most interesting parts of Delhi
can be explored only on foot.

The guide says the visitor
can wander for days,

meeting fresh studies
of the real East at every turn.

For shopping, my Bradshaw's
has brought me to Chandni Chowk,

it means Moonlight Square.

It was created by the daughter
of Shah Jahan,

the man who built the Taj Mahal -

and today it is the place
where you find mithai wallahs,

namkeen wallahs, paratha wallahs -

vendors of sweet, savoury
and bready Indian delights.

Chandni Chowk is known
as the food capital of India.

Many a Bollywood star
has been tempted to these streets

in search of the legendary paratha.

Hello. I'm going to have a paratha.

Potato? Yeah, potato would be nice.
Yes, let me have a potato paratha.

A paratha is a filled, flaky bread
soaked in ghee or clarified butter

and has been popular in India
for hundreds of years.

Thank you. Thank you.

Today, in Delhi, old and new
sit side by side.

Around the ancient streets,
gleaming modern commercial districts

have sprouted,
but the meteoric growth

has come with a cost.

This is one of the most polluted
cities on earth.

The modern way to escape the
gridlock above is to go underground.

One journey, please.
Central Secretariat.

After Mughals, Maharajas
and the British Raj,

it's time for some modern India.

The Delhi Metro was inaugurated
in the 21st century.

Already more than 200km
of track, 160 stations,

much more planned.

It's new, it's clean,
it's air-conditioned.

If you've risked your sanity -
and your life -

in the congestion of Delhi,

why wouldn't you want to travel
reliably and rapidly underground?

And just think about all
the pollution that we're saving.

Hello, ladies.
BOTH: Hello.

I'm using the Delhi Metro for the
first time and, I must say,

I'm enjoying it very much.

Do you use it lots?
Yeah, we use it daily.

Do you? On a daily basis.
How do you like it? We love it. Yes?

Because there's no option. We have
to commute through this, er, metro.

Through this.

You could go by car,
or bus, or rickshaw?

We'll be stuck in traffic and all,
because of that.

Yeah. So this is the convenient way.
And it's cool. Yeah.

It's air-conditioned.
It is pretty cool.

How hot is it today outside?

It's about 43 or 42 degrees outside.

Yes - and in here, what, we're...?

Around 22. It's much better here.

At least we're not sweating,
and it's all good.

It's much better. So, you give
the thumbs-up to the metro?

Two, double!

Are you a frequent user
of the Delhi Metro?

Yes, I am. And how do you find it?

So, it's very much comfortable.
We have a ladies coach.

The Delhi Metro is providing a
different facility

for those who are travelling alone,
for the ladies.

Is it important to have
a ladies carriage to you?

Yeah, when it's a matter
of women's safety,

then I think Delhi Metro has done

a good job of providing
a ladies' coach.

I'm leaving the metro at the
Central Secretariat station,

heading for the seat of power.

"Delhi..." comments Bradshaw's,

"..is the one city
which can claim to rank

"both as an historic capital
and an imperial city."

"Calcutta is but a mushroom
city by comparison.

"The present Delhi
is the fifth or sixth city

"which has been raised
upon its sites,

"but the glamour of its glories
under the Mughal emperors

"still hangs round its walls.

"Delhi is indeed an architectural
palimpsest,"

meaning one of those parchments

that was written
and then overwritten.

Perspicacious words,
because in the centuries

since Bradshaw's was published,
several other cities have arisen,

including this one - designed by
and for the British - New Delhi.

The planned elegance of New Delhi

is in sharp contrast
with the organic chaos

that created other parts
of the city.

In the grounds of the official home
of the president,

I'm meeting someone who can help me

to unpick the origins of this
stately enclave -

Swapan Dasgupta, Member of
Parliament and political journalist.

Swapan, my Bradshaw's, published in
1913, recalls that in December 1911,

"The most magnificent durbar
in Indian history

"was held at Delhi by the
King Emperor -

"King George V - himself."

Tell me about that.

Well, this was the first time
a reigning monarch

actually came to India.

Queen Victoria was made the Empress
of India, but she never came here.

Edward VII never came here,

although he did come
as Prince of Wales.

But this time, a reigning monarch,
so it was a grand event.

It was really the high noon
of the Empire.

Durbar is an Urdu word meaning
"a reception held by a ruler."

For this exceptionally lavish one
in 1911,

65 square kilometres were occupied
by tents

for thousands of guests
and their servants.

It was British pageantry
at its best.

It was everything.

Exotica, colour, show of might,

the Maharajas,
the masses coming in, the spectacle.

In every respect, the British
wanted to show that, "Here we are,

"ruling over a traditional country,
but a modernising force,

"and a benign force."

It was benign up to a point,

because the Maharajas combined a bit
of grovelling with self-respect.

Now, during that durbar
of December 1911,

a surprise announcement is made that

the capital is moving
from Calcutta to Delhi, why?

Well, they thought Calcutta
was becoming a hotbed of sedition,

and Delhi was seen as really
the natural place

where Indian empires
were ruled from.

So they decide to make a very
special capital here,

and they employ Edwin Lutyens
to make a new Delhi.

What does Lutyens do?
How successful is he, do you think?

Well, there was always a pressure
on Lutyens -

accommodate Indian motives,
accommodate Indian designs,

we have to be seen
to be more Indian.

So if you look at this,
it's not the Indo-Saracenic stuff

which you see in Mumbai.

It's not the same Gothic
stuff you see in Calcutta.

It's very different.

The Indian motifs
are very much there.

But by the time that architect
Edwin Lutyens and his colleague,

Herbert Baker, had completed
the imperial capital,

political pressure was building up.

The year after the great durbar,

agitators threw a bomb
at the Viceroy,

injuring him and killing a servant.

By then, the sunset
of the British Raj was approaching,

and in August 1947,
New Delhi was formally handed over

by the last Viceroy,
Lord Mountbatten,

to the newly independent
Indian Government.

New Delhi is grand,
it's on a fantastic scale -

and this building here,
what is this?

This was originally
the Viceregal Lodge.

It's called
the Rashtrapati Bhavan now,

which is the home
of the President of India.

It was really the centrepiece
of New Delhi,

as was envisaged by
Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Do you like it?
Personally speaking, I love it.

I love it, because I think
it represents grandeur -

and personally speaking,
I think the Indian Republic

is the legitimate inheritor
of the British Raj.

In arid Rajputana,
the Maharajas clung to power

in their little states
by doing deals

with the powerful invaders.

First, the Mughals,
and then the British -

but those imperial powers brought
together diverse ethnic groups

on the subcontinent under one ruler,

thus making possible the idea

of a united India
that might one day be free.

The railways helped to spread
that idea,

and by the time that Edwin Lutyens'
New Delhi had been built,

independence
was becoming unstoppable.

For 70 years now,
India has ruled itself -

from the powerhouses constructed
for the British Raj.

Next time, I travel
to Southern India,

where I try to keep pace
with India's tech revolution.

"Your food is ready.
Please turn off your burner."

Thank you very much, I will.

"Your food is ready." OK, OK!
"Please turn off your burner."

I discover that silk manufacturers
have gone to great lengths...

How long may the yarn be, then,
from a single silk flower?

Each silk flower produces
about a thousand metres of silk.

That's absolutely extraordinary!

..and learn how Britain succeeded
in its colonial ambitions.

They understood the Indian psyche
exceedingly well,

and so they managed to get
their hands on what they wanted.