“We’ll soon be seeing the Red Fort on the right,” Ranjeet said, “just beyond this traffic light.”

Jennifer looked up from her reading, which had switched from the Red Fort to the Jama Masjid. What she immediately noticed was that Old Delhi was significantly more crowded than New Delhi, with both people and conveyances, especially more cycle rickshaws and animal-drawn carts. There was also more trash and debris of all sorts. Plus, there was also more activity, such as people getting shaves or haircuts, medical treatment, fast food, massages, their ears cleaned, clothes cleaned, shoes repaired, and teeth filled—all in the open, with very little equipment. All the barber had was a chair, a tiny cracked mirror, a few implements, a bucket of water, and a large rag.

Jennifer was mesmerized. Everything about living life that was secreted away behind closed doors in the West was being done out in the open. For Jennifer, it was visual overload. Every time she glimpsed an activity and wanted to question her driver what people were doing or why they were doing it in the open, she saw something else more surprising.

“There’s the Red Fort,” Ranjeet said proudly.

Jennifer looked out the windshield at a monstrous crenellated structure of red sandstone, far larger than she’d imagined. “It’s huge,” she managed. Her mouth was agape. As they drove along the western wall, it seemed to go on forever.

“The entrance is up here on the right,” Ranjeet said, pointing ahead. “It’s called the Lahore Gate. It’s where the prime minister addresses the Independence Day rally.”

Jennifer wasn’t listening. The Red Fort was overwhelming. When she’d read about it, she’d envisioned something about the size of the New York Public Library, but it was vastly larger and constructed with marvelously exotic architecture. To explore it adequately would take a day, not the hour or so she’d intended.

Ranjeet turned into the parking area in front of the Lahore Gate. A number of huge tour buses were parked along one side. Ranjeet motored by them and stopped near a group of souvenir shops.

“I will wait just over there,” he said, pointing to a few highly stressed trees providing a bit of shade. “If you don’t see me the moment you come out, call me and I will come directly back here.”