- In this episode of "Fly Brother," we get down in the Big D, Delhi, India.

We start off with a sticky wicket as I learned to play cricket in the park with my buddy filmmaker Tejpal Singh.

Then we ride the Rics before I connect with my girl Eesha Singh, tour guide deluxe, for a little history and a lot of industry in Nizamuddin Basti with a few delectables along the way.

It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely, it's Delhi.

Let's get fly.

(upbeat music) - I'm Ernest White II, storyteller, explorer.

Don't try this at home.

- I believe in connecting across backgrounds and boundaries.

Join me and my friends.

Just like home.

And discover that no matter the background, no matter the history, the whole world is our tribe.

This is fun.

Come with me.

See how my friends do.

"Fly Brother."

- [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by (playful music) (tranquil music) (Indian classical music) - [Ernest] Yes, it's crowded, chaotic, and a little overwhelming at first, but underneath its sprawl, Delhi runs deep in urban delights.

This city fires all your senses with a blast of modern energy and ancient history in a culture shaped by Hindu, Muslim, British, and countless other traditions.

Its three main districts are filled with majestic monuments, incredible street food, hopping nightlife, and a new generation of artists and activists who are making their mark and making change.

Exploring this town means walking in the footsteps of powerful emperors and devout Sufi pilgrims and discovering refugee communities, putting their own stamp on their new home.

Everything here throbs to the beat of more than 12 million people, but I'm going to ease my way in with just one: my good friend and fellow producer Tejpal Singh.

People have been playing cricket in India since 1721.

And depending on whom you ask, it's either a sport or a religion.

- Everybody in India loves cricket.

Let me take to you the field and we will experience it.

- [Ernest] Millions of fans can't be wrong.

So I'm going to start with the basics.

- So, I tell you the rules are pretty simple and complicated at the same time.

- Okay.

- This is the pitch, and there'll be wickets on two sides, so we can have three wickets at a time.

And you're standing here.

I will throw the ball to you.

- Okay.

- And you will have to hit it very properly.

Not in that way.

Keep your bat in this way, in this position, look at.

- You're stepping on my joke.

- Oh, I'm so sorry.

- Tejpal, I'm going to the golf swing.

- So sorry.

Normally a ball comes at the speed of 80 kilometer per hour.

- That's very fast.

- Yes.

In international cricket, I guess 160, 140, this is normal speed to them.

- Okay.

In bunny slope cricket?

Baby cricket?

- In baby cricket, they'll put like this shoo-shoo.

- That's a weird, that's shoo-shoo.

(upbeat music) - Run!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

(Tejpal laughing) - But it's a different sport, that's not baseball.

You have to take your bat and you have to run, you don't have to throw your bat, then you are out.

- Go get it.

- Go!

No, I'm not doing that, not at all.

So you have to take your bat and run.

Yes, yes, yes.

Oh, it's done.

‘Til here, til here.

This was your cricket, you have to practice more.

- Okay.

(upbeat music) (Tejpal speaking gibberish) (upbeat music) (both laughing) - [Pedro] Come on man.

- [Anmol] I know it's a back up.

(upbeat music) Now Tejpal, you're not from Delhi?

- Yes.

- But you live here.

- Yes.

- You love here.

- Yes.

- Why is that?

- Dil is heart.

- Dil means heart, in Hindi?

- Yes, in Hindi, yes.

Dil, Delhi.

- The heart of the country.

- Yes, it's the heart of the country and the political hub of the country, and the vibe, and the people.

It have a long back story.

So, I come from Calcutta.

It was also a very big place in India.

It was basically the first capital of India in British Raj.

And then afterwards, it was Shimla, then Delhi, it was.

But Delhi, you have this vibe.

It's different.

I love Calcutta, but Delhi has a different vibe.

So we have extreme weathers here.

Winters are awesome.

You can go out, eat street food like Tandoor and everything, and they're like full of odd dish, Jalebi and all that, so you enjoy Delhi in winters.

Even in summers, they're different.

So we see this lush green cricket ground over here, and it's monsoon, so it's green right now in Delhi.

Delhi is green.

I guess, most green city in India, but there are some issues, but it is, it has the most green part, that's why I chose Delhi.

- In Northern India, not far from the Himalayas, Delhi sits at a prime location on the Yamuna River close to the historic Silk Road that made it a prize for wave after wave of invaders from Afghan warriors to Hindu kings to Muslim sultans.

Over thousands of years, they built and rebuilt the city at least seven times.

And Mughal Dynasty put a lasting stamp on its architecture with the Red Fort and Humayun's Tomb, the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.

Old and new still lives side by side here from a legendary spice market to a hip contemporary art scene, and you can explore it all from a rickshaw or the world class metro system.

And when you need a break, you can chill out in one of Delhi's 17 city forests.

(Indian classical music) Indian Chai.

Metro Delhi has a population of almost 33 million people, which means that everyday traffic can seem like LA rush hour on steroids.

So when I need to get around, I go with the pros.

There's over 95,000 auto rickshaws in Delhi, and I can't think of a better way to get around town.

(upbeat music) This is fun.

Delhi's India Gate is a memorial to the thousands of Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the British army in World War I.

But it's also a gathering spot for families, tourists, and people watching.

(upbeat music) (Indian classical music) Humayun ruled as the second Mughal emperor in the 16th century.

And when he died, his widow had Persian and Indian craftsmen build him a mausoleum grander than any tomb in the Islamic world.

My friend and tour guide, Eesha Singh, brought me here not just to gaze at this incredible monument, but to understand the stories it tells about the life and times of the man who rests here.

(upbeat music) This is incredible.

Wow!

Eesha, thank you for bringing me here.

- This was built somewhere between 1569 to 1570.

And in some sense, this is also a tomb of love.

You know, a wife took charge of this for her husband to keep in account how much Humayun like these ideas of geometry and learning.

And so you can see some of those motifs in the architecture.

- Ah, yes.

- So there are like eight ancillary chambers on the outside, and then there's a central dome inside.

And the eight ancillary chambers was supposed to depict almost like an Islamic cosmology for someone who's passing.

Yeah.

- The perfection of mathematics as heaven.

- Correct.

- [Ernest] I love that.

- You know, to me, I think this whole idea of like this very, like starry night, like floor is again like an example of like showing love to the one who's departed because he was obsessed with planets and planetary arrangements, but there was this kind of like love for knowledge.

And I feel like that's been kind of taken into account in the way that this space has been designed for.

Yeah.

So why do you think it's one of my favorite places in Delhi, what do you think?

- Oh my gosh.

It's surprising and it's very beautiful.

- Right?

- I don't know why it's surprising in the sense that Delhi is full of beautiful things.

- Yes.

- But it's still, I think because I've never seen photos of it, I just didn't know what to expect when you said we're going to go see a tomb.

- No, I love it.

(upbeat music) In some sense, this is the blueprint of what the large scale tombs happen to be in the, you know, in the Mughal era, right?

And this is based on the concept of Charbagh, which is a massive garden is divided into four quadrants, and in that center, the tomb is seated.

And this also idea that like there are four rivers in heaven.

- Yes, four rivers in heaven?

- Yeah.

According to Quran.

And they meet at like a particular spring point, and so the idea was to do this very paradise-like visual taken from the Quran to design someone's resting place.

- If there's one more thing Humayun's Tomb is known for it's school field trips.

(upbeat music) Humayun also lent his name to the village of Humayunpur, a South Delhi neighborhood that's become a hotspot for great food.

In the last few years, young immigrant entrepreneurs have opened dozens of restaurants.

And now the streets where water buffalo used to roam are lined with menus for Chinese, Korean, Nepalese, Burmese, and Northeast Indian cuisine.

Let's eat.

- This is the amazing Mohinga dry, also the national dish of Burma.

It'll remind you of ramen.

And this is tea leaf salad.

So Burma is I think one of the very, very few countries where tea is eaten.

- Sure.

- And it's not consumed as a beverage.

- Yes.

- Very, very unique.

Got a lot of sesame, as you can see, tomato, peanuts, some shredded cabbage as well, but the hero ingredient is the tea leaf.

Burma borrows from all its neighbors.

- Sure.

- Thailand, Bangladesh, India.

But in some sense, when you will eat it, like it's just a unique cuisine in its own.

Yeah?

And this is, of course, I mean, I feel like, you tell me what it reminds you of.

- [Ernest] So what's in it?

- [Eesha] Lots of great things.

There is shredded cabbage, there are rice noodles.

It's in a lovely broth which has a distinct like chickpea flavor.

There's dried garlic, there's dried onion.

- [Ernest] Now, does this get poured over this?

- [Eesha] Yes, yes, that's how I like it.

So should I do the honors or you?

- Please.

- Okay, okay.

- [Ernest] Ooh.

- [Eesha] It's good, right?

- It looks good.

- Yeah.

- [Ernest] Let's dig in.

- [Eesha] Can't wait.

- Okay.

- [Eesha] Let's go, great.

- Well, I'm going for these.

- Oh, my chopstick game is very poor.

Much to the embarrassment of my husband and my family, and this is what I'm doing.

- Okay.

Well, that's fair and valid.

- Thank you, thank you.

What do you think?

- It's got a nice spice to it.

- [Eesha] Yeah.

- I would say, this is probably the spiciest salad I've ever eaten in my entire life.

- I bet, I bet, yeah, yeah, I believe you.

- It's spicy for me too, yeah.

- But it's good though.

(upbeat music) I'm always up for a tasty way to share cultures.

So next up is Delhi's favorite snack by way of Tibet.

(upbeat music) - So this is the most omnipresent snack you'll find in the Delhi.

- Dumplings?

- Yes, Momos.

- Oh.

- Yeah, Momos.

- Momos.

- Yeah.

- I love it.

- These are Momos.

- What's in a Momo?

- This is a chicken steam Momo.

This is a Tibetan snack.

This is also a food dish that is the story of Tibetans, like integrating into Delhi.

- Okay.

- Rebuilding their lives, not just Delhi in India, rebuilding their lives with this snack with their, you know, hardiness, their entrepreneurship skills, so this is that snack that has really taken over the country, but definitely the city.

We're all obsessed with our Momos.

We all have a favorite Momo place.

- Okay.

- This is mine.

It's just who we are, like we like our Momos a lot, yeah.

But I thought we'll add to the mix, so this is the other snack, it's called a Laphing.

- Laphing?

- A Laphing, like a laughing like, - Ha, ha, ha, ha.

- Yeah.

- I love that.

- Yeah.

- And how we both did a fake laugh.

- Yeah.

- I'm learning from you how to do this TV stuff.

Think of it as a Tibetan pasta.

- Tibetan pasta, I love it.

Momos and a Laphing.

- Yeah, yeah.

- What is this?

- Oh, so this is a Momo chutney, I don't recommend that you have it.

- But it's glowing at me, it's enticing me.

- Yeah.

I can see, and you could try it, but it's going to be a bit of like a man versus food section of the show for you, but we, I mean, I feel like people love their Momo chutney as well, but you know this, I'm pretty sure you're going to love.

- Okay.

- 'Cause I have a feeling you're going to be like, if this is what Delhi people love so much, like I'm happy to move.

Yeah?

This is, I know you're going to love it.

- Eesha, what I'm going to say is that it's “Delhi-cious.

” - Oh wow, okay.

It's Dehli-cious, yeah, nicely done.

Nicely done.

- Hey.

Let's do it.

(upbeat music) So Eesha, I've never had Tibetan food before.

- Really?

Wow.

- Yes.

Is there a reason why it's such a popular kind of cuisine, at least when it comes to Momos here in Delhi.

- And its really, what do you say is making me think of something so interesting because there's so many foods that you can try in Delhi that are actually maybe not possible to be eaten elsewhere because those countries are going through some kind of like refugee or humanitarian crisis.

I feel like Delhi has always been a melting pot of cultures, like historically.

It's not been built by some original Delhi community.

Every, like, everybody who's built the city and moved on has been an outsider.

Modern Delhi as well as we speak right now, so, so much of Delhi that we know today around us got built because, you know, refugees had to like rehabilitate their lives and start their lives, so, you know, in that sense, this is who we are.

We are all just, I guess like people, just so many, so many communities like coexisting and calling Delhi home.

And I think it's incredible.

- We haven't said goodbye to Humayun yet, because an initiative to preserve his tomb is also strengthening the Nizamuddin Basti community in a beautiful way, by reviving traditional arts and crafts to give women economic opportunity.

(upbeat music) Well Eesha, I'm here at this workshop.

- Yes.

- I see these ladies doing expert, precise, - [Eesha] Yeah.

- [Ernest] Like, - [Eesha] Yeah, yeah.

- Incredible artwork.

- This is really hard, difficult stuff, yeah.

- I see.

- I signed you up for tough things.

Yeah.

- With my third grade cutting skills, what is happening?

- I think what we want to do when we get people on holiday is give them access to glimpses of like, life as it is.

- Sure.

- And in that aspect, I think Nizamuddin Renewal Urban Initiative, in addition to restoring the beautiful monument that we just saw, Humayun's Tomb, was also to preserve the heritage, the living heritage of the area, centuries of crafts, and art, and food.

And in that, they've done this wonderful thing of setting up centers that are run by, you know, women.

And that gives them a lot of agency, that gives them access to financial literacy, independence.

They are shareholders, all of these amazing women are shareholders.

And you can see the beautiful crafts that are here, right?

So- - They are gorgeous.

- What they're doing right now is called Sanjhi - [Ernest] Sanjhi?

- Yes, correct.

And Ernest, if you remember, you must have seen some of those motifs- - [Ernest] Yes.

- [Eesha] At Humayun's Tomb.

- [Ernest] Yes, yeah.

- Right?

So let's get you started on the workshop.

Okay, so this is, this is your greeting card.

You are going to convert this into something like this.

- You think?

- I think so, yeah.

I think you'll do it, yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

This is a paper cutting art.

So like how she's doing- - Sanjhi.

- Yeah.

- Sanjhi.

- Sanjhi.

- She's going to do a little bit of like, give you a guidance about like where you're supposed to cut, and you're supposed to cut on those lines and think of this as like something akin to a postcard.

- Sure.

- On your other travels, right?

So we'll give you like a blank sheet of paper.

Write a note to a loved one about how you're feeling about your day.

- Okay.

- After you've completed this.

- Okay.

And this is a greeting card from us to your loved one.

- Okay.

Let's do it.

- Enjoy this very relaxing workshop.

And if you have any questions that come to your mind, please ask me, and I'll help facilitate that conversation.

- But what if I cut too much?

- It's okay.

It's your postcard, it's your baby, you have to live with it.

- [Ernest] You have to live with it.

- Yeah, teacher is strict.

- But you have no idea how much of a perfectionist I am.

- Okay.

- So the fact that there's still some white showing- - Oh yeah.

This is the day that you believe in progress over perfection.

- Yes.

Progress over perfection.

See, I'm doing it.

So tell me more about how the women choose to come here and work.

- Yeah.

- And what's so special about it?

- Best to ask the women themselves.

(Eesha speaking Hindi) The Aga Khan Foundation with their initiative to restore the neighborhood was primarily focused on education and encouraging education among the residents.

And they associated, I mean, the best thing for them to do there was to collaborate as much with the residents.

And later they decided to start doing this kind of craft work that a lot of women could like, you know, get aligned with and look at another employment opportunity accordingly, and then she joined them with this bit.

- And so then when visitors like me come to experience the beauty of the place and also kind of have a connection with the community.

- [Eesha] Yeah.

- What is one thing that Ms. Anisa wants me and others like me to take home with us?

- One is, of course, the help in restoring the art form.

It's otherwise just going to keep disappearing.

So the more funds that are added, so each time, like when tourists come, like there is a per person craft workshop fees attached to it, which helps them.

The promotion of art forms travels across the world when you spend time with them.

Then even in hard times, like COVID tourists went ahead and like made some donations.

And a larger thought was also about the fact that like, I think, it's also like pushing heritage beyond just monuments.

- [Anmol] All of us are just watching you Ernest.

- [Ernest] I know.

- [Anmol] Just watching you, no pressure.

- [Pedro] No pressure.

- You know, it's funny, I've noticed that I've, I'm barely even breathing.

I'm serious, I've been holding my breath as I'm doing this.

And now for the unveiling.

- Can't wait.

- Ta-da.

- That is really good.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, really nice.

- Very nice.

- Oh!

- Yeah, That's incredible.

That's really nicely done.

- They just make me feel like- - No, that is incredible.

- Kindergartener.

- What do you think?

- Very nice.

- Okay, okay.

So now, this your greeting card's complete.

- Okay.

- I think you should write a message for a special someone.

- [Ernest] A message for a special someone.

- [Eesha] Yes.

- [Ernest] Okay, got it.

- So who is this for?

Okay.

I like the front.

- Okay.

This is going on the refrigerator.

- That's really nice.

- Aw, thank you.

Thank you ladies.

- Thank you.

- This training program is called Insha-E-Noor, which means the creation of light.

By nurturing their talents and supporting their ambitions, it's giving these women the light of dignity and empowerment.

You can find that light just about anywhere in Delhi if you look with an open heart.

And once you've opened your heart to the light of Delhi, you got to dance.

(upbeat music) - [Pedro] Nice.

(upbeat music) - That was actually good one.

- [Pedro] 5, 6, 7, 8, and 1, 2, 3, 4.

(upbeat music) - I love it.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by (playful music) (tranquil music) To join the "Fly Brother" travel community or to order your own copy of this episode, visit flybrother.com.

(happy music)