Temple of Justice

It’s not the lair of a superhero, but is instead the Supreme Courthouse for the Punjab province, of which Chandrigarh is the capital. The guide book claims that the courthouse is famous for its architecture; you look at the picture and decide for yourself.

The funny story about the courthouse is that I went there after I was at the rock garden. Looking at the map, I saw that the courthouse was only about a quarter kilometer away, easily walkable. It was part of a larger architectural complex which included the Punjab statehouse and a monument to Chandigarh. Looking at the map, I thought “I’ll just walk through the courthouse to see these other sites.”
Sadly, this was much easier said than done. I approached the courthouse from behind. Trying to walk around, I encountered fences on both sides which stretched for much longer than I was willing to walk around. Approaching the security guard I asked if it was possible to walk through. He said yes, but I would need permission in order to take pictures.
“I don’t want to take pictures, I just want to walk through,” I said. “But if you have a camera you might take pictures and we can’t allow that,” he replied. “From whom do I get permission?” I asked. “From the office of visitor affairs, on the fourth floor, but you’ll have to leave your camera here.” “I just want to walk through, I don’t want to take pictures.” “But you’ll need to get permission, and the only way I can guarantee you’ll come back here with permission is if you leave your camera.” “But what if I didn’t have a camera?” “Then you couldn’t go through.”
So, leaving my camera with him, I trudged upstairs to the office of visitor affairs, which had a surprising number of people considering how few visitors the supreme court seemed to have. Upon arriving I announced that I was seeking permission. To which a clerk asked “do you have a request letter.” I said “no, I didn’t realize you needed one.”
At this the clerk sighed, and proceeded to forge me a request letter from the Chandrigarh Tourism Office.
He had me sign the letter, then sent it with my passport off to his supervisor, who looked at it and me suspiciously for a few minutes before grunting and signing it. The signed permission letter was transcribed and photocopied, my passport was returned to me along with a receipt asserting I had obtained permission to take pictures from balconies and stairwells.
So, I returned with my permission receipt to the security guard, who cheerfully returned my camera to me. I then walked through the supreme court building, where upon I discovered that the fence which had foiled me on either side extended in front of the building, with a gate going through.
As I approached this gate I was confronted by a security guard who insisted that this gate was for VIPs only, and that I could not pass through. I offered him my permission slip, which he rejected as not being appropriate. I observed that as a westerner in many situations I was considered a VIP. I promised if I passed through the gate that I would come back to it. I offered to leave my bag with him to just quickly go take a few photos. I asked him if he would take the camera and take a few photos for me. But sadly this was all to no avail. He was adamant that I would not pass, so I didn’t.

Dejectedly, turned back along the route I came, surrendering my hour long dream of taking pictures of the state legislature building. Out of spite I wandered gratuitously around the courthouse building, because, dammit, I had gotten permission to do so. While there I saw a sign saying: “This is a temple of Justice. Keep it clean,” which in my state of mind at the time i found incredibly funny.