The time has been filled with glorious adventure since our arrival on February 16. The best welcome back ever came from the immigration official with whom I, of course, began to talk to in Hindi. He asked why I didn't live here now and I replied that it was too expensive to live in two places. He said the perfect solution would be for me to go to the court with him and he would declare that I was his mother! We, which includes the official next to him who was signing in to work and eavesdropping on our conversation, all had a good laugh at his creative solution. Now I have a lovely young Sikh sardar as my adopted son.
On Saturday, February 17 we went to E22 Defence Colony for lunch with Abha and Sonu. It turned into a productive website meeting along with Aditya who does the arpana.org website with Sonu. Learned alot and made some good decisions even though we were jet lagged. Deepak learned that Chote Ma was taken to the hospital so he had to leave and Abha's driver brought us back to Vasant Vihar and the guest house.
Sunday I asked Hardeep to send a car and Ajit, one of the old IES drivers came for us in an Innova. I had asked for a small car but Hardeep is Hardeep and he thought we needed a big car. We went to church at the Cathedral Church of the Redemption for the sung Eucharist. It was freezing cold, around 40 degrees and even colder inside that old stone cathedral but it was still good to sing the service and remember the refrains. We spoke with Mark Tully who was also headed to the Literature Festival but going by train.
Having the car gave us the opportunity to go the the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art. Both were spectacular - better than ever, with an audio guide at the National Museum that was truly excellent. The jewelry gallery was finally open much to my delight ... and the day got even better when we went to the Museum of Modern Art. There was a large Amrita Sher Gill exhibit with excellent explanations and panels about her life. Saw many pieces I had never seen before.
Then in the Jaipur House side of the museum there was an installation done by a collective of artists called Untimely Calendar - they are the Rags Media Collective. There were various artists from the group giving gallery talks and one of the guards called us to go here one. While standing there listening suddenly Adam Grotsky - the Fulbright Director here in Delhi and an old friend - saw me. He and his wife Olga were also there as it was Sunday afternoon. Such a lovely coincidence. We walked out with them and had Ajit take us to Nizamuddin West to the Turtle Cafe to have a lunch. We also bought two quiches to eat on the road the next day.
The evening was a delightful entertainment at Arun's place. The wine, food and company were all such a pleasure. Arun tried his best to get us to download WassUp but I don't think either of us succeeded. The gorgeous Persian carpet that his father has purchased years ago is all refurbished and is really a gem. It was lovely to see all his furnishing from his flat on Frognal in London - reminders of happy events all those years ago.
We were all ready to go to Jaipur on Monday morning and after there was no driver we called Rajiv. Apparently we had planned to go on Wednesday, not Monday so I asked if he could find us a room in Jaipur for Tuesday and reschedule the driver. By late morning he had the new plan in place. In the meanwhile Lori and jumped into an auto and went to Dilli Haat and then INA Market. Good shopping both places. Then Lori wanted to ride the Metro so we went to Connaught Place, getting off at Rajiv Chawk with several thousand other Delhites. In Connaught Place we had tea at Kwality's then looked in at The Shop. Walking down Jan Path we saw Doma which seemed just the perfect benediction for our day. She wanted to see a picture of Dad and all I had with me was pictures on my phone. She asked for a pair of shoes which I managed to order on line that night and Jack is bringing so she will have them next week.
The next morning we left for Jaipur with Kishore. We had lunch packed with us so the long trip did not seem so daunting. We left after 10 and reached Jaipur about 4 PM. We got to Diggi Palace and picked up our Delegate tags but the schedule and bags had not yet been delivered. We stayed that
first night at Man Singh Palace along with a hundred or so German tourists. They tried to upgrade us to a room that was a suite but it only had a king sized bed so we were demoted to a regular room which was fine. Wednesday afternoon we moved to the Country Inn and Suites which was a really wonderful place to stay. I told Jack, "Think Peoria." There was an outdoor, roof-top pool but way too cold to swim and a nice gym.
The next 4 days were filled with talks, music, poetry, famous faces, and much to absorb. It was colorful, brain straining, over-stimulating and a grand adventure. I will list all the session we attended ... it began with music from Sonam Kolra and the Sufi Gospel Project where she sang her version of Gandhi's hymn "Abide with Me," and then "Alleluia." Then this is the list as I recall:
Friday evening we ate at the Kebab Factory at Country Inn - 6 different kinds of kebabs as hors d'oeuvres and then a main course and 3 desserts - gulab jamun, ras malai and pista kulfi! It was a splurge and a feast. Marvelous young men waiting on us.
Saturday morning we met the guide and went up to Amber Fort. It was a great tour - and Vikram the guide added just the right touch. He took the trick picture of us in the Sheesh Mahal - I was photo bombing!
Probably our favorite museum came next, the Annoki Museum housed in an old, completely restored haveli. It is a marvel of reconstruction, appropriate architecture and well displayed items from the cloth weaving and printer processes. We sat with two artisans, one who made us small printing blocks and the other who demonstrated block printing. They were both serious and skillful. 
Our return to the Literature Festival was very complicated because the past Indian President Kalam was there speaking and the police had cordoned off all the direct streets to Diggi Palace. Kishore finally, after several false turns, dropped us with Vikram and we began to run. We went about a mile to get to the entrance which was jam packed with students trying to enter and police trying to keep them out. We exerted (I exerted) white privilege and started spouting Hindi about how we had to reach the inside by 2 pm - we pushed and shoved, finally picking up a "guide dolphin" in the form of a tall young Indian man who just said "follow me" and forged the way for us. We directly bypassed the security check and stumbled into the hotel grounds just before 2 - and went in to have a delicious lunch of sarso ki sag and mukhi ki roti along with Jenny Uglow and her husband.
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| Aditya Bajaj, Sonu, Cate and Abha |
Sunday I asked Hardeep to send a car and Ajit, one of the old IES drivers came for us in an Innova. I had asked for a small car but Hardeep is Hardeep and he thought we needed a big car. We went to church at the Cathedral Church of the Redemption for the sung Eucharist. It was freezing cold, around 40 degrees and even colder inside that old stone cathedral but it was still good to sing the service and remember the refrains. We spoke with Mark Tully who was also headed to the Literature Festival but going by train.
Having the car gave us the opportunity to go the the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art. Both were spectacular - better than ever, with an audio guide at the National Museum that was truly excellent. The jewelry gallery was finally open much to my delight ... and the day got even better when we went to the Museum of Modern Art. There was a large Amrita Sher Gill exhibit with excellent explanations and panels about her life. Saw many pieces I had never seen before.Then in the Jaipur House side of the museum there was an installation done by a collective of artists called Untimely Calendar - they are the Rags Media Collective. There were various artists from the group giving gallery talks and one of the guards called us to go here one. While standing there listening suddenly Adam Grotsky - the Fulbright Director here in Delhi and an old friend - saw me. He and his wife Olga were also there as it was Sunday afternoon. Such a lovely coincidence. We walked out with them and had Ajit take us to Nizamuddin West to the Turtle Cafe to have a lunch. We also bought two quiches to eat on the road the next day. We were all ready to go to Jaipur on Monday morning and after there was no driver we called Rajiv. Apparently we had planned to go on Wednesday, not Monday so I asked if he could find us a room in Jaipur for Tuesday and reschedule the driver. By late morning he had the new plan in place. In the meanwhile Lori and jumped into an auto and went to Dilli Haat and then INA Market. Good shopping both places. Then Lori wanted to ride the Metro so we went to Connaught Place, getting off at Rajiv Chawk with several thousand other Delhites. In Connaught Place we had tea at Kwality's then looked in at The Shop. Walking down Jan Path we saw Doma which seemed just the perfect benediction for our day. She wanted to see a picture of Dad and all I had with me was pictures on my phone. She asked for a pair of shoes which I managed to order on line that night and Jack is bringing so she will have them next week.The next morning we left for Jaipur with Kishore. We had lunch packed with us so the long trip did not seem so daunting. We left after 10 and reached Jaipur about 4 PM. We got to Diggi Palace and picked up our Delegate tags but the schedule and bags had not yet been delivered. We stayed that
The next 4 days were filled with talks, music, poetry, famous faces, and much to absorb. It was colorful, brain straining, over-stimulating and a grand adventure. I will list all the session we attended ... it began with music from Sonam Kolra and the Sufi Gospel Project where she sang her version of Gandhi's hymn "Abide with Me," and then "Alleluia." Then this is the list as I recall:
- Key Note by Vijay Sshadri, Arvind Krishan Mehrotra and Ashok Vajpeyi
- Seven Deadly Sins in Our Time, Bhabha, Vajpeyi, Esther David, Eimear McBride and Maita Gokhale
- Early Triumphs, Eleanor Catton and Eimear McBride
- A House for Mr. Biswas, Hanif Kureishi, Amit Chaudhuri, Paul Theroux, and Farrukh Dhondy
- The Empress Dowager Cixi - The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, Jung Chang
On Thursday it was pouring rain so all the sessions were moved into the 2 inside venues and cut to half an hour so more sessions with less content -
- Pirates of the Indian Ocean - Real and Imaginary, Neil Rennie and Samanth Subramanian
- Of Beauty and Truth, SR Faruqi and Bilal Tanweer with Sukrita Paul Kumar
- Masterpieces on Jain Art, Saryu Doshi with Alka Pande
- The Library at Night, Alberto Manguel in conversation with Chandrahas Choudury
- Anecdotes of the Past, Indira Ganesh, Pankhuri Arora and Smita Vats, ITIHAAS
- Writing Back, Sahar Deligani, Kamila Shamsie, Meena Kandasamy, Eimear McBride with Ramita Navai
We met Ashok and Sonu Bhojwani for dinner with their friends Alok and Praveen at Niros in Jaipur. We had special Amritsi fish and brain curry - delicious and a lot of fun conversation.
Friday we did 3 morning sessions and then toured Jantar Mantar and the City Palace:
- A Revolution is Brewing, Sangeeta Bandopadhyay, C. Mrunalini, Sukrita Paul Kumar with Malashri Lal
- Wanderlust and the Art of Travel Writing, Paul Therous, Charles Glass, Samanth Subramanian, Sam Miller, Brigid Kennand with William Dalrymple
- Shadow Play: The Art of Biography, Jenny Uglow, Jung Chang, Mark Gevisser, Kate Summerscale, Lucy Hughes Hallet with Sharmile Sen
Friday evening we ate at the Kebab Factory at Country Inn - 6 different kinds of kebabs as hors d'oeuvres and then a main course and 3 desserts - gulab jamun, ras malai and pista kulfi! It was a splurge and a feast. Marvelous young men waiting on us.Saturday morning we met the guide and went up to Amber Fort. It was a great tour - and Vikram the guide added just the right touch. He took the trick picture of us in the Sheesh Mahal - I was photo bombing!Probably our favorite museum came next, the Annoki Museum housed in an old, completely restored haveli. It is a marvel of reconstruction, appropriate architecture and well displayed items from the cloth weaving and printer processes. We sat with two artisans, one who made us small printing blocks and the other who demonstrated block printing. They were both serious and skillful. Our return to the Literature Festival was very complicated because the past Indian President Kalam was there speaking and the police had cordoned off all the direct streets to Diggi Palace. Kishore finally, after several false turns, dropped us with Vikram and we began to run. We went about a mile to get to the entrance which was jam packed with students trying to enter and police trying to keep them out. We exerted (I exerted) white privilege and started spouting Hindi about how we had to reach the inside by 2 pm - we pushed and shoved, finally picking up a "guide dolphin" in the form of a tall young Indian man who just said "follow me" and forged the way for us. We directly bypassed the security check and stumbled into the hotel grounds just before 2 - and went in to have a delicious lunch of sarso ki sag and mukhi ki roti along with Jenny Uglow and her husband.
The three afternoon sessions were:
- The Writer and the World, V.S. Naipaul with Farrukh Dhondy
Our view of V.S. Naipaul - from a sea of people, probably around 800 others. - Cities and Their Shadows, Navtej Sarna, Esther David, Yatindra Mishra (cities being Jerusalem, Ahmedabad, and with Indrajit Hazra
- Narrative: Putting the Story Back into History, Gilbert King, Jenng Uglow, Gary Bass, Jerry Brotton and Kate Summerscale with Swapan Dasgupta
The next morning Lori was dropped off at Annokhi to shop (which she did very successfully) and I was dropped at Diggi Palace for one last session -
- The Spinner of Tales, Chetan Bhagat
We started back out to the highway at about 11 AM. We drove through Amer again and saw a whole parade of elephants getting off of their work shift ... so serene, slow, enormous.
The drive to Neemrana only took a couple hours and we stopped part way to eat the salad and sandwich Lori had bought at the Annokhi Cafe. Delicious. We arrived at Neemrana in a crowd of others as this was the 3-day Republic Day weekend. The strong young men hauled our suitcases up several lights to our abode at Hari Vilas. It was far too cold to swim much to my disappointment but we walked over a mile or so to view the famous step well, we each had a massage, went to a yoga class, listened to two young Hungarian men give a flute and piano recital, and ate dinner with a charcoal brazier beside us in the outdoor dining room. Lori got to see some of the Republic Day parade on TV and I captured one shot of the two "new best friends." A perfect if short visit.
Back in our snug guest house in Vasant Vihar both Jai Prakash and the dog were happy to see us back. My favorite picture of the trip got taken that afternoon of Republic Day - Lori called me to come and see these two sitting in the tree outside her window. The next day, Tuesday, we decided to do some of the walks listed in the book that was my gift at the Literature Festival. Deepak sent Om Prakash and one of the Arpana vehicles to take us around which was a huge help. First we went to the Indira Gandhi Museum then we did the Lodi Garden walk and I learned a lot about the gombads (tombs) that I had not known. Then we walked down Lodi road to Safdarjung's Tomb and did the walk through there as well.
Wednesday (Jan 28) we decided that it was the day to do Lal Kila (the Red Fort) and Jama Masjid. I also had the brain storm to get us tickets for Beating Retreat and, of course, Rajiv was my "go to guy" who knew where to get them - at a tiny little kiosk at the Jantar Mantar. So the day was organized around the marvelous audio tour of the Red Fort - where the kids running the audio tour told me to take my PAN card and get my Rs. 230 refund and pay the "Indian" entrance fee! - and getting to entrance V-1 by 4 pm to get seated for Beating Retreat. It was wonderful as always - wispy clouds, sun setting behind the ministry buildings, the combined bands playing Abide with Me (Gandhi's favorite hymn). Om Prakash was right where I told him to be to pick us up (we could not take phones with us but of course everyone had one except me!). And this was what we saw as we left ...
Friday morning we stopped at Arun's place in Chanakaypuri for coffee in the garden ... then on to Khan Market for various errands and lunch at Turtle Cafe. Then the long, tedious drive down to see the Arpana School in Molarbund but we actually got there earlier than planned. We stayed for about 2 hours and Nabaneeta gave us the full overview and tour. So impressive. I took almost 50 pictures so it's hard to choose the best shot. Here's a good one ...
Saturday was another day of contrasts in time and history. We took an auto to Arun's and he took us in his car to take us to the Delhi Gulf Club ... a delicious Indonesian lunch and chocolate cake from Mamagoto - then a long walk around the golf course with Arun, following foursomes from green to farway to tees. Gorgeous day for a walk among the ruins on the course - Lori had read about the history of the Brits.
We took an auto to Hauz Khas Village, which I realized I had probably not been to see since 1993 with Arun, Jack and Marianne. It was swarming with teenagers but I got two pictures. Here's one of Lori by the Lake. This was a good Saturday afternoon adventure even with all the teen-agers. The history of Auz Kas is well described in our 14 Walks in Delhi book making our investigation of all the structures very interesting. We found a taxi driver, finally, who agreed to take us back to Vasant Vihar for Rs. 200 which was a lot but at least we got home!
The drive to Neemrana only took a couple hours and we stopped part way to eat the salad and sandwich Lori had bought at the Annokhi Cafe. Delicious. We arrived at Neemrana in a crowd of others as this was the 3-day Republic Day weekend. The strong young men hauled our suitcases up several lights to our abode at Hari Vilas. It was far too cold to swim much to my disappointment but we walked over a mile or so to view the famous step well, we each had a massage, went to a yoga class, listened to two young Hungarian men give a flute and piano recital, and ate dinner with a charcoal brazier beside us in the outdoor dining room. Lori got to see some of the Republic Day parade on TV and I captured one shot of the two "new best friends." A perfect if short visit. Back in our snug guest house in Vasant Vihar both Jai Prakash and the dog were happy to see us back. My favorite picture of the trip got taken that afternoon of Republic Day - Lori called me to come and see these two sitting in the tree outside her window. The next day, Tuesday, we decided to do some of the walks listed in the book that was my gift at the Literature Festival. Deepak sent Om Prakash and one of the Arpana vehicles to take us around which was a huge help. First we went to the Indira Gandhi Museum then we did the Lodi Garden walk and I learned a lot about the gombads (tombs) that I had not known. Then we walked down Lodi road to Safdarjung's Tomb and did the walk through there as well. Wednesday (Jan 28) we decided that it was the day to do Lal Kila (the Red Fort) and Jama Masjid. I also had the brain storm to get us tickets for Beating Retreat and, of course, Rajiv was my "go to guy" who knew where to get them - at a tiny little kiosk at the Jantar Mantar. So the day was organized around the marvelous audio tour of the Red Fort - where the kids running the audio tour told me to take my PAN card and get my Rs. 230 refund and pay the "Indian" entrance fee! - and getting to entrance V-1 by 4 pm to get seated for Beating Retreat. It was wonderful as always - wispy clouds, sun setting behind the ministry buildings, the combined bands playing Abide with Me (Gandhi's favorite hymn). Om Prakash was right where I told him to be to pick us up (we could not take phones with us but of course everyone had one except me!). And this was what we saw as we left ...
Thursday (Jan 29) we decided to go to Sanskriti Museums which one of Deepak's friends had told us to visit - they are on the Gurgaon Mehruali Road in the neighborhood where Jack and I had purchased all our furniture. They are exquisite museums. One of "Everyday Culture," one of "Textiles" and my favorite, "Sculpture."
Lori had seen the DLF Emporia mall on the way to Sanskriti so we decided to stop there on the way back. We found all the very high end retailers and lots of places to eat. We stopped at The Big Chill to indulge in desserts - I had a hot fudge sundae with Oreo chocolate ice cream and Lori had a cheese cake, chocolate mousse, cream brulee "thing." Yum. We shopped in a fancy "food hall" that was started by a Norwegian guy - most notable were the fresh blueberries for $10 a pint. I bought fruit chat - now I need more guavas - I've eaten all I bought in Jaipur!
Friday morning we stopped at Arun's place in Chanakaypuri for coffee in the garden ... then on to Khan Market for various errands and lunch at Turtle Cafe. Then the long, tedious drive down to see the Arpana School in Molarbund but we actually got there earlier than planned. We stayed for about 2 hours and Nabaneeta gave us the full overview and tour. So impressive. I took almost 50 pictures so it's hard to choose the best shot. Here's a good one ...
The last chore of the day was to have Om Prakash take me out to the Centaur Hotel by the airport and give Bubbles, the driver from Woodstock, the 3 completed kneelers to be delivered to Rev. Erik Templeton. All accomplished in just over an hour because we went at 7:30 when the traffic had diminished to a slow roar.
Saturday was another day of contrasts in time and history. We took an auto to Arun's and he took us in his car to take us to the Delhi Gulf Club ... a delicious Indonesian lunch and chocolate cake from Mamagoto - then a long walk around the golf course with Arun, following foursomes from green to farway to tees. Gorgeous day for a walk among the ruins on the course - Lori had read about the history of the Brits.We took an auto to Hauz Khas Village, which I realized I had probably not been to see since 1993 with Arun, Jack and Marianne. It was swarming with teenagers but I got two pictures. Here's one of Lori by the Lake. This was a good Saturday afternoon adventure even with all the teen-agers. The history of Auz Kas is well described in our 14 Walks in Delhi book making our investigation of all the structures very interesting. We found a taxi driver, finally, who agreed to take us back to Vasant Vihar for Rs. 200 which was a lot but at least we got home!