Lask Week in Delhi

This was the week that we had thought would be our only time in Delhi but when the Madhuban trip was canceled we managed a lot of touring in and around the city.  We saved the Qutab Minar and Tuglakhabad for the Monday, February 2, with Harini Narayanan.  She had taught (and still does) the Cities of Delhi class for me to the IES students and is a geographer with extensive knowledge about the history of Delhi.

It was a fantastic day of history and discovery.  It was cold and misty but that provided new, unique shots of the Qutab.  I learned and saw things I had never seen before.  My declaration that I wasn't going to take any pictures was short lived.    The many hundreds of parakeets begged to be photographed.  We have taken to calling them Mr. and Mrs. Ganguly because of Betsy Woodman's wonderful series about Jana Bibi - if you haven't read them look them up here and you will find Mr. Ganguly, the parakeet, a totally enchanting character. 

After the Qutab visit we had the driver take us to Tuglakhabad,  my first time there.  It is a magnificent think to behold - I had driver by the huge rampart walls on the way to other places but never paid much attention.  We climbed up the huge, stone staircase and entered the Fort.  Lori felt she had seen the scene before in many European painting, especially of Italian landscapes with ruins and forests.  The sight lines are marvelous in all directions.  We were amused by the donkeys who were grazing in several places. Harini said that the city of Delhi relocated the villagers who had been living inside the ruins several years ago but still allow them to let their animals graze inside.  She also told us that for Ali (her daughter's) 15th birthday they talked the guards into letting them set up a treasure hunt for 20 of her friends.  They said it was a smashing success and the kids learned about some of the history of their city at the same time. 

We took Harini to Sagar's for lunch as that was a destination we hadn't managed yet.  Lunch was delicious as usual.  Afterwards Lori and I tried to walk over to E22 Def Col to see Anasari about the increasing recalcitrant Reliance USB internet connection.  I turned on Google Maps and we got gloriously lost.  Obviously GM is not up to following all the wonderfully twisting and turning lanes inside the various Delhi colonies. We ended up having to take a cycle rickshaw to get us back to where we wanted to be - cost Rs. 100!

We had the driver take us to see Santosh at the Niti Bagh chemist so I could put in the order for the meds for Ari.  He was happy to see me - had been following our adventures on FaceBook.  We stopped to see the street dogs at A-17.  Lady had died last year according to the dhobi's son - he is the little boy we had bought a bicycle for so he could get to school.  But Lucy was there - sleeping in the crook of the tree, wrapped up in a red dog-coat. She was sound asleep but gradually woke up and wiggled all over.  She must be about 8 or 9 by now.  Old for a Delhi street dog.

The evening was dinner with Greg Randolph one of my best IES students who lives and works in Delhi now.  He is working with Just Jobs Network.  It is a great concept - adding both quantity and quality to the analysis of jobs in over 100 countries.  He is thinking about graduate school in a year or so.  We met at the Thai restaurant in Priya Cinema market.

That left us with 3 short days to do the rest of the things in Delhi.  On Tuesday we stayed home, washed clothes, worked on the internet, walked and got organized to go out after lunch to Khan Market to do final shopping and meet Arun for dinner.  He had hosted us several times so we told him we would take him to Mamagoto - which apparently was also the caterer at the Delhi Golf Club.  We got him to meet us at 6:30 which for him is pretty early for dinner.  The food was delicious and the bill was almost $80 - not cheap to live well in Delhi.


We had done all our final shopping which was also helpful. 

The next day, Wednesday,  was the only day that Connie McCaslin, the friend of a friend of Lori's could see us, and she invited us to the ACSA club at the American Embassy.  Jack and I had been members when we lived in Delhi and it was very evocative of the old days although they've done massive renovations inside.   I had a salmon caesar salad which was divine.   Connie seems a bit overwhelmed and over worked but she was also recovering was a bad cold.  She drove us home which was very helpful.

Wednesday was the only time that Dr. Uma Chakkarvati could meet us, at 5 pm.  She lived quite close by over by one of the main campuses of Delhi University.  Getting over to her in an auto was not difficult and we had a most productive meeting.  Uma had translated the book by Pandita Ramabai about her 3-year stay in the America and is, obviously, an expert on women's history and topics in India.  She is currently filming a documentary about women who have had heroic lives in India, defending various causes.  It turned out later, when I was finally able to meet with Anandana Kapoor that they are friends - both being feminists, scholars and filmmakers although Uma is in her late 70's and Anandana is in her early 30's.  Anandana calls her "Uma Chuk!"   

Getting back to Vasant Vihar was a chore - it was after dark and all the students leaving campus for the day occupied every available auto - 4-5 in each one.  Ultimately we had to cross the Ring Road - no small undertaking in heavy, heavy traffic although there was a marked cross walk - and coerced an auto driver to take us home.  Reluctantly as he said he had to be somewhere else but I paid him Rs. 70 which was about 3 times what the fare would have been by the meter.

Thursday was Lori's last day.  We had saved going to Humayan's Tomb for the last day as it was her favorite from our last visit.  Inspite of the horrible air quality (which Connie had informed us about although it was no surprise because breathing was a chore on the really foggy days) it was a clear blue day and we had a car for the day to enable us to do all the last minute things.  I got in for the Indian price again - just Rs. 10 - because of my PAN card.  There is no audio tour yet as there had been for other sites but we used the 14 Walks in Delhi book to guide us around.  We walked all around the back which minimized the number of other tourists making it a much more restful tour.  On the way out we ran into Connie's friend - who we had met the day before and had urged to her to see Humanyan's tomb. 

We had lunch somewhere ... cannot reconstruct where. 



Lori packed and re-packed while we tried to assess if her bag was over 50 lbs.  That reminded to ask Jack to bring the luggage weighing device from the States.   Deepak came at 7 pm to take us to dinner at Sartoria at Priya Cinema market.  The dinner was lovely but turned out to be a bad plan as Lori was sick by the time she got to the airport - throwing up there and on the plane.  I was sick during the night, still went to lunch with Sunita to Chopsticks but was really ill.  By Saturday morning (election day in Delhi) Deepak had to take me to the clinic to see Dr. Gita Prakash who promptly put me on an IV drip and gave me 5 different meds.  More about the recovery and the next phase of the trip in the next post.