Enter, Bed

My first day of arriving in Delhi, Sharon and I hit Panchkuian Road (metro stop: Ramkrishna Ashram) to get a bed for her and Jacob. We scour the shops, try on sofa sets and shoe racks for the heck of it, nod sympathetically at shop attendants as they explain why they charge so much but don't hike our own budget - till finally we see the Right One.

:)

It arrived the next day, and the residents of 1/63 Old Rajinder Nagar (ground floor) were terribly thrilled at the latest entrant in the family! :)


Of course, I took a snap of the Lovers, but Ma'amselle got all coy in a sudden fit and deleted it from my camera! :)

Indulgence, Pure Indulgence

... the American Diner at the India Habitat Centre, that is...!

That venerable old place that our fantastic auto rickshaw driver up there (Pavi's paying him) calls the India Heavyweight Centre. When we got in, Pavi and I kept the art galleries and the courtyard for later and dashed right into the Diner for a damn heavy brunch. Time for pancakes and eggs! :)


When we were done with the Diner, Pavi (up there) and I walked around the place. He told me how the Habitat Center is considered one of the finest buildings in Delhi in terms of over-all ambience, sense, utility and aesthetics. The auto driver agreed: he was pleased as punch about the two levels of parking! :)


O, and the auto guy had some very kind words to say about amchi Mumbai: he's quite in love with Marine Drive, thinks that Bombayites are the best people in the world, and Mumbai is one of the cleanest cities in the world.

I didn't correct him on the clean part. :)

Delhi's Answer To the Sydney Opera House

The Ba'Hai Lotus Temple in Okhla. Have been dying to see it for ages now, but just been too lazy to see it all the time I was in Delhi. On the last day, Eric said he wanted to see it after brunch at Costa Coffee, and I tagged along. Beautiful hall. Great ceiling. And the atmosphere would have been nice...

...I say would have been because of all the people who crowded there. This place is supposed to be an area of self introspection and prayer for people of all backgrounds and faiths. Yet, we somehow managed to make this into a great big tourist spot. So even if you tend to ignore the occassional screams from children inside the great hall, you cannot help but be aware that people are standing in serpentine queues outside and being herded in and out in batches, and gawking at signs and whispering and muttering and taking pictures outside, etc etc etc.


Well, yea, I plead guilty to the 'taking pictures' part...! *grin*

I got the Blues!

Blues in Connaught Place used to be a favourite hangout when we used to live in Delhi - so this time, we planned to meet up. Me and Mallu (Kunal), Sharon and Tilak who was down from Nepal. Red wine and Tandoori Platter for me - and it was great, even though they screwed up and got me the veg platter at first, and not non-veg.


And no, Tilak cannot afford me! :)

Red Fort Part II - Sitting Pretty at Agra

As soon as Stephen and I arrived in Agra, the first thing we did was drink garam chai at the station - Agra was freeeezing! :) The second thing we did was walk around outside the station till this old rickshaw cyclist convinced us to hire him to drive us to the Agra Fort. We were also supposed to stop for samosas and jalebis on the way, but I reasoned we should first get to the Fort - and of course, a highly whiny Stephen started grumbling soon afterwards. :)

Agra was the capitol of the Mughals, since the Emperor Akbar's time. It was meant to be a twin capitol to Delhi, but of course, after the reign of the Five Great Mughals, the city sort of... dwindled. Amazing architecture though, and I felt like an ass for not charging my batteries long enough before hitting the fort.




Stephen was highly impressed by the fort, much more than he was by the one in Delhi. Of course, to be fair to the Delhi fort, we didn't really get much of a chance to explore the interiors. The outer walls of the Agra Fort still had some minay-kari work remaining - the walls must have looked amazing when the minay-kari was there in all its splendour, in earlier times...!

I adore these old park benches. Not very Mughal in nature, I know, but I adore them! :)

Then there was the pic down there - I mean, they couldn't have placed the damn loo sign anywhere else other than bang next to the main map of the complex??!!

In the end, though, we decided to ignore all that and just be like Kings. In the Hall of Private Audience (Diwan i Khas), there were two thrones, White and Black, for the Emperor's morning and evening, and these were duly occupied...

Coooooooooooold in Agra

Waiting at Agra station for the Rajdhani. The city is cooooold. Easily worse than Delhi. I thought the station was great for snaps, though. The pic above is from Stephen's collection.

Handmaidens at Agra

Entering the Taj Mahal precincts involves a looooong wait. Stephen and I stood outside for about 30 minutes, even though several touts were promising 'instant' entry. My first thought: this was a serious security hazard! When the stupid guards made me run up and down to place our mobile phones in the locker, I wasn't very supportive of the security measures however!

Once we got inside, though, the view changed my mind.

The Taj Mahal has this gigantic red sandstone gate leading up to it, which is majestic in its own right, with its taaaaaaaalllll and intricately done ceiling.

Flanking it on two sides are two red sandstone buildings, which provide a colour contrast to the white marble: the assembly hall and the mosque. Mirror images.


Spot the beehive up there!


Marvellous work on the ceilings, despite the beehive - and there's some restoration work going on there, too.


Took the same picture below twice - experimenting with light settings. I quite like both, actually :).

"Wah, Taj!"

The walkway to the Taj Mahal is supposed to resemble Heaven. The Taj is supposed to represent not just Mumtaz's tomb, but also the abode of God. So there you have the pools leading up to it, according to descriptions in the Koran - I gathered all this from what I remember of Standard 8 History class. :) And after remembering all of that, I posed for the Standard Taj Photo. Stephen to the rescue with the camera!

But the boy wasn't quite nearly as impressed with the Taj as I was. You can tell that from the freaky face he makes in the pic down there.

While I got by paying only 20 bucks, our intrepid Traveller had to fork out Rs 750 - for which he got a mingy bottle of water and plastic foot-covers - down there. Us grubby Indians had to remove our shoes and pay Rs 2 to use the loo - his Rs 750 bought him free loo entry. He wasn't very thrilled, though. :)

But as far as I was concerned, the Taj was amazing. Breath-takingly sublime, even though the smell of dirty feet in the inner sanctum was a bit of a turn-off. Sharon says, I get happy over small things. That's a boon sometimes, and can be bad at others - I like to think, the Taj was one of those better times. :)