Tuesday, 20 May 2008

Settling in..continued

Sight Seeing and Socialising:

On my first weekend in Delhi Inder and Gaurav took me out to meet their friends at a bar that wouldn't have been out of place in London, but on a big scale with loads of staff running around depositing food and drinks etc.  The music was a good mix of Indian and British mangaging us a bop.  Their friends were very welcoming, and all the girls looked so very pretty - going to a bar like this is the excuse all the women need to dress much (I mean much) less conservatively in strappy tops and skirts that show off their legs. I felt positively underdressed in my jeans and simple cotton top. Typical!

The next day, on my suggestion, we went to the Red Fort. We took the metro and a cycle rickshaw. Fun. An old walled 'city' complex that now has an appearance of faded glory. Or should I say 'striped of it's glory?' The sad thing about the Red Fort is that over the decades many of it's decorations have been stolen, like the silver ceiling in one room and the gems from the tiling in another. India's monuments and ancient buildings also suffer from graffiti and what they call 'encroachment' where the buildings are appropriated by drug users and the homeless. The red Fort is quite heavily guarded, and some of the better kept rooms we could only peer at through the glass. However, what I could see of the buildings was enough to give me a flavour of  Mughal architecture, and the tiling in the rooms was worth appreciating.

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If you notice that these pictures are both wonky, then you would be right.  It was so hot on this Sunday that I was also feeling a bit wonky!

After the Red Fort we visited a Gurdwarra, or Sikh temple. Inder is a 'cut Sikh' which means he doesn't wear a turban, and visits a Gurdwarra most Sundays to pay his spiritual respects.  The experience was really interesting for me, as had I visited as a tourist I would have merely taken my shoes off, covered my hair like everyone else and peeked in.  Going in with someone of that religion means you find out what actually goes on.  Witnessing how the Sikhs observe there religion was interesting, and quick (no painful sermons here), but the best bit was the sweet cinnamon flavoured sticky cous cous type mixture ladled into your hands as you leave. Mmm, halwa (spelling?). Yummy.

We took a quick walk to get some deep fried paratha down one of the narrow lanes Old Delhi. Why scooters carrying 2 or 3 people zip through these tiny lanes, nearly knocking people (namely me) over I don't know. Narrowly escaping death at the hands of these crazies is part of the experience,  I guess!  Anyway, the food was okay, but I've had better stuffed paratha near the university, where several stalls cater to the students keema (mutton) and paneer (soft cheese) paratha needs. Mmm, stuffed paratha.....

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