Last Sunday the smog cleared and sky was the bluest I'd seen it for a long time! The temperature headed for a balmy 22C so we decided it was an ideal afternoon for a walk. An Indian friend of mine looked at me in astonishment “ why would you want to go for a walk when it's sooo cold??” she asked. “well, walking will get you warm for a start” I answered, “Oh no, far too cold to go out! I'm going home to drink hot chocolate !” was her reply. Some other 'more hardy ' Indian friends of ours decided to come with us and we headed westwards to the ruins of an ancient fort known as 'Tughlukabad.
Even though this fort is now just ruins rising from the plains and forest areas of Delhi, it still impresses with it's ancient yellow stone walls and crumbling towers.
It was built in the 14th century by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and is known as the third of the seven cities of Delhi. It was so well built that the 4 mile perimeter walls still survive intact! It was lovely walking down the dusty paths, clambering over the stones and climbing up the crumbling steps to stand at the top of some of the towers to look across the city. We could look down and still see the grid like patterns of the house walls and palaces built inside the fortress. With a bit of imagination you could imagine the once bustling streets, bazaars, armouries and stables of the king's fighting elephants.There seemed to be no other tourists around – just a few indian families wandering around and groups of young boys playing cricket on the dry open patches of ground. A few wild donkeys searched in vain for grass and one or two stray dogs lay sleeping in the sun. We were still in the suburbs of the city and yet here you could hear no traffic noise – it was so peaceful!!!
STORIES FROM THE NEWSPAPERS!
Don't read if you are squemish!
Indian daily newspapers are mainly made up of corruption stories, Bollywood gossip and horror stories , usually involving road accidents, murders or hospitals!! At the moment they seem to be concentrating on government hospital stories involving rats!! One was about a paralysed patient who was attacked by rats whilst the night guards and doctors slept! The rats managed to eat a lot of the person's face and bite through tubing whilst the poor person was unable to raise the alarm! There are similar stories daily involving rodents or stray dogs entering hospitals and eating patients! If you have money to pay then hospitals are great in India but the vast
majority of people here are reliant on hospitals with the most basic of resources. Yesterday I read about a poor pregnant lady who was turned away from several hospitals because they didn't want to admit her and she had to give birth to twins right outside on the pavement and bled to death. I must remember to never complain about the NHS again !
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