Our Indian Adventure : part two

                  OUR INDIAN ADVENTURE: PART TWO

Monday 20th January 2014          Return to Delhi

On Thursday 26th January we finally arrived back on Indian soil nearly two years after my last blog! I said then that we would be back and after months of planning, endless company paperwork, visa applications and tearful goodbyes we struggled out of Indira Gandhi Airport with our 200kg of luggage! The familiar smells of India filled our nostrils and through a sea of waiting faces pressing up against the barriers we spied the smiling faces of our good friends.
 

Now a few days later we are slowly recovering from jet lag and acclimatising to life here again.
 

Our most immediate need is to find a place to live in as we are at the moment staying with friends so most days we have been taken out by agents and shown various flats mainly  out of our price range!!!
 

Its so hard to make a decision about where is the best place to live! None of the flats look appealing totally bare but once covered up with furnishings and given a good clean they are often transformed!One visit to a sector and we really don't know what the neighbours are like or if the water and electricity are bad in this area during the hot months! Of course the agents and the landlords answer our questions  with much nodding of heads and affirmatives saying everything is good! Hmmm, not sure  I believe them ?!! well we have to make a decision soon so today we shall try and shortlist some and take a second look.

 

Leaving behind a windswept and rain sodden England we had been looking forward to some sunshine  and warmer temperatures but since our arrival the sun has been hidden behind a foggy grey sky! It makes travelling around in auto rickshaws a test of patience as the drivers are even more grumpy and obstreperous than normal refusing to take us unless we pay over the odds! They sit huddled in their seats wearing an interesting  array of jumpers, woolly hats, scarves and old blankets while the cold foggy air freezes faces and hands! Fortunately today the fog  burnt off and everyone's demeanour visibly lightened as the sun's rays took effect.

LAST DELHI BLOG 

I can't believe there are now only five days left living in India! How time has flown on this wonderful, amazing adventure!!!

 February was spent travelling: firstly with good friends over from the UK touring around Rajasthan and then the rest of the month saw us visit two other continents; Dubai in the Middle East and South Africa. Dubai was glitzy, flashy and awe inspiring

in the range of amazing glass buildings of all shapes and sizes that rose up out of the desert. The God of Dubai is definitely money! Cape Town on the other hand was astoundingly beautiful , not because of what man has built but because of the majestic mountains that tower over the city and the Indian and Atlantic oceans that wrap themselves around it. We were really taken aback by the glorious golden , clear light that made everything look bright and sharp – probably the contrast seemed greater to us after having lived under the white smog filled haze of Delhi skies!

So we returned from our travels to the last three weeks in Delhi. Gradually we have been selling off all the possessions that we

have acquired since we've been here and the house has now taken on an empty , forlorn look .The weather has been amazing, especially in the early mornings when it still feels fresh. I've taken to going out early and walking around the small park at the end of our road. The trees are laden with bright pink and white blossoms and the park is filled with flowers. It's surprising how many people are up and about early, jogging , power walking, gossiping, doing yoga or martial arts – the park is a hive of activity at seven in the morning! Outside the park gates street children scavenge for recycling material amongst the rubbish, large white sacks slung across their backs and women gather firewood dropped from the trees, carrying large bundles of it down the road on their heads. How I will miss scenes like this when back in England!


 Amazingly all the items we needed to sell went and the kitchen cupboards were empty again! Soon we were standing , keys in hand looking at the empty shell of our flat. Despite it's ill -fitting windows , its rain stained walls and insect inhabitants, this house had become our home and leaving it was very sad. We padlocked the gate for the last time , taking one last look at the busy street, the shady trees full of chattering birds and chipmunks and drove out of the sector and away from Vasant Kunj for the last time!

 Later on , in the plane , I craned my neck to look back at the city .We rapidly left behind the maze of dusty roads , ancient ruins, modern malls and squalid slums as we rose up through the smog haze and entered the blue sky above! India has a way of getting under your skin and working it's way deep into your heart so that leaving it is physically painful!! It's like being separated from a loved one !!! It is also a very addictive place , once tasted you need to return again and again so I know that although we have to leave now it won't be forever.

WE WILL BE BACK!

A Sunday Outing

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 !

Christmas in the UK

Having spent last Christmas in India, this year we returned to the UK for three weeks to spend the festivities with family.
The first thing that hit me, as I came out of Terminal 5, was the cold, fresh air! I inhaled deeply! How good to fill my lungs again with relatively clean air compared to smog filled Delhi! Having acclimatised to the Indian weather the English weather seemed perishingly cold to me even though it was above freezing!

There is nothing like spending Christmas in your home country! It is such a time of family traditions and where strong memories are evoked so that, in my opinion, spending it abroad is never quite the same! So this Christmas was wonderful ! What did I love about it ? Well, a whole week with the extended family, carols by candlelight on Christmas eve, mulled wine, Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, presents round the tree, warm central heated houses with soft carpets underfoot (rather than the hard marble floors of Indian houses), satsumas, pavlova with raspberries (oh how I've missed rasberries!!!), the delight and amazement of my 16 month old granddaughter at all the sights and sounds of Christmas and the general family banter that you miss when apart. It was a great time all in all.

England did strike me as a depressing place to be however. It felt quite oppressive and the people in the street appeared glum and weighed down by life. India, by contrast, is a very positive place to live in..... the economy is booming, the people seem very positive , even amongst the poor there is an air of optimism. they might live in appalling conditions but they haven't given up!!!


BACK TO DELHI

January 3rd saw us return to India for our last stint before our move back to the UK. Only 12 weeks and we will have to pack everything up and say goodbye to Vasant Kunj! What an amazing adventure we've been on and how I will miss this place …. but I don't want to think about leaving yet!!!!

We had forgotten how cold our house is in January!!! The days are foggy with faint hazy sunshine and the cold air seeps in through all the gaps under the doors and through he ill-fitting windows. The marble floors are icy and as you sit still the chill creeps into your bones! Hopefully it will only be for a few weeks and the warm spring weather will return. It's crazy to think that only a few months ago we were wilting under the intense heat, with hot water coming out of the cold taps and unable to sleep with even a sheet over us! Now we huddle under duvet and blankets , walk around in jumpers and scarves and hope that there are no power cuts so we can heat up water to wash in! At least my house is now free from all rodents and cockroaches, for the time being anyway.

Delhi in November

I apologise for the long gap in blog entries but October and most of November has seen a deluge of visitors passing through Delhi and staying at our house. It has been exhausting but great both to catch up with old friends and to make many new ones! I definitely think Tim and I could make a good living as tour guides to this wonderful city as we are getting to know it very well showing people around!!!
The weather has finally cooled down from the endless summer onslaught. It's amazing how quickly it happens – one minute we are sweating profusely from the heat and humidity and then suddenly almost overnight in October the weather freshens and the temperature drops.. Out come the scarves, shawls and hats in the early mornings and evenings and the whirring of ceiling fans stop. However with the cooler weather ( now mid twenties) has come the smog. A mist has settled over the city made up of smoke from fires burning at night, fire ctackers from the continual festivals and weddings there are at this time of year and the general city pollution . Everywhere you go people are coughing ( us included)and spitting ( a disgusting habit !!!)

This time of year is wonderful though for walking in the parks and visiting the old tombs, towers, forts and mosques/ temples that are scattered around the city. Delhi is amazing for its old history which is evident in the most surprising of places. You can be just walking down a road or in a park or field and come across and old tomb sticking out of the undergrowth, totally neglected – a reminder of a vibrant history of powerful moghul kings and invading armies.

Back in October some of us started a kids club at the church centre for street kids and poor kids living in the local area. The idea is to enable children just to have a time where they can play and be children as many of them have to work long hours and have no real childhood. . We provide painting, craft, skipping, lego, cars, books etc and we play group games, provide some hot food and watch a cartoon at the end. The club has proved so popular as word has spread around the community that we've had to do two different age groups with about 50 coming to each and with a waiting list for the groups. After Christmas I hope to start some English classes for the children at the clubs who can't read and write in English.. Through the clubs we're getting to know so many more of the local mums and dads which is brilliant.

Monsoon Deluge and Amazing Jaipur

The monsoon has made a late resurgence this year deluging the capital and causing floods everywhere and traffic nightmares! Yesterday was the highest rainfall in 50 rears with 120 mm falling in one hour! It's fine if your at home but Tim was driving back from teaching some Burmese refugees English in Vikashpuri and he had to negotiate water levels over his wheels and then the car decided to overheat in the traffic queues so it was a very stressful journey!

My war against the insect population seems to be going my way at the moment. Some chalk like substance that I was told to draw in all my cupboards has done the trick and the ants and cockroaches no longer venture in to the cupboards!! some cockroaches scuttle across the work surface every now and again but nothing I can't handle. The invasion however, has moved on to a whole new level with the arrival of a rat (s). This creature is determined to get into my house every night whether coming up through sink drain pipes, through kitchen extractor fan vents or by squeezing itself under the cracks of the doors (of which there are many!!).

Firstly I tried a rat trap – the one they sell here is basically a flimsy black tray covered in super glue which is baited with a substance the rat likes. The idea is that the rat runs on to the trap and gets stuck fast by the glue. A person then has the problem of how to dispose of a live wriggling rat stuck fast ! With great trepidation I came down in the morning only to find the tray over the other side of the room minus the rat who obviously got stuck but managed to extricate himself and who then proceeded to run around the room collecting bits of fluff on its sticky paws and depositing them on all my furniture!! I was actually relieved he had escaped..... but now I have moved on to poison which comes in a green cake like substance that you break into squares and leave at various places round the house. Well it's been three days and some of the pieces have been nibbled at but the rat is still alive and kicking !!!! We will have to make a valiant effort to strengthen our fortifications against the intruder..

Last weekend we went to Jaipur , capital of Rajasthan. This ancient city often known as the Pink city was amazing! We arrived at eight in the morning at Amber fort , a 15century fort built high up on the hillside overlooking a lake. The sky was clear blue and the air much cleaner and fresher than smoggy Delhi. We ascended the steep hill riding on elephants ! This was how the queens and then the British during the time of the Raj must have arrived- it wasn't very comfortable but great fun!
The fort was beautifully preserved, especially the intricate designs and paintings on the walls. They used a special technique that meant the colour soaked in to the stone and didn't fade over time.


Jaipur was full of ancient buildings and bazaars. We visited the Hawa Mahal (the air palace) which was built by the king for his 12 wives. It is five storeys high and connected to the royal palace by a long tunnel so that the wives could go from the confines of the palace to this building which was right on the main street. There they could look through the many latticed windows down on to the street to watch processions and daily life without being seen by the public . It was called the air palace because of the clever way it was designed so that a constant breeze blew through the rooms. Special slanted vents were built into the windows in such a way that the breeze cooled the rooms. It was amazingly effective and much better than the noisy air conditioning systems we have today.

Our hotel was an old haveli set in lush gardens and filled with old ornately carved furniture. It was a peaceful haven set behind high walls just off the crazy bustle of the main street. The streets were full of beautiful Rajastahni women dressed in amazing, vibrant coloured saris and decorated in coloured bangles, ankle chains and toe rings. It was a truly magical place. The practise of 'purdah'(women being hidden from other men) was common practise in this state by Hindus as well as muslims and even today many of the women would cover their faces with their saris when walking down the road. The act of veiling came in to being after the ninth century when invading armies in to India noticed how beautiful the women were there and started to take them as slaves and mistresses for themselves so the local people decided to try to hide the beauty of their women from the outside world in order to protect them! We learnt as well that the popular ankle chains with tiny bells on were used originally to warn other men in a room that a woman was approaching , so that they could avert their eyes or go elsewhere so that they didn't meet. In some conservative families still today the daughter in law will still cover her face in the presence of her father in law as a sign of respect.

August in Delhi

Well the month of august is passing in a continual heat haze, interspersed by the odd torrential monsoon downpour. The monsoon is definitely less than in previous years but it still manages to cause chaos after about five minutes of rain!!!

I've managed to wear my flowery wellingtons once and caused a lot of attention from passers by!!!! I can't understand why there isn't a huge market for wellingtons over here with such torrential rain but no-one wears them?!! well at least they kept my feet dry and stopped mud splashing up the backs of my legs.

I seem to be spending a good part of my day in battle against the insect population at the moment. The heat and rain has bought out every kind of insect imaginable and lots of them are migrating to my kitchen!!!! I open cupboards and there are ants swarming everywhere and the odd cockroach scuttling quickly away from the light!!!! Not to mention the mosquitoes, flies and large wasp like things . I'm becoming quite an expert armed with my weapons of various sprays, an electric tennis racket, boiling water and a chalk like substance that you draw in all your cupboards. The insects disappear for a few days only t resurface again!! I will win this war!!!!

The English classes are going well. At the girls home I'm using jolly phonics to teach the girls the letter sounds. Each letter has an action and a song to go with it. The girls just love the songs and the actions and it's really helped them to learn the sounds rather than just the letter name and to put simple words together..I just love teaching – whether it's the kids at the home or the adults at the centre or my maid's son. I love seeing people grow in confidence and in their ability to communicate.
I just wish I was as good at Hindi as my students are at English!!!