Ed's mum is visiting and so we had last weekend in Jaipur. We'd been about twelve years ago and weren't that impressed, but we liked it a lot this time. Many of the heritage buildings and monuments have been restored and there's heaps to see. This was taken inside the City Palace.
It was Ed's birthday today. I had to go to the Queen's Birthday Party event at the High Commissioner's residence. Haven't quite managed to work out why we were celebrating the Queen's birthday in February but there we are. The 252 year old Royal Artillery Band played for their last ever time together.
This is another of Ed's photos - a view of Chandi Chowk: the main road in Old Delhi, early in the morning.
This was on the door when I got back from Hyderabad...
Bike shop #...6? Selling packets of paan.
This was part of a street art festival in Delhi that happened recently.
And here's my excuse for my absence: I was at a four day conference in Hyderabad. The world's largest conference for English language teacher educators - organised by the British Council, with a team that includes me. It was brilliant.
... and some old fashioned fancy scissors.
Another of Ed's photos: a great big vat of ghee. Love the illustration.
I know I know I know, I've been AWOL from the blog for almost two weeks now (eek!) but I have excuses which will become clear, and I'm now in catch up mode. First up a photo from Ed of a man and his mooli (radishes) and carrots. He has a little pushalong stall and sells peeled vegetables to people for them to eat with a sprinkling of salt and lemon.
We went to the Qutub Minar today. It was the first time I had ever been, in all the time I've been in Delhi. The Qutub Minar is the tall minaret, but there are lots of other interesting buildings and ruins around it. Really beautiful.
The Crafts Museum in Delhi has a new cafe - it's amazing. Delicious and unusual seasonal Indian food. This is a black bean dhal, with spicy potatoes and hemp seed relish. On the right is fried okra (lady's fingers) on raita (yoghurt) and a chapati made with millet flour. I never found out what the yellow stuff is - I think it was radish with yoghurt and saffron... but I'm not sure. And a glass of masala chai at the top. It was all absolutely delicious - and cheap!
I had the day off today. We were going to go for a walk in Old Delhi - but it rained ... a lot ... so instead we drove the length and breadth of the city visiting furniture warehouses. It was worth it though - I've been looking for a dressing table for months and here it is. Just needs a mirror.
Ed and Louie have taken up tennis. Ed is better than Louie. The tennis courts that they play on are lovely.
It was India Week at school last week with lots of craft activities and performances ... the boys loved it. They had mehindi (henna) done on their hands at one of the stalls.
Another of Ed's photos from his travels up to Old Delhi. Really hoping to get up there this weekend - we need to make the most of mooching around before it gets too hot...
This is chole bhatura - big puffy deep fried bread with chick peas, onion and pickle. Mmm. I can't quite handle the fried bread but the meal is a favourite for several colleagues when we go out for lunch.
We went to a v cool exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art today - Subodh Gupta. He does lots of stuff with stainless steel objects and makes brass cast (or plated?) versions of bikes and motorbikes. There are more pictures here. Fromies - you will notice that this link goes to the Hauser & Wirth website: the very same people opening the gallery in Bruton ...
We went to the Railway Museum today. This restored steam engine was recently inaugurated and added to the collection, hence the flowers.
I had the day off today and spent most of it studying in the library at school, but I did manage to sneak off for a bit of (unsuccessful) shopping in Hauz Khas Village. This is just down the road from there - I love how this monument, Chhoti Gumti, is right in the middle of a regular neighbourhood.
#2 in Ed's series of 'Cool people doing cool stuff'. This guy works in Old Delhi. He gets sent photocopiers from Japan. He strips them down, gets rid of all the plastic and sells on the bits that are worth anything. He gets £3.50 for every kilo of copper that he can salvage. Round the corner was someone else doing the same thing but with fridges.
Today's photo is for Josie - I saw it on my way out to lunch today. Suspect it's named after the Mughal emperor and not Josie's friend. Incidentally, did you know that Babar means 'lion' in Urdu? Strange name for an elephant really.
A present from Ed. Lucky me! Despite the obvious seriousness, it's quite funny if you read the description in an American action movie trailer voice. On the back it says 'This city is UNSAFE for women'. Hmm.
Out for lunch from work and spotted this - fried dokhla. The fancy cousin of plain dokhla which is a strange kind of savoury spongy cake thing. Difficult to explain. I didn't get to try this though as it was all earmarked for a special order, but I've got my eye on it for next time.
This was the first Sunday we haven't left the house for ages ... and we ended up with a two headed child. This photo, in our kitchen, was directed by Louie.
We were out and about today and drove past the ruins of one of Delhi's seven ancient cities - Shergarh (more on this here). We've never really explored this area, but through an archway to part of the complex was this line of men praying. The camera battery died so I didn't get as good a photo as I could have, but I still like it.
