Final Swim

Today was the last day of September, and according to Delhi Municipal Corporation, the beginning of Winter. The swimming pool which I have been using for the past month is now closed. I took my camera along to record the end-of-term atmosphere with my new Indian friends. Everyone else had the same idea and there…

Typhoid Masala

I normally eat lunch at our clinic, a simple meal of dhal, rice and vegetable curry. But today the big boss came to pay us a visit, so we went out to a nearby restaurant for some rich Punjabi food. There is no door. One wall of the place is missing, and that’s where you…

Light Greens

This is a not a self portrait. He looks green with envy. This is a mask from NE India, in the National Museum in Delhi. Taken with my Lumix LX100 shutter speed 1/10th second, f5.6, ISO 1600. On a more serious note, the clinic where I work in Jahangir Puri, North Delhi, for Medecins Sans…

Rubbish

Every day 10,000 tonnes of rubbish gets dumped at the four major landfill sites around the Indian capital city, Delhi. One of these sites, Ghazipur, has been on fire for the past two weeks. This is not surprising as organic refuse generates methane when it rots. Of course, the garbage has already been picked through…

Barber’s Tomb

Mirza Nasir ud-din Baig Muhammad Khan Humayun (Humayun, for short) was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled Northern India in the early part of the 16th century. He so trusted his barber that, when he died, a mausoleum was built for him in Dinpanah (“Refuge of the Faithful”), now called Delhi. The layers of marble…

Schools

Private schools are big business in India. They advertise their services aggressively. How about Glorious School, offering horse riding and skating? Or Goodley School with its PowerClass? Some schools show photographs of students who have scored highly in examinations. The best students are called “Toppers”. I am not sure that they actually attended the schools…

Purples in Chandni Chowk

  The image of the goddess Durga being carried through the narrow lanes of Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi. Devotees have scattered purple powder everywhere. Drummers keep up a relentless rhythm to draw attention to the event. Taken using a Panasonic Lumix LX100 at 1/100th second, F5.6 with ISO of 640.

Five Kilometre Challenge

I hope you don’t think that this is cheating, but my 5km is a mini-biatholon of walking and swimming. Each morning, I walk from my apartment along Gyan Shakti Mandir Marg in Shalimar Bagh to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Swimming Pool. I set off at 6:40am and reach the pool after fifteen minutes brisk…

Apocalypse Cow

A month ago, there was a leader in the Times of India about cows. Or more specifically, about a man with the impressive moniker of Mahamandleshwar Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri. He is chair of the executive council tasked with protecting cows in Madhya Pradesh state. He stated that “the next world war will start over a…

Bade Ka Gosht

“Bade Ka Gosht” means red-meat biryani. It is the favourite meal of Muslims celebrating Bakr Id (Eid Ul-Adha) today in India. This festival commemorates the Biblical story of Abraham who was about to sacrifice his son to God and at the last minute, God substituted a ram. So mutton is on the menu today. For…