Heartwork

Sunday afternoon, not much happening, so we decided to go to a tattoo festival. It was called “Heartwork” at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. We were feeling lucky so we flagged down the first bus on the outer ring road and climbed aboard. I had no idea what the Hindi script said on the front…

Thursday Doors

I am home in UK on leave, but these doors are still from Delhi. This door is interesting because it is completely hidden by a pile of husks of grain (?rice). Someone should market this as a food supplement to counter constipation. Why this pile of organic matter is here, next door to the Axis…

Delhi ComicCon 2016

We weren’t sure exactly how to get to the venue, but on the Metro, I noticed someone with a mask from a character in Star Wars. Our eyes met across a crowded carriage. “ComicCon, right?” I asked. He nodded, so we went over to join his crew. He told us he had spent three weeks…

Hauz Khas

Siri is not just Apple’s intelligent personal assistant. Siri was the capital city of the Delhi Sultanate at the end of the 13th century. The royal lake (“Hauz Khas” in Farsi) was a reservoir to provide water to the city, constructed by Allah-uddin Khilji. Later Tughlaq rulers built a famous madrasa and mosque on the…

Lodhi Colony Street Art Gallery

Lodhi Colony was built in the twilight of the British Raj, as an enclave for government civil servants. The apartment blocks are all similar, but not regimented into rows. The buildings are L shaped, one block joining another with a huge arch. Between the blocks there are schools, a maternity hospital and a public library.…

Tibetan Market

Majnu Ka Tilla is a remote corner of the capital, sandwiched between railway marshalling yards and the Yamuna River. Frantic traffic hurtles through on the Outer Ring Road. One Sunday morning, we wandered through Delhi University’s north campus and the Kamla Nehru Ridge park, trying not to breathe in too deeply because of the appalling…

Thursday Doors – Tibetan Quarter

This door is a Tibetan flag. It looks a bit dusty, but it serves its purpose. I like the scooter parked outside, next to the crutch against the wall. The only rule to be aware of when driving 2, 3 or 4 wheeled vehicles in Delhi is that there are no rules. Motorbike and scooter…

Hindlish

I am one of those strange, pernickety people who writes grammatical SMS texts using correct punctuation and capitalisation. But since I have been working abroad, I can see that being understood is more important than obscure rules. Here are some amusing bits of Hindlish (Hindi and English) that I have spotted during my stay in Delhi.  

Night Market

Old Delhi becomes even more fascinating, dangerous and mysterious at night. It really is a magical part of the city. Here are a few photographs of people selling food on the street. Of course you can buy from proper shops, such as this curd cheese (paneer) place. Or you can eat in at this famous…

Monday Window

This photograph was taken in a slum area of North Delhi called Bhalswa. The architecture is “ambitious brickwork. The loudspeakers on the roof suggest that it is a mosque. The lady in the yellow shawl peeks out from behind the heavy curtain, observing the health education event we are running in the open courtyard beneath…