Day 2. Lunch at the Big Chill in Khan Market

Spent some time exploring in Khan Market, and then had lunch at the Big Chill Cafe, one of a chain of cafes located in New Delhi. They are owned by Aseem Grover and Fawzia Ahmed. The cafe started out in 2000, with Italian cuisine, ice-cream and Belgium chocolates deserts. Presently, it has four outlets, one in Kailash Colony market, two in Khan Market and one in DLF Place, Saket. The interiors of the cafes have been designed to give a slightly retro look. The walls are adorned with framed poster's of yesteryear's classics like Casablanca and Hitchcock's Psycho. The cafe attracts a fairly eclectic crowd. The cafes presently have a turnover of 1.4 crores (1 crore = र 10,000,000).

While Caroline and Natalie were browsing in book shops, I found a shop selling chappals and slipped my hot feet into them with relief.

Day 1. Gandhi Smriti

"All men are brothers"

Day 1. First place of interest visited - Gandhi Smriti

Having found Natalie at the Arjun Hotel, we entrusted ourselves to our Driver,  Naresh Saklani, and visited the Gandhi Smriti, which was not far from the hotel. Gandhi Smriti formerly known as Birla House or Birla Bhavan, is a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, situated on Tees January Road, in New Delhi, India. It is the location where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated on January 30, 1948. It was originally the house of the Indian business tycoons, the Birla's family. It is now known as the Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum established in 2005.

 

Day 1. Looking for Natalie in Delhi

Our first mission was to meet up with Natalie, who had arrived in Delhi before us and was staying in the small Arjun Hotel in one of the many bazaars, Pahar Ganj.

Day 1. Lunch at The Imperial

Natalie had heard about this hotel from her fellow Interns at Women's Idea NGO. She warned me it was expensive ...... but it was worth every Rupee - scrumptious food, awesome decor and many memories/momentos of the days of the Raj.

Reckoned amongst Asia’s finest hotels and ranked by World Luxury Hotel Awards as the Best Luxury Hotel in India for 2010 and 2011, The Imperial is a fine confluence of rich historical past with an awe inspiring heritage and a slick international appeal. Twenty four elegant king palms lead visitors to the porch.
The hotel’s extensive collection of colonial images and memorabilia has characterized The Imperial as a 'Museum Hotel'. The Imperial’s unconventional appearance, a mixture of Victorian and old Colonial with a touch of Art Deco, makes it a distinctive landmark in the capital city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1. Photographs from our first day (afternoon) in Delhi.

The first street scene - just a typical pavement shop in Delhi. I was especially interested in the advertisement for Special Channa Masala. One of my many memories of Bombay (Mumbai) was buying roasted channa from street vendors. They were chickpeas which would be roasted on coals and served up in a cone of newspaper. Delicious - I cannot remember ever getting "Delhi Belly" in my childhood there. Another favourite snack from those street vendors was sev, known as "crackles" or "slangetjies" (little snakes) here in Cape Town. A video of sev making can be watched here.

Day 1. Safely arrived in Delhi this morning at 0800 - temperature (at that time) 37 degrees Celcius ....

Crashing early tonight after departing from Cape Town at 13:30 on Monday 20 May and arriving in India nearly sixteen hours later (11 hours to Dubai - temperature at 01:30, 37 degrees Celcius - 2 hour stopover and a last two and a half hours to Delhi) with no sleep.
I have already captured many initial first impressions of street life, which I will process and post as time allows. One thing I can say, NOTHING has changed since I was here as a child of ten back in the early 60's - the traffic is "organised chaos" - but it WORKS, and it isn't going to change.
I'm LOVING IT !

Caroline waiting at Cape Town International Airport for the announcement to board our Emirates flight to Dubai

Our aircraft awaits - Airbus A340-300. The A340-300 flies 295 passengers in a typical three-class cabin layout over 6,700 nautical miles (12,400 km). It is powered by four CFMI CFM56-5C engines and uses the Honeywell 331–350[A] APU.

Some images of souvenirs at Dubai Airport are below. I had been forewarned that the so-called Duty Free shops in the airport were a rip-off and that was exactly what I found. I checked the prices of electronic goods (digital SLR cameras, camcorders, laptops, cellphones, storage media), sweets and books and found everything to be more expensive than at home.

 

Some images of Indira Gandhi International Airport below. Tight security in evidence, perhaps because the Chinese Prime Minister (Li Keqiang) arrived on Sunday 19th May.