Culture Vultures (Eat the Parsi Dead)
We've been in Delhi for a few days now but haven't really done much sightseeing, preferring instead to walk, shop, and drink gallons of tea. Yesterday we hiked up to the train station and organised tickets to Agra, then Jaipur, then back home - tomorrow we leave for the Taj. So today we decided to have an Explore Old Delhi day, which we did, with varying degrees of success.
The first item on our agenda (of aproximately two-and-a-half items) was the Jama Masjid, a gigantic, beautiful old mosque in the heart of Old Delhi. We got there too early to enter - we could see prayers taking place on the terrace with the Red Fort in the background. So we wandered around for a while at the Tibetan Refugee Textile Market and the streets surrounding the mosque, until we could haul ourselves up the steps, take off our shoes, and take photographs galore. It was a challenge - there were bright sarees and men in traditional dress in front of dusty, centuries-old architecture, and everywhere we looked, a great photo sprung up.
Helen's been using her long-range lens as a spy-cam, but she got caught out today - the group of women she was taking a photo of caught on and got out their own cameras, and proceeded to pose for photos with us for the next ten minutes. We were like celebrities - it was bizarre. One woman even handed her baby to Helen for a cuter shot. We took all the photos we could and hot-footed it out of there, mobbed by children who all wanted their photo taken too.
From there we autorickshawed it over to the Museum of Modern Art, which, it turned out, was being renovated, and so was mostly closed. We still managed to see a few good exhibits, including one by Amrita Shargill, who is kind of like Gaugin, but without the post-colonial exploitation and pedophilic tendancies. On the way back, we even passed a street named after her; Amrita Shargill Marg. It was very cool, and made us feel very cultured, even though thirty minutes beforehand we'd had no idea who that was.
The museum itself is in a gorgeous old residence, which was nice, with a hideous sculpture garden as an added bonus. We love hideous sculpture, so that was probably the highlight of the day. On the way back, we also passed a Parsi cemetary (a link! I wasn't just being tasteless!) which I found pretty interesting. I read in the newspapers that India's declining vulture population is posing a major problem for the Parsis. I think there's a breeding program underway. That's kind of irrelevent. But interesting, don't you think?
Helen's Israeli friend Noy had recommended a good market to us, so we instructed the driver to take us there. He was, (justifiably, as it turned out), incredulous. "If you want to see another side to Delhi," Noy had said, "you can go to Khan market, about 15 minutes by autorikshaw from the main bazaar, it's a small area with western shops, a couple of cafes that cater mainly to expats, embassy workers and rich Indians, a cool book shop, and grocery shops selling imported stuff. You can also get indian red wine, which is almost drinkable, in the wine shop across the street (it's hard to find, you have to ask for it)."
Well, we went there, and unless there's another Khan market, it was a dud, more of a suburban shopping strip full of pet stores and ice-cream parlours than a cool, happening enclave - which just goes to show that you can never trust an Israeli. We've even bought special locks and chains for the train tomorrow just in case all those Israelis try to steal our packs.
Better head off now - Helen and I are getting up ridiculously early to be at the station at 5.30. We are catching the Shatabdi Express, which sounds classier than it probably is; it will get us to Agra in two hours though, and they're giving us breakfast. Either plane and train food has improved immensely in the past couple of years, or I've spent so much time with impoverished Arts students that I get ridiculously excited about free food by proxy; either way, I can't wait to see what vegetarian goodies the Shatabdi dishes up.
Helen says:
Hi there ! We've had a splendid day. Jama Masjid was rocking, and it was cool to be on the otherside of the lense when a muslim family asked Jess and I to have photos holding their babies and whatnot. The Gallery of Modern Art was equally smashing . Noy (you suck) recommended that we hit up the Khan bazaar. Worst bazaar ever.
Probably the highlight of my day occured at around 5.30pm when Jess went to have her hair washed. I left her there, 20 minutes and Rupees 500 later, Jess had lovely clean hair and I had a lifetime's worth of holographic stickers!
Yessssssss......
Love Helen
The first item on our agenda (of aproximately two-and-a-half items) was the Jama Masjid, a gigantic, beautiful old mosque in the heart of Old Delhi. We got there too early to enter - we could see prayers taking place on the terrace with the Red Fort in the background. So we wandered around for a while at the Tibetan Refugee Textile Market and the streets surrounding the mosque, until we could haul ourselves up the steps, take off our shoes, and take photographs galore. It was a challenge - there were bright sarees and men in traditional dress in front of dusty, centuries-old architecture, and everywhere we looked, a great photo sprung up.
Helen's been using her long-range lens as a spy-cam, but she got caught out today - the group of women she was taking a photo of caught on and got out their own cameras, and proceeded to pose for photos with us for the next ten minutes. We were like celebrities - it was bizarre. One woman even handed her baby to Helen for a cuter shot. We took all the photos we could and hot-footed it out of there, mobbed by children who all wanted their photo taken too.
From there we autorickshawed it over to the Museum of Modern Art, which, it turned out, was being renovated, and so was mostly closed. We still managed to see a few good exhibits, including one by Amrita Shargill, who is kind of like Gaugin, but without the post-colonial exploitation and pedophilic tendancies. On the way back, we even passed a street named after her; Amrita Shargill Marg. It was very cool, and made us feel very cultured, even though thirty minutes beforehand we'd had no idea who that was.
The museum itself is in a gorgeous old residence, which was nice, with a hideous sculpture garden as an added bonus. We love hideous sculpture, so that was probably the highlight of the day. On the way back, we also passed a Parsi cemetary (a link! I wasn't just being tasteless!) which I found pretty interesting. I read in the newspapers that India's declining vulture population is posing a major problem for the Parsis. I think there's a breeding program underway. That's kind of irrelevent. But interesting, don't you think?
Helen's Israeli friend Noy had recommended a good market to us, so we instructed the driver to take us there. He was, (justifiably, as it turned out), incredulous. "If you want to see another side to Delhi," Noy had said, "you can go to Khan market, about 15 minutes by autorikshaw from the main bazaar, it's a small area with western shops, a couple of cafes that cater mainly to expats, embassy workers and rich Indians, a cool book shop, and grocery shops selling imported stuff. You can also get indian red wine, which is almost drinkable, in the wine shop across the street (it's hard to find, you have to ask for it)."
Well, we went there, and unless there's another Khan market, it was a dud, more of a suburban shopping strip full of pet stores and ice-cream parlours than a cool, happening enclave - which just goes to show that you can never trust an Israeli. We've even bought special locks and chains for the train tomorrow just in case all those Israelis try to steal our packs.
Better head off now - Helen and I are getting up ridiculously early to be at the station at 5.30. We are catching the Shatabdi Express, which sounds classier than it probably is; it will get us to Agra in two hours though, and they're giving us breakfast. Either plane and train food has improved immensely in the past couple of years, or I've spent so much time with impoverished Arts students that I get ridiculously excited about free food by proxy; either way, I can't wait to see what vegetarian goodies the Shatabdi dishes up.
Helen says:
Hi there ! We've had a splendid day. Jama Masjid was rocking, and it was cool to be on the otherside of the lense when a muslim family asked Jess and I to have photos holding their babies and whatnot. The Gallery of Modern Art was equally smashing . Noy (you suck) recommended that we hit up the Khan bazaar. Worst bazaar ever.
Probably the highlight of my day occured at around 5.30pm when Jess went to have her hair washed. I left her there, 20 minutes and Rupees 500 later, Jess had lovely clean hair and I had a lifetime's worth of holographic stickers!
Yessssssss......
Love Helen
posted by Jess at 6:04 AM
2 Comments:
Hey Guys,
Sounds like your having fun... good to hear! Nothing to speak of from Melbourne! Officially started year 12...BLAH! Federa is playing Baghdatis is the final...WHOO HOO! Cya on Valentines day!
x's and o's
- Claire -
PS I'm leaving now for an art exhibition.... thats right Jess... an ART exhibition.
BTW Lil says hi to all, hope your both travelling well and wonders what time your flight gets in on Valentines day... She has a hot date:)(in the form of dancing class...hahahahaha)
Ciao xxxooo
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