So Independence day last Thursday was amazing! I woke up and watched
the parade on my laptop and then I came up to the rooftop and saw
thousands of people flying kites.
They were all standing on their rooftops and playing this game that involves trying to cut each others kites down. It was so nice to watch, there were Indian flags flying and Delhi really felt like a community - people were taking up flasks with them to the rooftop and chapati's and everybody was laughing and shouting and music came from all directions!
After that I went to an Indian families house and their relatives had come over, they made the most amazing food - canapes that consisted of black chickpeas and tamarind and homemade parantha's amongst other things.
I met their two lovely children and saw wedding photos from the sister who was just married last April. I learned of some of the marriage traditions for example when a woman is newly married they should keep their marriage bangles on for a year after they are married unless she becomes pregnant. I also learned that before the marriage, the woman has a henna ceremony and the man wears a t-shirt and is painted with colour while his friends rip off the t-shirt.
Seeing people come together and experience these festivals is just an amazing feeling and I'm too excited for Diwali which falls in November. It was nice to see friendship day and coming up is brother and sister day where the sisters give their brothers a bracelet and the brother gives the sister something else in return.
I've seen two sides to Delhi and it's very interesting to watch. Delhi is both modern and upcoming and the more South you head you see people opting for love marriages, rather than arranged. I am located in old Delhi, which is central and I discovered the reason people stare so much is in-fact lack of education about the world (through lack of money and never having seen Westerners).
Old Delhi is much more traditional though traditions are happening South, it just seems that the people are open to change (again because of education).
It's much easier to deal with being stared at when you realise why. People can explain why but I think you have to sit back and understand and think of it in their respect and experience it first hand for it to really set in to your mind. Regardless, I still don't like it but no matter who I am or how I dress, they will still stare so I'm slowly learning to live with it.
A couple of days ago, I took the metro to the habitat centre. The Indian metro is actually really good and completely cheap. It cost me 30 rupees to get on a train, then change, and then come back. The pound is very strong against the rupee at the moment (I actually read about the rupee falling to an all time low in the paper this morning) so I just worked it out and that's equivalent to 31p.
It's safe because they have a women's only carriage and it's a punishable offense for a man to travel in that carriage and also they have people employed to check bags, it's frequent, it's air conditioned and with the Delhi traffic it's a pretty fast way to travel.
They are currently building new lines so the metro is just going to get better and better.
The Indian's are so proud of the metro that if you take the metro to Patel Chowk then you will actually find a museum dedicated to the metro. It's kind of funny because they have a whole wall dedicated to pictures of people looking happy on the metro!
The habitat centre is brilliant. It's home to art galleries and restaurants and it's huge! I went to a really good exhibition for modern art there, it was totally free and I met one of the artists. This artist had created Ganesha (the elephant god in Hinduism - he's very popular here in Delhi!) and Buddha out of scrap metal, it was really cool. He also made the HMV logo and loads of little turtles with spoons for legs! There was some amazing photography and some paintings too.
So yesterday I went to North-East Delhi and it was so interesting because I'd never been there before and I went to a wholesale market that sells fabric. It was really cool to see where our clothes come from and just how cheap they actually are! I saw the labels that they sew on to create brands on sale and I also even saw the material used to make a top I bought back in the UK! It's so interesting to see first-hand how a business really works.
I never know what Delhi will bring by the day and it's such an awesome adventure - I mean I woke up just last week and there was a marching band playing outside my window!
Right now, I'm chilling on the rooftop and I've just watched the most awesome sunset. Sometimes everything moves so fast and it's so warm in Delhi that it's nice to take the time to chill out and research things! Tomorrow? I think I'm headed to the modern art gallery. It should be an experience because according to wiki it was established in 1956 and it's one of the leading Indian art galleries.
They were all standing on their rooftops and playing this game that involves trying to cut each others kites down. It was so nice to watch, there were Indian flags flying and Delhi really felt like a community - people were taking up flasks with them to the rooftop and chapati's and everybody was laughing and shouting and music came from all directions!
After that I went to an Indian families house and their relatives had come over, they made the most amazing food - canapes that consisted of black chickpeas and tamarind and homemade parantha's amongst other things.
I met their two lovely children and saw wedding photos from the sister who was just married last April. I learned of some of the marriage traditions for example when a woman is newly married they should keep their marriage bangles on for a year after they are married unless she becomes pregnant. I also learned that before the marriage, the woman has a henna ceremony and the man wears a t-shirt and is painted with colour while his friends rip off the t-shirt.
Seeing people come together and experience these festivals is just an amazing feeling and I'm too excited for Diwali which falls in November. It was nice to see friendship day and coming up is brother and sister day where the sisters give their brothers a bracelet and the brother gives the sister something else in return.
I've seen two sides to Delhi and it's very interesting to watch. Delhi is both modern and upcoming and the more South you head you see people opting for love marriages, rather than arranged. I am located in old Delhi, which is central and I discovered the reason people stare so much is in-fact lack of education about the world (through lack of money and never having seen Westerners).
Old Delhi is much more traditional though traditions are happening South, it just seems that the people are open to change (again because of education).
It's much easier to deal with being stared at when you realise why. People can explain why but I think you have to sit back and understand and think of it in their respect and experience it first hand for it to really set in to your mind. Regardless, I still don't like it but no matter who I am or how I dress, they will still stare so I'm slowly learning to live with it.
A couple of days ago, I took the metro to the habitat centre. The Indian metro is actually really good and completely cheap. It cost me 30 rupees to get on a train, then change, and then come back. The pound is very strong against the rupee at the moment (I actually read about the rupee falling to an all time low in the paper this morning) so I just worked it out and that's equivalent to 31p.
It's safe because they have a women's only carriage and it's a punishable offense for a man to travel in that carriage and also they have people employed to check bags, it's frequent, it's air conditioned and with the Delhi traffic it's a pretty fast way to travel.
They are currently building new lines so the metro is just going to get better and better.
The Indian's are so proud of the metro that if you take the metro to Patel Chowk then you will actually find a museum dedicated to the metro. It's kind of funny because they have a whole wall dedicated to pictures of people looking happy on the metro!
The habitat centre is brilliant. It's home to art galleries and restaurants and it's huge! I went to a really good exhibition for modern art there, it was totally free and I met one of the artists. This artist had created Ganesha (the elephant god in Hinduism - he's very popular here in Delhi!) and Buddha out of scrap metal, it was really cool. He also made the HMV logo and loads of little turtles with spoons for legs! There was some amazing photography and some paintings too.
So yesterday I went to North-East Delhi and it was so interesting because I'd never been there before and I went to a wholesale market that sells fabric. It was really cool to see where our clothes come from and just how cheap they actually are! I saw the labels that they sew on to create brands on sale and I also even saw the material used to make a top I bought back in the UK! It's so interesting to see first-hand how a business really works.
I never know what Delhi will bring by the day and it's such an awesome adventure - I mean I woke up just last week and there was a marching band playing outside my window!
Right now, I'm chilling on the rooftop and I've just watched the most awesome sunset. Sometimes everything moves so fast and it's so warm in Delhi that it's nice to take the time to chill out and research things! Tomorrow? I think I'm headed to the modern art gallery. It should be an experience because according to wiki it was established in 1956 and it's one of the leading Indian art galleries.
meticulously arranged, and beautifully illustrated..
ReplyDeletekeep up the good work!!!