Inspiration and Discovery

On Saturday, having stayed up late the night before to watch the latest episode of Sherlock at Emma's insistence, we had a lazy morning wandering around the shops and market stalls at Connaught Place. After a little haggling (we are getting better!) we managed to buy some shiny shoes and matching tunic tops.

So whose feet are whos...?

Matching tops!

We had heard good things about Chinese food in Delhi, as China is pretty close. For lunch we decided to check out a Chinese restaurant recommended by our guidebook - even before we'd sat down we worked out it must be good as there were 4 buddhist monks sat at a nearby table! The food was amazing, and as we'd only eaten Indian food since we had arrived it was nice to have a bit of a change. We even splashed out and got mocktails (non-alcoholic cocktails) - Emma's had ice cream floating on top and was made with khus syrup, which is made from the root of a type of grass called Vetiver, mainly found in India.

Michaela tucking in to our feast!

Our amazing mocktails - the Khus syrup is the bright green stuff!

After eating far too much we headed south to see the Nehru museum and planetarium, dedicated to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India after independence from Britain in 1947. The building had been built and used by the British, but after independence Nehru used it as his official residence, and you can see why! It was a huge building as you can see, and a few of the rooms were preserved to be how they would have been when Nehru was living there. It was very grand and hard to imagine actually living in a building that huge!

Not a bad place to live...!

The museum had displays of photographs and quotations from Nehru's life, including a picture of his old college, Trinity at Cambridge, a strangly familiar sight amongst a world full of new and novel things!

Hang on...I recognise that building..!

We had been reliably informed by our excellent guidebook that there was a planetarium in the grounds (we never did work out why mind you!). We had found out that there was an English show at 3 o'clock, so with about ten minutes to go we set off to find it...which turned out to be a lot easier said than done! We are learning that nothing is really signposted in India and directions and maps are often best guesses rather than accurate representations! After asking about five different security people (and getting five different sets of directions), ending up in a building site, a canteen and a conference centre and consulting various combinations of phones, maps and guidebooks we eventually did find it, tucked behind some trees. Thankfully things here rarely start on time and we made the three o'clock showing of a very interesting show about the solar system. 

Our next stop was the house where Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi resided when she followed in her father's footsteps to become Prime Minister in 1966. It is a pretty extraordinary family - in the first sixty years of independence, forty of them had a member of this family serving as Prime Minister! At the start of the day neither of us knew that much about Indira Gandhi, but Michaela was told by the guy who works in her local post office that we must visit it. He was so insistent that Michaela felt she would never be able to post a letter again unless we went, hence our trip. We were very glad we made the trip though, as Indira Gandhi turns out to be a pretty amazing and inspiring woman. 

Outside Indira Gandhi's House.

She was obviously an incredibly strong woman, and passionate about helping the poor of India and also empowering women within India.  She also had a way with words, and this quotation perhaps illustrates her desire for equality: 

"Education is a liberating force and in our age it is also a democratising force cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances". 

She was also very brave, and remained firm in the face of multiple attempts on her life. Sadly, she was eventually assassinated as she walked through her gardens on her way to work in 1984 by two of her own security guards. The last few steps she took were marked by a crystal pathway with a glass platform at the spot where she fell. Next to it were written these words, which she had said previously: 

"If I die a violent death as some are plotting, I know that the violence will be in the thought and the action of the assassin, not in my dying - for no hate is dark enough to overshadow the extent of my love for my people and my country; no force is strong enough to divert me from my purpose and my endeavor to take this country forward". 

The crystal path marking the last few steps of Indira Gandhi, and the glass panel showing where she fell.

We were saddened that despite having such a strong, liberal, female leader so many years ago, India remains a place where woman are often not treated equally. We have seen much being done here to try and address this, but there is still a way to go. 

She was succeeded by her son Rajiv as Prime Minister, who also lived in this house, and was sadly also assassinated.  His son Rahul is now running for office and Rajiv's wife Sonia (whom he met in The Varsity restaurant in Cambridge for those who know it) is still high up in the Government. 

We came away from the house feeling inspired and saddened at the same time, with a lot to think about.