Hauz Khas and Dilli Haat
One late afternoon, after finishing up in
the hospital, we set off on a long metro ride to Green Park. A very different
Green Park to the one in London! After a mis-communication with a tuk-tuk driver,
and a little bit of wandering later (are you spotting a theme here?!) we
eventually found the park and wandered in. To our surprise, the first thing we
found was a deer park, packed full of beautiful deer. There was no explanation
anywhere about the park, and we wondered whether they had originally been
introduced by the British and just ended up staying because people liked them!
We also spotted some peacocks and of course, the ever present chipmunks!
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| All the deer! |
We had been promised by the guide book a
huge monument which included a water tank housing a huge body of water. We
thought that this shouldn't be hard to miss, but it eluded us and there were no
signs to enlighten us! Eventually, by wandering through the Hauz Khas village -
a complex of upmarket restaurants, bars and boutiques next to the park, we
found another entrance and a complex of ruins awaiting us.
The water tank was much bigger than we were
expecting and was really a giant reservoir. It had been built originally
between 1296 and 1316 under the reign of Alauddin Khalji (Emma got quite
excited as Aladdin is one of her favourite Disney films...) to collect water
for use by the locals in the dry seasons. After his reign it dried up, but was
rebuilt by Feroz Shah Tughlq who ruled just over thirty years later, and he
also built a college and his own tomb on the site. These were the ruins
surrounding the water tank that we could see today. Quite ironically, the
college ruins were teeming with college aged people, with a couple in every
archway, groups hanging out smoking and even two boys jamming on their guitars!
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| A couple in every arch |
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| The huge water tank |
From here we got slightly sidetracked by a
tiny little shop selling handmade Indian clothes and did a little bit of
shopping, before heading off in a tuk-tuk to Dilli Haat.
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| Shiny new clothes |
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| New outfit, including the most amazing trousers ever! |
Dilli Haat is a village of traders selling
their handmade crafts, which we happily wandered round admiring the colours,
the craft and the culture on display here. The really brilliant thing about
this place though was the food section. It was set up by the government of
Delhi, and there were official food stalls from all the different states in
India. An amazing way to sample food from places that you weren't going to get
the chance to visit! You may recall that last week we ended up being bought
lunch by some politicians from Manipur? Well, in their honour (and because the
menu looked amazing), we ended up at the Manipur food stall. Manipur is very
close to Tibet and China, and you could really tell from their food as it was a
real mix of Chinese and Indian cuisine. We had a spring roll, which was like a Chinese
spring roll but bigger and crunchier, and these parcels of goodness called
Momos. They were dumplings stuffed with pork and spices and deep fried, served
with a clear soup. In contrast to this very Chinese style food, we also had a
thali selection of several different curries, rice and a poppadom! The blend of
the two really worked, and we greatly enjoyed sampling their food!
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| Michaela with the giant spring roll |
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| Fried pork momos - one of the tastiest things we've had so far! |
Sound and Lights at the Red Fort
As you may recall, we visited the Red Fort
of Delhi on our first weekend here. We had been told though that it was really
worth going back at night for one of the daily "Sound and Light"
shows in the fort, and one night after work we decided to go. To be safe we
don't tend to be out very late on our own in Delhi, but this night we managed
to persuade two of our male Indian doctor friends to join us which was very
useful - not only for being safe, but for navigating as well!After almost losing one of them in the
metro, we found our way back to the red fort and paid the very small fee to get
a ticket to the show. We took our seats in the middle of the complex, and
waited in anticipation for the show to start.
The show was a narration telling the
history of the Red Fort, from its construction through the British rule and
finally the British leaving the fort as India gained independence. Different
voices playing parts in the theatrical tale, really brought the whole thing to
life, and as stories were told, lights dramatically illuminated the buildings
the tales were relating to.
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| The audience watching the buildings magically light up one after another |
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| Dramatic lighting at the Red Fort |
We decided that the first Moghal Emperor to
live in the Red Fort was a pretty amazing guy. He not only built the Red Fort,
but also the Agra fort, the Jama Masjid, which is the biggest mosque in India,
and the Taj Mahal amongst other buildings. He wanted to unite all religions and
as such married women from Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity and
promoted peace. Sadly his sons were not like minded, and before their father
was even dead, they fought between themselves to decide who would be Emperor.
When one triumphed, he imprisoned his father and took the throne, inciting
hatred between religions and causing conflict and bloodshed. His father
eventually died a prisoner, aged 90, watching all the harmony he had built be
destroyed.
The Moghal Empire eventually ended of
course when the British invaded and caused huge fighting and bloodshed before
taking control of the Red Fort and using it for their own armies. They treated
the previous inhabitants appallingly and generally were pretty awful. However,
the story continued to tell the tale the fight for independence, and played
actual recordings of Mahatma Ghandi and Nehru - the first prime minister of
independent India.
It was a very dramatic tale and a fantastic
potted history of India, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Afterwards we set off to find some food and
lead by our excellent guides, ended up in restaurant just south of the Red
Fort. Once again, huge quantities of delicious food arrived including our first
biryani in India (here, they often come served with a boiled egg!) and some
incredible Naan bread. We were well and truly stuffed as we all boarded the
metro back to the hospital!
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| Michaela and George at dinner. |
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| Emma and Prateek, stuffed after a delicious meal |
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