Shopping (and Eating) in Delhi, But First........

Excitement on campus today!  Yes, real live Bollywood stars dropped by to promote their new movie, Student of the Year, that opens in cinemas this Friday.

The handsome and beautiful young stars, Siddharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, danced and entertained their cheering fans.

Having read the story line, I am sure I could understand the movie even if it is in Hindi.

Students were literally hanging out the windows to get a glimpse of their idols.  A couple of old crows were leaning on the fence thinking, "Aah, to be young again!"

So, back to Delhi and shopping.  We barely scratched the surface of shopping in Delhi but what a fun experience.

We started at Janpath market where you can find vendors selling everything imaginable.

You definitely have to bargain--although I wonder if it is necessary to counter an already low asking price of 300 rupees with an offer of 200 rupees.  Wages and salaries are so low for most people here I am beginning to feel that foreigners should pay more for goods and services!

In the end, the vendors usually accept whatever you offer to pay.

They are really "in your face," telling you what you should buy.

I was looking at a particular kurta top but wanted it in a different size--although the vendor said the one he had was the right size.  Finally, he went back to see if he had another.  He came out with another one and said it was my size.  Looked about the same to me so I checked the label.  Funny, but it had been cut off.

About then I decided I could play this game, too.

Dilmeet and I spent about three hours having a great time shopping.  George waited patiently!

What a contrast when, later in the evening, we went to the huge, modern Select Citywalk Mall.  There are actually three adjoining malls.

This was not a place to look for bargains!  No negotiating prices here.  However, by Canadian standards, prices were fairly reasonable.

Lots of high end shops, many that we see in North America, and a good selection of merchandise.

We just had to try out the Hard Rock Cafe New Delhi at dinner time--9:00 pm--respectable by Indian standards.

Oh, Dilmeet!  This woman could rule the world from her mobile.

Texting was about the only way to communicate. The music was so LOUD!  They were playing songs like YMCA.

The next evening, we were at another big but more modest mall, City Square.

Shopping was not the purpose here, though.

We wanted to try out the Metro--like Vancouver's skytrain on steroids!  We got on, went two stops and turned around to return to our starting point.

Interesting that Bombardier has built/is building cars for this Metro.

City Square Mall has several floors of great shops--all closed by the time we arrived.

That was fine because the next item on our agenda was dinner.

This time, the restaurant that Dilmeet wanted us to enjoy was called Punjabi by Nature.  And enjoy we did!

After a meal of Punjabi specialties, George, as usual, had room for dessert!

And there is much, much more of Delhi to experience.  It is busy and traffic is brutal--but Harbans and the GPS managed to get us around.  

The Man Who Loved to Build.....

You will remember Shah Jahan, the Mughal Emperor who built the Taj Mahal.  Well, he also built the massive Red Fort in Delhi and that became the residence of the Emperors.

It is built of red sandstone as are parts of the Taj Mahal site.  Much of the marble and many semi-precious stones that were used at this site were stripped away by subsequent rulers of India--including the British.

This was our first stop when we reached Delhi last Friday.  Delhi, by the way, is a magnificent city--so much history beside modern developments.    

This is the drum house at the forand the lawns which were at one time covered in marble.  It apparently was the spot where the people would sit when they came to hear the Emperor.

My cousin, Yvonne, has just recommended three novels set in this era by Indu Sundaresan, the Taj Mahal Trilogy.  They sound like girlie books and I look forward to reading them.

To the left, the ballroom where I can imagine the characters in the novels dancing the night away.

 Meena Bazaar has a variety of shops today as it did in the days of the Mughal Empire.  The Emperor's daughters would go to the bazaar once a week, through a series of underground tunnels, to shop for jewelry--and probably cloth.

Obviously, women have enjoyed shopping for centuries, and Delhi has always been the place to do that.  More about shopping in Delhi tomorrow........

Back to the ballroom.  It originally had gold on the ceiling and marble columns inlaid with semi- precious gems and diamonds.  Many of these reflected light and that is how the facility was lighted.  At night, torches were placed outside and the inside would be brightened by the reflected light.

This work has been restored to look like the original but, as mentioned before, the valuable stones were taken long ago.

 These gardens look out toward the Yamuna River which appears to have dried up in this part of Delhi.  It is the same river that flows behind the Taj Mahal in Agra.

This was the preferred transportation route of the Emperor when travelling from Delhi to Agra.

We used the Yamuna Expressway for our trip!

Some school children were on a field trip at the Red Fort that day.  We have seen groups of students at just about every site we have visited.

Back in Chandigarh, our students would have preferred to be on a field trip today.  Instead, the first years wrote their first ever university exam--Business 100.

Lots of tension as they arrived this morning!  But, the good news is they all lived to tell of it, and now they are fully initiated university students.

Our visitors today were Hardeep Grewal (on George's left) who is a computer technology professor in Ludhiana and brother of Gurdeep who lives in Abbotsford.
On George's right is Hardeep's friend, Kamaljeet Singh Sidhu.  He is an Advocate (lawyer) in the High Court in Chandigarh.

We hope to visit Hardeep's home in the next week and at some time go to court (to visit) with Kamaljeet. 

Road to Delhi.......

Sounds like the title of a movie.  Instead of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, we have George, Harbans and the lovely Dilmeet.  (Students, Google "Road Movies."  They were before your time!)

Like Stephen Covey, I began with the end in mind.  Our ultimate destination for this road trip was the Taj Mahal, posted yesterday.

The journey began early Friday morning as we headed out at 6:00 am to drive to Delhi.  The sun was just rising as we turned south from Chandigarh for the 257 km drive to Delhi.

Of course, our first stop was to have paranthas for breakfast at Haveli.  Seems this restaurant is ideally located for breakfast whichever direction we go from Chandigarh.

As usual, there were several life-like figures demonstrating Punjabi traditions all around the restaurant.

I am not sure Baskin Robbins fits that description, but there it was.

Our van needed fuel, so that was the next important stop.  We used diesel which was 45.5 rupees per litre, and it looks like the petrol was about 63 rupees per litre.  Hmmm! If a rupee is about 2 cents Canadian.........

 This was another interesting route with action on all sides all of the time.  Some of our passengers chose to sleep but someone had to stay awake to capture the moments.

 For the most part, this is a divided highway with at least two lanes going in each direction.  Should be a fast and easy drive except the highway is crowded with all types of vehicles imaginable.  There are trucks and cars, of course.  But, there are also motor bikes, tractors, animal drawn carts, bicycles--some carrying huge loads, tuk tuks, pedestrians, etc. etc.

A driver must be so alert to avoid any incidents as vehicles and people are crossing and passing.  We saw evidence of only one accident and that involved two of the larger trucks.

There is an infinite variety of people, clothing, and colours.

And occasionally, we see this.  Did this driver mistakenly go the wrong way, or is it just a faster way to get to his destination?

Many, many trucks of this size with huge loads use this route to deliver goods.

People watching is a great pastime as you travel along.

Temples, temples, temples everywhere.  Hopefully I am correct is saying this is a Hindu temple?  Dilmeet tells me that the shape of the spire is the significant thing.  The countryside is dotted with relatively small ones.

This, I understand, is another Indian food restaurant that welcomes travellers.  Amazing architecture.

Construction is booming.  Sign of a growing economy.  Most new buildings have very modern designs and often the entrance to the facility has a gate

A few places along the way, we had to use side roads because the "fly overs" are still under construction.

Interesting to see the construction technique for the concrete buildings.

It seems that the gate to a new housing or industrial development is the first structure built.

There are resorts and amusement parks along the way.    Jurasik Park was complete with large dinosaurs.

Four and a half hours after leaving Chandigarh, we arrived in Delhi.  Now the GPS had to begin its work!

First stop, The Red Fort...........