Will return when the kids go back to school at the end of August. Have a great summer!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Delhi, Agra, and back to the U.S.A.
The weekend before we left Delhi the monsoon arrived. One more thing to tick off. See monsoon: Check! 
Seems all the things I planned to do/see ended up happening, including the rains. Part of this was due to luck (like the monsoon ... it dosn't show up to schedule, ever) but a lot of it had to do with stamina. My sister Anuja kept saying, don't slack off now--go to Agra, go to C.P., Karol Bagh, Sundar Nagar, Hauz Khas ... and by God, I did.
Delhi is my town. Even though bits of it have changed beyond recognition it is still my town. That's why I didn't blog while I was out there. I was too busy catching up, soaking in (not just the rain!), reminiscing. Good things happen for those with stamina. Layers get peeled back to remind you that you're not a stranger in your own home--you are home. The concrete coils of the metro looping above you like TIME itself can't change it. The frantic construction for the commonwealth games, the changed street names, the eight lane highways, the toll plazas, can't change it. You plunge into it like a river you once knew and come up kicking, remembering the currents, finding your rhythm, staying afloat. I did.
Catch up with friends and family: Check! Found my old high school buddy Chitra! Hung out with my niece, Tara, for her twelfth birthday. Attended my aunt's 50th anniversary bash (awesome piece of luck, again!!!) and so saw all the aunts, uncles, cousins etc. in one fell swoop--what an afternoon and evening that was!!! My kids now have the kind of the bond I had with my cousins with their cousins. Given skype etc. I think it will endure.
Go to a Bollywood shoot: Check! Lights, camera, action! OK it really wasn't on my check list originally. And it was a TV commercial not a movie, but it's the same kinda set up, from what they tell me. But it was so good to see what my kid sis ( a V.P. with JWT) actually does ... never mind the boxer (a rather hunky but down to earth type) who was the star of the show, for us Anuja was the "main". Which boxer? Apparently that's a dumb question in India where there's only one boxer celebrity--Olympic medalist, Vijinder Singh.
Go back to KBagh/Dhaula Kuan ... places I've called home: Check! The old house in Karol Bagh is still the old house in Karol Bagh. The bricked up veranda, the divided courtyard, the separate entrances, the howling traffic on Rohtak Road (no idea what they call it these days) notwithstanding.
This is where we lived while I went to DU and got my first job at NIIT. Now only one Uncle and one cousin live in the place everyone else having moved to the US, Australia, Singapore, or failing that, Gurgaon. The steps still echo solidly as we climb up to the timanzla (third floor terrace) to look out over the city. It may be worth whateverthehellitisworth but I will cry the day they finally sell the place. Honestly.
And Dhaula Kuan, What can I say about that. No point saying that Dhaula Kuan has not changed. Not only has it changed, it has vanished. It was this sleepy corner of town. One nice grassy roundel with five roads radiating off it. Of those streets one led to my school, one led home, and one led to the Army Club (which contained the swimming pool, the movie theater, and most importantly, the library) and also a later home. For years this was the hub of my existence. Now the road that went to the club is the road to Gurgaon, once a dusty little country town, now a major international city. The roundel is no more, instead there are interweaving overpasses and (what else?) an undulating loop of concrete carrying the metro. And yet ... peer past the trees on Sardar Patel Marg (road number two, the one that led home)and in the thorny keekar trees, the scrubby ber bushes, the bunches of bright bougainvillea I still find the woods where I walked home from school, where I learned to imagine worlds, and make things up.
Take the kids to see the Taj: Check! Stamina, I haz it. I've seen the Taj so many times I really didn't feel like going again, but how can you not take the kids?? We left at 5:00 AM and were back by 3:00 PM or thereabouts. A record apparently, at least in my family. I didn't waste time with the Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri etc. It was too hot (120 degrees!) to be dragging the kids around there that day. Someone give me a medal for this one ...
See the appartment: Check! I own a bit of Gurgaon now, having bought an apartment with my dad. Nice flat, nice tenant, nice feeling!
Lastly, shopping ... Huaz Khas Market: Check! Dilli Haat: Check! C.P.: Check! Sundar Nagar: Check! Gurgaon malls: Check! Oh, I shopped alright.
Then the monsoon ... it was a gift. I'm so glad we saw the Qutub in the rains.
And now home. This home. Jetlagged but happy. Up at odd hours writing this long rambling post. I need to go back to sleep now ... though I've a feeling this slomo clip is going to be looping through my head endlessly when I do!
Seems all the things I planned to do/see ended up happening, including the rains. Part of this was due to luck (like the monsoon ... it dosn't show up to schedule, ever) but a lot of it had to do with stamina. My sister Anuja kept saying, don't slack off now--go to Agra, go to C.P., Karol Bagh, Sundar Nagar, Hauz Khas ... and by God, I did.
Delhi is my town. Even though bits of it have changed beyond recognition it is still my town. That's why I didn't blog while I was out there. I was too busy catching up, soaking in (not just the rain!), reminiscing. Good things happen for those with stamina. Layers get peeled back to remind you that you're not a stranger in your own home--you are home. The concrete coils of the metro looping above you like TIME itself can't change it. The frantic construction for the commonwealth games, the changed street names, the eight lane highways, the toll plazas, can't change it. You plunge into it like a river you once knew and come up kicking, remembering the currents, finding your rhythm, staying afloat. I did.
Catch up with friends and family: Check! Found my old high school buddy Chitra! Hung out with my niece, Tara, for her twelfth birthday. Attended my aunt's 50th anniversary bash (awesome piece of luck, again!!!) and so saw all the aunts, uncles, cousins etc. in one fell swoop--what an afternoon and evening that was!!! My kids now have the kind of the bond I had with my cousins with their cousins. Given skype etc. I think it will endure.
Go to a Bollywood shoot: Check! Lights, camera, action! OK it really wasn't on my check list originally. And it was a TV commercial not a movie, but it's the same kinda set up, from what they tell me. But it was so good to see what my kid sis ( a V.P. with JWT) actually does ... never mind the boxer (a rather hunky but down to earth type) who was the star of the show, for us Anuja was the "main". Which boxer? Apparently that's a dumb question in India where there's only one boxer celebrity--Olympic medalist, Vijinder Singh.
Go back to KBagh/Dhaula Kuan ... places I've called home: Check! The old house in Karol Bagh is still the old house in Karol Bagh. The bricked up veranda, the divided courtyard, the separate entrances, the howling traffic on Rohtak Road (no idea what they call it these days) notwithstanding.
This is where we lived while I went to DU and got my first job at NIIT. Now only one Uncle and one cousin live in the place everyone else having moved to the US, Australia, Singapore, or failing that, Gurgaon. The steps still echo solidly as we climb up to the timanzla (third floor terrace) to look out over the city. It may be worth whateverthehellitisworth but I will cry the day they finally sell the place. Honestly.
And Dhaula Kuan, What can I say about that. No point saying that Dhaula Kuan has not changed. Not only has it changed, it has vanished. It was this sleepy corner of town. One nice grassy roundel with five roads radiating off it. Of those streets one led to my school, one led home, and one led to the Army Club (which contained the swimming pool, the movie theater, and most importantly, the library) and also a later home. For years this was the hub of my existence. Now the road that went to the club is the road to Gurgaon, once a dusty little country town, now a major international city. The roundel is no more, instead there are interweaving overpasses and (what else?) an undulating loop of concrete carrying the metro. And yet ... peer past the trees on Sardar Patel Marg (road number two, the one that led home)and in the thorny keekar trees, the scrubby ber bushes, the bunches of bright bougainvillea I still find the woods where I walked home from school, where I learned to imagine worlds, and make things up.
Take the kids to see the Taj: Check! Stamina, I haz it. I've seen the Taj so many times I really didn't feel like going again, but how can you not take the kids?? We left at 5:00 AM and were back by 3:00 PM or thereabouts. A record apparently, at least in my family. I didn't waste time with the Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri etc. It was too hot (120 degrees!) to be dragging the kids around there that day. Someone give me a medal for this one ...
See the appartment: Check! I own a bit of Gurgaon now, having bought an apartment with my dad. Nice flat, nice tenant, nice feeling!
Lastly, shopping ... Huaz Khas Market: Check! Dilli Haat: Check! C.P.: Check! Sundar Nagar: Check! Gurgaon malls: Check! Oh, I shopped alright.
Then the monsoon ... it was a gift. I'm so glad we saw the Qutub in the rains.
And now home. This home. Jetlagged but happy. Up at odd hours writing this long rambling post. I need to go back to sleep now ... though I've a feeling this slomo clip is going to be looping through my head endlessly when I do!
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