RaveBurbleBlog

Yesterday, whilst wandering down the street with no particular mission, I bumped into a Rajasthani Puppeteer. He happened to also be talking to a Kiwi at the time and commented that the world suddenly seemed to be full of New Zealanders. We got chatting; the chai came out - wonderful habit that one - and it turns out that he is well traveled himself. He’s been to Germany several times, Norway, Sweden, Spain and one or two other places I can’t remember. He carves all the puppet faces himself and makes the costumes. Very clever guy. He was organizing with the other Kiwi to do a show that afternoon for some kids at a leper colony/orphanage. I’d love to see these kids faces during the show - everyone loves a story and I’m sure these kids could do with all the cheering up they can get. [read on]

Well, I have dealt with a Delhi tailor by myself and lived to tell the tale. Rather than go back to Karol Bagh to find some velvet for a jacket I am getting made, I shopped here in Pahar Ganj. I found a wonderful shop, which is in conjunction with the wonderful shop Paul has used previously to buy curtain material, and they took me down an alleyway (of course) to their dress material shop. After many tales of ‘My wonderful country I am coming from’, photos of children, and all else that dealing with a wallah involves, I came out with 3 times more material than I intended to buy. Nice stuff though. They even wanted me to take their photo. Of course, at first I was only dealing with 2 men, but as soon as the camera came out, magically they had turned into about 8 men. I guess their cousin, their uncle, their brother’s brother, the chai boy, the measuring boy, the fetching more material boy, etc made up the numbers. It was good fun though, and they were very pleasant men. Only gently pushy as opposed to intensely so as one will get from most of the shops here.

I asked them to recommend to me a women’s tailor, as I can’t stand dealing with Paul’s one without the strong desire to strangle him coming over me, and they took me - yes folks, down an alleyway - to a Sikh one . Actually, he was really fabulous. He really knows his stuff, said was able to get three outfits made in 3 days as opposed to 12 like another guy down the road I had checked out and is also cheaper than the other two put together. He took me over the road to see a guy that sells piping, buttons and various and assorted shiny lovely things - a woman’s nirvana no less - and I came out with a couple of really awesome peacocks that will be sewn onto the jacket. This is going to be one unique piece of work! The fact remains, however, that I am now a much poorer woman than I was when I first walked into the material shop. Albeit it, soon to be a well-dressed one . I just hope that when the time comes to collect my garments, that I can find my way back through this myriad of alleyways to claim them. [read on]

Yesterday afternoon, after several showers to reduce our skins to simmering point, we went for a ride on the Metro to Karol Bagh. The Metro has only just opened here, so it is all still brand new and shiny looking. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Last night was pretty interesting and sociable in a variety of ways. We were wandering around poking our noses into various shops of interest and then went down an alleyway to the local chai wallah for a cup of his ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, made it to Delhi . It’s a fair bit warmer here than at home. By several hundred degrees by the feel of it. Once we arrived at our Guesthouse, we went up onto the roof for a relaxing gin ... [Continue reading this entry]

Train stations in Delhi are an interesting thing. People milling around, sitting around in piles, lying around sleeping and some people even actually doing some work. We had to walk up some stairs (dark, hot and very nefarious looking) to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, another hot day in Delhi. It actually gets hotter at night here, at one stage. Around the 8pm mark. Disgusting idea of a joke if you ask me. We watched a bit of a spectacle the other day that ... [Continue reading this entry]

Nighttime now and we’re back in our own neighborhood after another afternoon of cruising around. This time we traveled by motor rickshaw, which give the illusion of being safer than cycle rickshaw, but apparently are not. I did not bother ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, settling to the Indian way quite nicely now. Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. We went to a bank around the corner and went and sat in a little room where some men were writing things in duplicate ... [Continue reading this entry]

Okay. All went well and I made it to India. I was very lucky and got to sit beside a Canadian diplomat on the plane. She was very nice and exceedingly helpful. I now have in my possession a list ... [Continue reading this entry]