.. Augustine and a colleague of Ian's, Michel.
Alison called and asked if we would fancy coming with her into Delhi to pick up some quilts she had ordered. Lunch on the way and whatever else we could find to do. Chalo! (Let's go in Hindi. I love that expression and use it a lot :-) )
We went to a part of Delhi called
Hauz Khas
Hauz Khas Complex (Hindi:
हौज़ ख़ास, Punjabi:
ਹੌਜ਼ ਖ਼ਾਸ, Urdu:
حوض خاص) in
Hauz Khas,
South Delhi houses a water tank, an
Islamic seminary, a mosque, a tomb and pavilions built around an urbanized village with medieval history traced to the 13th century of
Delhi Sultanate reign.
[1][2] It was part of
Siri, the second medieval city of India of the Delhi Sultanate of
Allauddin Khilji Dynasty (1296–1316).
The etymology of the name Hauz Khas in Urdu language
is derived from the words ‘Hauz’: “water tank” (or lake) and
‘Khas’:“royal”- the “Royal tank”. The large water tank or reservoir was
first built by Khilji {the plaque displayed (pictured in the gallery) at
the site records this fact} to supply water to the inhabitants of Siri.
We found a restaurant on 4th floor with a lovely terrace with a view of the Hauz. Very nice, slightly warm, but bearable.
A cool mocktail and the heat was not so bad for a while :-)
Alison's son Augustine admiring the view from up above.
What he is looking at is this old
Madrasa:
The Hauz Khas Madrasa at the end of the bohemian village of Hauz Khas in
South Delhi, was once– believe it or not– a university of international
repute. The emperor Feroze Shah
Tughlaq
had it built alongside the lovely tank of Hauz Khas, and built his own
tomb next doors. Imagine these ruins once echoing with the voices of
scholars… Imagine their lives and their classes. And yeah! Imagine if
they, too, went through the same excitement at admission time as we do. (from https://adatewithdelhi.wordpress.com/tag/madrasa/)
Here you can see the restaurant where we ate lunch - the upper of the two awnings in the back.
Maia "jumping" from one pillar to the next ... :-)
Yeah, I know, but it does protect from the sun! So there ;-)
A beautiful door. To the left is a drawing of Mahatma Ghandi and above of a clown. Curious mix.
This guy sells joss sticks. There are 8 in a pack and he wanted 100 rupees! Yeah, right.
Alison had ordered a couple of quilts to be used instead of cushions in her chairs so we went into Old Delhi to pick them up.
Two quilts, very thick and filled with pure cotton for 1500 rupees, not including the fabric. Wow.
This one is Augustine's :-)
This little guy helped out in the shop.
While they were discussing the price Ian, Maia and I went for a little walk-about.
All spices, lentils, beans and such.
If you ever run out of plastic cups, this is the place to go!
There were a lot of shops to buy curtains and table cloths. Outside were the tailors to alter whatever to whatever. Very convenient.
Oh, look! A pharmacy - dawaii ki dukan - and I got some more electrolytes to rehydrate our bodies.
Above the fabric and quilt shops they store all the merchandise. To get up there, just swiftly climb the ladder made out of bamboo, the rungs are tied on with string.
This is how the Indians do it :-)
Thanks Alison, Augustine and Michel for an adventurous day
They worked for about 45 minutes on me, Ian took about 30 minutes, and Maia almost an hour!!!
