Mrs Armitage goes to South Delhi

Lado Sarai, Delhi, 17^th Feb 2011

What a difference a day makes – the rain has stopped, the damp squib of a mist cleared (the Qutb tower finally re-emerged on our skyline) and this afternoon the sun even came out. WolfDad has officially admitted he understands nothing about the sub-continent climate, having failed to anticipate the risk of precipitation in Delhi in February.  His meteorology – based on Geography ‘ A’ level and a passion for the BBC Weather site  - has been completely flummoxed, although Kavita, a friend and South Delhi resident, did say that rain like that, at this time of year, was extremely unusual…  We have flung open the windows again, and are now breathing in deeply the stink of the overflowing drains outside.

WolfDad returned somewhat frustrated from the archives today. The yield:effort ratio is diminishing, he’s unsure where to draw the arbitrary final file and has, for the first time, encountered some suspicion and jobs-worth.  So he came home and we all went OUT to do some field (or park) work.  We made it across MB Road and found the Flower Market, en route to the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.  We are feeling slightly ashamed that these places which are so close to where we are living, have taken us a fortnight to reach.

The Flower Market was rather wonderful – Covent Garden through an Indian lens – marigolds and roses, ‘lucky’ bamboo and  women and children sitting in the mud making garlands.  All very vivid after the depressing murk of the last few days.  Apparently the Mehrauli flower market and similar markets around Delhi are under threat of removal to a more distant location at Ghazipur. 



Metcalfe's Folly

The Archeological Park is a large area of ruins, garden (some of it tended, some of it more wild) and woodland, jammed between the Qutb Complex (which is a World Heritage site) and the main road out of Delhi to Gurgaon.  In contrast to the Qutb, there are no tour buses, no admission fee and much less fancy restoration and facilities, just a guy posing in his white kurta pyjamas in Metcalfe’s folly and kids playing cricket among the ruins. [The Cricket World Cup starts tomorrow with the opening ceremony in Dhaka tonight. Cricket-related excitement is mounting, with India playing Bangladesh on Saturday.]

Jamali-Kamali tomb interior

  We went to see the Jamali-Kamali tomb and mosque.  Jamali was a 16^th century Sufi court poet and he’s buried next to Kamali whose identity is unknown, but variously said to be his ‘brother’, male lover, nom de plume or wife.  It’s a very romantic spot, hidden away even within the park.  The doors of the small and outwardly simple-looking, single-story tomb unlock to reveal the two white marble grave stones, each with a single rose, and the interior of the tomb exquisitely tiled and plastered in patterns of celestial blues.Its power has been sufficient to awaken the imaginings of American poets (there’s a new book of verse, ‘a tale of passion in Mughal India’) and for Time Out Delhi to recommend it as a great gay Valentine’s Day date.  WD was very excited to be able to get in – the tomb is carefully locked up as it’s the best preserved interior of a tomb that age in Delhi (most are bare white plaster, perhaps with fragments of tiling remaining) – and we hadn’t anticipated being able to find the caretaker so easily. Even the girls, usually hard to impress, thought it beautiful.

So having feasted our senses (well, visual cortex) there, we then went on to The Garden of the Five Senses in Saket, anticipating even greater stimulation.  This is a park we’d previously failed to find and had promised L that we would return to discover another day.  The Garden is well beyond the Old City Walls and is clearly from the Mrs Armitage* School of City Regeneration/Development – “What we need here, what we really need here is…” a Ground Force style project full of wind chimes, dodgy public art, a fragrance trail (in India?), broken alternative energy displays, country kitchens, trendy bars and camel rides.  I’m being unfair as there’s some valiant gardening, and it was a joy to see flowers growing, as it’d been a while. Only my father grows nasturtiums in such abundance. What flourishes best under these conditions, however, are snoggers.  Around every corner, we seemed to disturb another furtive couple who sprung apart, looking sheepish.  W’s done a picture of a couple licking each other in his journal tonight. Notices throughout the park told us to ‘Maintain Decency’, a real challenge to the WolfGang...

Lado Sarai is a bit edgy tonight: I can hear fireworks, drumming, fighting and screaming next door. I wonder what’s up?  WD plans to get up early tomorrow to go and take photos of more South Delhi architectural detritus, sorry monuments. So far, the go-getting, 7 o’clock sprint from sleep to productive activity has been a bit elusive as we’ve all settled into the slow morning start – hmm, cup of tea, another chapter of my book, play with the children in bed, make some porridge…

*Mrs Armitage is a Quentin Blake heroine who always has really good ideas (along with her faithful dog, Brakespear) about how to make things even better... A useful related phrase stolen from last year's Trainers' Course, designed to provide 'helpful' feedback without demoralising your registrar too much, or equally my kids at homeschool, 'Even better if...'