The National Museum - Day 5

Time for a bit of culture, so off to the National Museum. We stay in Gurgaon which is a new suburb of Delhi. Here is view from the bedroom window. It takes about 30 minutes to an hour to get in to town. More about transport on another day...still trying to get good pics.
People reached India from Africa about 40 000 years ago. They were hunter gatherers but by about 2600BC the 1st established city/Civilization had emerged called the Harappan Civilization. At that time they were about 25000 citizens (compare that with 2010...1.15 billion). They lived in stone houses sometimes 3 stories high , used bronze tools, had a writing system and even had jewelery (see pic of 5000 year old jewelery!)
The Harappans also manage to mould bronze statues. The ability to do this was lost with their decline and bronze statues were only recovered again some 3500 years later.
Here is a picture of the Harappan Bronze 'Dancing girl' which is one of the galleries most prized possessions.

Hinduism is one of the major belief sytems in India. It is relatively complicated but pretty fascinating. I have popped in a few pics and explanations of a few of the most popular Gods or Deities. First up is Shiva. He is 1 one the 5 primary forms of God. The God of Destruction and Rejuvenation. In images he is usually represented as immersed in deep meditation or he can manifest as Nataraja (The Lord of the Dance) in which case he is dancing the 'Tandava' on top of Maya (The demon of ignorance) Here he is in both forms. These are bronze statues dating back to the 13th century by the way.

Next up is Parvati, his sidekick. Parvati is the wife of Shiva and the mother of Ganesha. According to Hindu tradition, Shiva was once married to Sati. Tragically, Sati committed suicide by jumping into a fire, and Shiva could not be consoled. The distraught widower never wanted to marry again. However, years later, a young women named Parvati ("Daughter of the Mountain") committed herself to living an austere life of meditation to win over Shiva. She meditated in the Himalayas for years, not budging through driving rain, blistering heat, or elephant stampedes. But one day, she heard a child cry in suffering and she immediately sprang up to help. But it was Shiva, testing her resolve. She had failed the test, but he was so touched that she would give up what she desired most to help someone in need that he took Parvati as his wife. Interesting to note here is a funeral practice among some Hindu communities (called Sati after Shiva's 1st wife) in which a recently widowed woman would either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion sacrifice herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. This practice is now rare and outlawed in modern India but still happens occasionally.

And then there is the very popular (if market trinkets are anything to go by) Ganesha. The elephant-faced deity has intrigued thinking men all over the world, all through the ages even unto the present day. The sacred texts give a variety of stories narrating the sequence of Ganesha's birth, the most popular being the one mentioning that Ganesha was created by Goddess Parvati as a guardian to her privacy:

Incensed by the refusal of her husband to respect her privacy, to the extent of entering her private chambers even while she was having her bath, Parvati decided to settle matters once and for all. Before going for her bath the next time, she rubbed off the sandalwood paste on her body and out of it created the figure of a young boy. She infused life into the figure and told him he was her son and should guard the entrance while she bathed.

Soon after, Shiva came to see Parvati but the young boy blocked his way and would not let him in. Shiva, unaware that the boy was his son, became furious and fought with the boy whose head got severed from his body in the ensuing battle. Parvati, returning from her bath, saw her headless son and threatened in her rage to destroy the heavens and the earth, so great was her sorrow.

Shiva pacified her and instructed his followers to bring the head of the first living being they encounter. The first creature they encountered was an elephant. They cut off its head and placed it on the body of Parvati's son and breathed life into him. Overjoyed, Parvati embraced her son.

The son of Parvati was given the name Ganesha by Shiva. The word Ganesha is made up of gana (followers of Shiva) and isha (lord), thus Shiva appointed him the lord of his ganas.



And then off for a nice dinner with Doug at Pind Balluchi - a Punjabi establishment and all. We had absolutely no idea what we were ordering but had a great time and the food was divine. Crockery was all steel and bronze and the after meal sweets (pictured here) are a combination of herbs (aids digestion) and aniseed falvoured fudge (an aquired taste!)

Our 2nd Day in Dehli, India

Delhi is really big and has quite a hectic layout. Because most of the worlds retail clothing is made in either China or India, the clothing industry is huge here and in Delhi there are hundreds of different markets that you can shop at. At most of the markets you need to bargain to get good prices. For a fun day out, we booked a local tour guide to help us get around, get a feel for the different markets (actually get to the markets) and to bargain on our behalf so we could see how best to do it.

The 1st market close to the main Delhi Railway Station was really hectic to get to. It is a very congested area and there is also a lot of building going on. Delhi is hosting the Commonwealth Games in October so there is lots of upgrading going on. See pics of traffic and also of electricity theft and conditions.

Our guide, Tanya, is a fashion designer in Dehli and she was young, fun and vibey. We had a really good day out and got a couple of great bargains. I found one of the suppliers who supplies Lulu Belle with jewellery and bought some stuff from him. Bracelets that I saw there for R70 I bought for R5! She introduced us to Lassi - an Indian cooling drink. It is yogurt based and very yummy.

We also had our 1st Chuski! A Chuski is a ball of ice dipped in flavoured syrup. Some flavours available are Rose, Orange and Kala Khatta. Tanya insisted we try the Kala Khatta (truly authentic flavour of India). I have to say, it was pretty hectic -it is made with loads of lemon, salt, and masala spices among others. The greatest part of the Chuski though is how it is made. Our vendor was using a block of ice that he rubbed over a wood planer. As the planer shreds the ice, he compacts it into a ball with his fist and then pops a stick into it. Then he pours the syrup of your choice into a plastic cup and you dip you ice into your syrup. All this in 45 degree heat. Definately something to do again - in Orange Flavour!

One of the lowlights of the day was Tanya being pick pocketed by a young boy. He dug his hand into her bag and nicked her purse and phone but in his rush to get away, he dropped her phone and alerted other vendors. They chased and caught him and he was then well and truly beaten by the locals (including Tanya) who tells us that it is important to do this in an attempt to scare the youth from taking up crime. It was quite amazing to witness this 'local justice' unfold around us.

Finished off in a nice artsy, design area with a good meal and got home at aroung 8pm after a high energy, sensory-overloady kind of day!

Day 1 Delhi, India

After a nice midnight shopping session in Dubai (buzzing at Midnight) we arrived to a cooking Dehli at around 9am. Temperature clocked in today at 45 degrees! Makes December in Durbs feel like a picnic and dress code requires legs to be covered – shorts and skirts are not an option up North! Trip to the apartment not too bad but driving in Delhi not for the faint hearted.
Lane demarcation is purely decorative and hooters are used to make your presence known - so there is a constant buzz out there. Apartment a bit hectic so we will probably be moving next week but it is clean and the basics are there. Caught up on some sleep and then hit the shops. Had a good Indian lunch, experienced first Indian toilet (thank goodness for all that cycling) and went on a short trip on a bicycle rickshaw - think the poor skinny driver whacked up that price when he spotted the size of Doug!!

Came home to listen to the Bulls annihilate the Crusaders .

Now it’s time to catch up on some zzzz’s.