India 05

We started a bit later today (9:30am) and much of the day was out of doors. We visited a park, a Mughal garden, the "Baby Taj Mahal" and a wholesale produce market. The market is where gardeners bring their produce to sell in bulk to smaller vendors, restaurants and the general public. It was fantastic to see how quickly sales were happening with stalls clearing by mid-morning. Shanoo explained that most households and restaurants shop daily for what is needed that day. We missed getting a picture of the sugar cane stripper/juicer with hand cranked fly wheel, but will look out for others. Spinach, fenugreek, mint, basil, scallion, onion, garlic, ginger, beets, potatoes, red carrots, cauliflower and eggplant were the main produce in this season. People arrived with their empty sacks and poly bags and left with them laden and slung over their shoulder or on the back of their bike. It all happened so fast. There were occasional food carts, but mostly it was brisk business. And, there were cows, benefitting from free access to the trimmings.

We were treated to another view of the Taj Mahal through a tree canopy at the Agra nature walk and bird sanctuary, where we strolled for about two hours, and Bob photographed more new birds for our growing India collection. 

We then stopped quickly at the hotel to freshen up for our cook class at 12:30. This class was traditional Mughal cooking in the house of Iqbal and Bushra, and their extended family, including their boy Ismail-3 (November 18, 2013, same as our little friend Francis!) and his little brother born February 1st; Iqbal's brother and Bushra's sister, who were also a couple; and the parents of the men. The food was incredible and plentiful. We were welcomed with a cane sugar and rose water cool beverage and a tour of the house. We were also introduced to the house philosophy of cooking and sharing, and to some Mughal regional history and cooking. Their mutton rogan josh magic ingredients were a pair of pastes, one of caramelized onion with yogurt; the other ginger and garlic. Of course, there was also the crushed "dry spices", this time nutmeg pod, cinnamon bark, cardamon pod, cumin seed, whole cloves, pepper corn, coconut meat, poppy seed and bay leaf; and the powder "masala spice" of packaged garam masala plus extra coriander and sweet chili powder; and, of course, salt. There was also mutton biryani; cucumger, carrot, daicon and tomato salad with yoghurt dressing seasoned with mint, fennel & oregano; and a dhal of yellow lentils. Thus far, and including today's, all the dhals have been similar to a soup rather than a dip. The breads have also varied, but more so in thickness and cooking method than ingredients. Bob has been enjoying a rice/lentil South Indian "handkerchief" dosa for breakfast many mornings, sometimes filled with potato and cumin and always accompanied by two or three dips (mint, coconut and chili pepper) and the alixer sambhar (sometimes spelt sambhal). Sometimes breads are filled with paneer and sometimes they are fried in ghee (clarified butter). Dessert was a honey and milk vermicelli with chopped almonds on top. 

After lunch we visited two sites, including "BabyTaj", I'timād-ud-Daulah, which predates the Taj Mahal and was then the most famous Mughal building. The marble inlay is exquisite and covers most of the building surface. Inside are similar designs, crudely frescoed. The second story marble walls are like lace.

Our last stop of the day and of our time with Shanoo was the formal Mughal terraced water gardens of Ram Bagh Park. It was pleasant, but without the water coursing, it was less exciting than it would have been in the bygone past. Bob and Shanoo walked out to the Yamuna river and Yolanda watched the people pass and boys & men chase monkeys with poles. A mother dog came over to sleep in the shade of the bench on which Yolanda was laying. Four groups of young people stopped by to have their photo taken with Yolanda and one young mother asked her to hold the baby for the photo. Shanoo later explained that it was a curiosity for young people to be photographed with foreigners to show to their friends later, similar to how we might (and, indeed have been) photograph Indians.

We are parting company with Shanoo sooner than expected, but a non-active day Thursday, March 2nd should enable us to get some of our blogs posted! Shanoo is also associated with Kaimur Holidays and India By Locals . We did some writing and picture editing in the evening until our i-pad quit (and would not recover) and then went for a dinner at the hotel (happily the i-pod was okay when we returned to our room). This was a great meal and we tried some Indian white spiced wine, and watched the bread making in the "live" dining room kitchen - the most interesting was the making of the "handkerchiefs" and the spinach (palak) roti. 

India 04

We arrived just as the sun rose at the Taj Mahal, and for half an hour were in a long queue (actually two of four queues, as there is one for men, one for women, and one for each  of men and women with Indian citizenship). Yolanda's queue was slowest, so Bob and Shanoo waited for her and then everyone proceeded to the main gate together. We both welled up at our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal in the rising sun. It was wonderful to be there together and we passed a very nice morning wandering the grounds and then walking on the terraces and in the mausoleum.

On the way out, we stopped with Shanoo at a marble inlay factory and although the works were magnificent, we were not swayed to purchase any. Having risen early, we then took a break at the hotel until 2:00pm working on our blog site. At one point, we went out to get cash, and were offered several rides, but did not accept, as we wished to walk. The ATM that was very close was not functioning, as the tuk-tuk driver had said. So we wove across the street to another, which also did not work.

When Shanoo and driver Madan arrived, we asked to first go to an ATM and then to the Mughal Agra Fort, which was an amazing spread of structures in many styles. Shanoo told us interesting stories about those who lived at the palaces within the fort.

Our second to last stop of the day was to see the Taj Mahal at sunset from the Mehtab Bagh park across the Yamuna. It was beautiful and a lovely end to a great day. But, it was not the last activity of the day, as earlier in the day Shanoo invited us to dinner with his family at his house. His wife Charisma was lovely and his daugther-4, Rhyma was a lot of fun. Also at the house were Suphia-2, Ahmed-2mo, brother Samir and Shanoo's mother and father. The cooking was done by Shanoo's mother and wife and it was a delicious and generous treat.

India 03

Today's itinerary included India Gate, the grounds at Parliament, a cooking class with Jyoti Agarwal, and a stop at a bird sanctuary on our evening drive to Agra. This day felt much less exposed and gave us a change to digest the previous day's experiences. India Gate and the Government grounds were relaxed, photogenic stops.

We were a bit ahead of ourselves so arrived a bit early at Jyoti's home. We sat and drank her welcome masala tea and then were invited into the dining room adjacent the kitchen. All was mis-en-place for our lesson and Allain helped facilitate in and out of the kitchen. A two burner stove was set up by a window that opened to a patio with herb plants in pots.

We learned about spice box collections, about dry whole spices and fresh herbs. Jyoti's three pillars of cooking included generational, regional and seasonal influences. Yolanda particularly liked the idea of thinking in terms of generational versus cultural, as generational includes change in culture over time. We learned about cookware, cooking methods, and how and when to add seasonings in the cooking process.

Bob commented on how labour intensive the cooking of "gravy" (what we knew as "curry") can be. Jyoti's is Northern Indian cooking so mustard oil, savory versus sweet, and with wheat based carbohydrates. She also told us about the variations in fat, spicing and carbohydrates in the West and South of Indian. Bob learned how to make chipati dough and Yolanda learned about the importance of using the pressure cooker in so many of the dishes. When we had first arrived, Jyoti gave us a 13 page handout with recipes.

Yolanda had asked if we were going to do them all and Jyoti gasped and said there was certainly not enough time, so our expectations were not high that we would do many. But, by the end of the very fast-paced class, we had done 10! This included making paneer (same as making fresh ricotta) and making our new favourite hot beverage, masala tea! When we were finished cooking, we sat again in the living room for questions and answers while Allain set the table for four (Jyoti, Shanoo, Bob and Yolanda). What a fantastic, wonderful experience, and with a bonus of Jyoti's spice box kit and homemade orange peel chocolate as we left.

The Okhla Bird Sanctuary was along the Yamuna and Bob again captured a few new birds to add to his quickly growing list for this India trip. We arrived in the dark to Agra, and the night was alive with noise and horns and bedazzling spectacles at the sights of wedding celebrations at venues along the route. Our Agra hotel is again under tight gated security with screening at the front entrance. We were dabbed with bindy and shown our room, which faces the Taj Mahal. However, we needed to wait until morning to see it, as it is not lit at night, except under the full moon, when it glows silver.

India 02

Shanoo brought us to the Yamuna River for some birding. Crossing through a shanty of painted concrete and rescued building materials and stepping around week old puppies and litter, we descended a step-way to the black, slick, debris strewn, burping river. Shanoo negotiated a shared ride in a rowing skiff to cross to an island in the river. We drifted briefly at the mid-point so that our boat mate couple could slip overboard their sun offerings of coconuts, trinkets and milk-soaked rice.

We disembarked on the small sandy island and another couple climbed into the boat and Shanoo exchanged mobile numbers with the boat man. Bob shot stilts and other shore species wading amongst ash and washed-ashore plastic packaging and bits of cloth. Yolanda captured a few shots of ceremonial urns and textiles, now partially covered in drifted sand. Bob went on his own across chunks of styrafoam as stepping spots to a second part of the island just as smoke started wafting downwind from a cremation pier and we then noticed another being constructed. The process takes about 24 hrs Shanoo let us know. From another area of the shanty, a chanting call to prayer started to drift our way. A phone call from Shanoo brought the boat back to the island and Yolanda pulled it to shore, maybe a bit too strongly, as one oar broke in the mud as the boat man tried to dislodge the boat off the shore muck. Loud shouting to another boat man at the far shore resulted in a spare paddle being found eventually on the stone steps. The other boat man poled his boat towards the island through the strong current. Everyone seemed in good spirits about the occurrence and our boat man made no fuss and commented that it was better to have happened at shore than in the flowing river.

With new scents and sights burning into our memory, we rode to the "thieves market" and transferred from the hired car to a bicycle rickshaw, which bumped along to a Jama Masjid mosque overlooking Old Delhi and the markets below. Although Yolanda was dressed in fully concealing clothing, she was told to put on a muumuu at the mosque. Bob and Shanoo went inside and then together we walked down into the Chor Bazaar market area and the teaming life within.

Overhead lines snaked in tangles along and between rolling garage doors at street level. As it was Sunday, only some doors were open, displaying suit and sari fabric bolts and brocade spools or nuts, dates, tea and spices. Sari fabric lengths are minimum 4.5 meter and shirt lengths are two meter. The types of wares seemed to determine the display location, with cookware, produce carts and marigold garlands being temporary street set-ups, wedding accoutrements being inside and seasonings flowing from the inside to the street. Every nook was occupied with some enterprise. Underfoot, the cobbles of the alleyways were dislodged, with open cracks that collected mud and debris from the morning's activity of threading marigolds and trimming fruits and vegetables.

Around one corner was a haunch of mid-age men awaiting someone to collect them for a day of work, each with a bucket of tools of their trade. In the food supply area of one alley, Shanoo ushered us into a spice shop with a knowledgeable man who assisted us choose some spice packs and tea. In front of many of the food stalls were grids of little faces in tictactoes of six to nine squatting men waiting for a patron to pay the food stall owner a little extra to provide their lunch. We stopped for lunch at Karim's and learned about biryani - with non-vegetarian meat cooked in rice, or vegetarian. In the afternoon we visited the National Gallery of Modern Art and Ghandi's Smriti. The modern era in Indian visual art naturally includes influences from European and Asian secular, court, landscape and portrait artists. The works reflected global movements in techniques and materials as well as social, political and economic realities of the past two hundred years in India. Since their 1947 independence from England, Indians, and therefore the themes of Indian visual artists, are nationalistic as well as celebratory. However, heavy themes of internal reflection on population, poverty and disparity are in the most contemporary pieces. Yolanda commented in the last gallery of the main exhibition spaces about how our morning was capsulated in a particular few of the recent sculptural works. There was a detached building with a retrospective collection of multi-media works by Indian artist Jitish Kallat. In stark contrast to the sometimes apocalyptic, massive contemporary art works at the Gallery, was the contemplative walk in the Mahatma Gandhi gardens and house. This was the final living space for Gandhi and where he was assassinated, his smitri. A display in one length of outside concourse documents in text and pictures Gandhi's life's work leading peaceful resistance movements abroad and in India.

India 01b

Our area of Delhi (near the consulates) is very treed. When we drew back our curtains expecting to seen dawn light, the day was in full sun behind the black-out curtains. Staff were tending the pool grounds and deck seating, and a few large-scale hawk-like birds (black kites) were floating past our 6th story window. We made our in-room Sanka and washed and sliced the pear and apple set out for us on the marble table overlooking the property, the tree-concealed roadway and the background canopy, intermittently cut by a light rapid transit line. We made plans to take in the buffet breakfast (not the "very famous cafe nearby") but first checked in with Shanoo to confirm if we needed to meet him beyond the locked gate or in the hotel lobby ("lobby" was the reply). After a curry and omelette "brunch", Yolanda tried out the lifeguard seat and we admired the inside marigold and rose compositions, whose scent wafted towards us as we descended the escalator to the conference level entrance to the chirping gardens.

Our walk netted a few of the songsters (Yo spotting; Bob shooting), including black kites, a trio of rose-ringed parakeets, a canary yellowyish bird, a few skittish red-whiskered bulbuls, and a weensy other pair. Shanoo took us to a step well, a Kashmir carpet outlet, Lutyens restaurant and the Handloom Museum, which Bob had found on-line and which was new to Shanoo.

The step well, Agrasen Ki Baoli, was a previous royal summertime living quarters dug deep into the earth below the water table (now dry due to hydro power diversions above Delhi). In past times the lower levels of stairs were submerged; the deeper levels were exposed but still cool in the hot, dry season. While the carpets were intricate, expertly crafted and beautiful, we were not in the market to buy one nor swayed to enter into investing in one. Our late lunch was at Lutyens Cocktail Bar, and in the basement below the restaurant Yolanda purchased a meter of silk paisley print.

In addition to Bob spotting and photographing a common myna bird, Yolanda purchased a blue camel puppet at the craft stalls outside the National Handicrafts & Handlooms Museum, and we again remarked on the wild dog population. Inside, the displays were numerous and an interior chamber contained an old draw loom, and an equally elderly gentleman. Yolanda enjoyed a visit with the ancient curator and walked in the galleries with him to look at and talk about sari lengths, double Ikat and the brocades - a few of which he had designed.

This elder has travelled the world with his looms and textiles and was happy to have spoken with Yolanda and he commented that he had never had a visitor who was so knowledgeable about Indian textile production. Outside again, the sleeping male dog remained still and the emaciated mother dog with her belly full for her babies was pacing anxiously seeking the scattered pups. We ended our day reading travel guide books for gems we hope to not miss. We are meeting Shanoo at 9:00am tomorrow.

India 01a

An electrical fire scent in arrivals at Delhi International, burning plastic and wire, was somewhat disconcerting until we remembered reading about how we would find our senses frequently deciphering what we would be taking in. The burning odour was Delhi smog. Our flight was perfect with enough sleep (ear plugs), tasty Indian curry, and enough room for our long legs (we opted to seat mid-ship on our flight East so we could adjust into our India experience without feeling exhausted). We were met by a hotel driver and hotel airport representative who were both very friendly and professional, and sharply dressed. The Taj Palace New Delhi hotel had an armed security gate as well as a baggage and guest screening process similar to the security gate at Victoria International airport, only more ammunition. Our driver ushered us to a team of hotel staff, including our lovely, exquisitely saried, personal check-in clerk who escorted us to our 6th floor, gorgeous room (dollars do go a lot further here!) for our orientation and offer of a welcome beverage (we chose chamomile tea). It was about 2:30am and we were meeting our "ToursByLocals" guide at noon the next day, so we snuggled off to sleep with a timer set for 8:00am, our next scheduled malaria pill.