Travels to Homeland - Part IV

You will notice from this pictorial journey that almost all my trips to India were made in the fall and winter season which is truly the best time to visit Delhi. (In all these years, I have only made two trips to Delhi in summer due to extremely sad circumstances when I had to be there) Winters in Delhi’s semi-arid weather run from November through February. The mornings are chilly and dull followed by bright sunlight when most of Delhi's population finds time and ways to bask in the beautiful afternoon weather.

Anyway let's continue with the Delhi "Yatra" (Hindi word for tour)...


Here I am standing against the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the magnificent residence of the President of India which till 1950 was the residence of the British Governor-General of India. I have to say that I somehow felt letdown when I saw the White House in DC for the first time. It just did not match up architecturally to the visual splendour that I had taken for granted all my life, back home. This picture was taken a few days in January after the Republic day parade. Note the bleacher-like seats that were in the process of being taken down in the photo...The above picture does not do justice to the true majesty of the historical residence. (picasaweb.google.com/.../jtTkPXjwQY8hylJAG-gf8A) Rashtrapati Bhawan on January 29, 2008 after India's Republic Day on January 26. Republic Day is India's national holiday when the Indian constitution came into force and India became a truly sovereign Republic on January 26, 1950. www.luxeindia.in

In the following picture, I am with a close college friend with whom I reconnected after years. She is now a very senior bureaucrat in the Indian government having made it through the gruelling Civil Service examination , success in which ensures entry to topmost positions in the government. We are standing against one of the Indian Ministry buildings. The government headquarters are all in the central part of the capital with it beautifully manicured lawns and well-designed roads leading to different parts of the city...
Now let me give you a flavour of India's five-star hotels- unbeatable in their beauty and opulence. The two pictures below were taken inside Hotel Taj part of India's leading industry group now a powerful multinational based in Bombay- the renownedTatas. Note the unbelievable decorations on the walls and ceilings of this hotel's lobby, the marble floors and handiwork. I had forgotten how luxurious the atmosphere was till we had lunch there which cost us a pretty penny and that too only in the hotel's coffee shop!!! Believe me that was no "Coffee" shop. This kind of decor is typical of India's five star hotels which make the American hotels truly look plain by comparison and I am not exaggerating or being overly sentimental here. Just ask the international travelers who return from business trips after stays in these plush accomodations. This hotel is again in heart of Delhi close to the government and the main business center, Connaught place.

The photos below show a section of Delhi that is much further from the central part and is en route to the airport... The first picture shows Baku and I with my aunt in front of the DSOI (Defence Services Officers Institute) commonly known as Dhaula Kuan club obviously restricted to the armed forces and more fun and down to earth than the other very elitist club in Delhi, the Gymkhana club about which I will talk another time. My uncle, mom's brother, whose wife is seen here, is a retired army officer. It is a sort of tradition that whenever we visit them, we are taken to the club for sumptious Indian meals. In India, military families were always considered the more modern and the "with it" crowd so the club held fun dances every now and then, to which I and my cousins/friends were often invited. I still recall vividly how tongue-tied we young college girls used to get before the handsome young men in uniform. And we were young not only in years, but in exposure due to our sheltered lifestyles, so we were literally chaperoned to these events. (In India in my time, we completed high school by sixteen or no later than seventeen and an undergrad degree was completed by nineteen or twenty latest... One reason was many parents started their kids' school education at a much earlier age as there were no minimum age rules in those years. I believe it has all changed now.)

Note the car in the picture - this is a Maruti-Suzuki, the most popular "people's car" in India. Maruti began operations in 1983 together with Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan. It has an interesting background about how it started being manufactured in India when the Indian car customers had barely any automobile options. Of course, the entire auto landscape has changed metamorphically now with everything else, but this small and compact fuel-efficient car still dominates the Indian roads...

More Delhi travels later - the Yatra continues...