Tuk Tukking around Delhi 😬 (white knuckle rides!)

We’ve been enjoying a much needed rest this week - recharging batteries and finding time to discover a little more of the Delhi we haven’t seen before.

Amanda gave us a fabulous book called ‘111 Places in New Delhi That You Must Not Miss’ - so this week we’ve been exploring in the warm winter sunshine.

We found, new parks, the Lanes of Shahpur Jat with all the the haut couturier shops, Khoj Art Studios, Sultan Garhi’s Mausoleum, the Ahinsa Sthal Park with Metcalfe’s Folly and the statue of Lord Mahavira seated in Padmasna pose on a Lotus flower. We enjoyed a recommended ‘mutton stew’ at The Pot Belly, having climbed up 5 flights of stairs to the restaurant! 

We’ve just been to see the ‘Coms’ team at Bhikaji to wish Ayesha a happy birthday - took her a Fridge cake having had such a ‘cake’ disaster last week!! 

Taking a quick flight to Amritsar tomorrow to see the Golden Temple and Wagah Ceremony..... we need to go back to work for a rest!!

The Pot Belly restaurant (worth the climb up 5 flights of stairs).

Khada and Litti Mutton - delicious!! - they also had Phish Phingers on the menu (tempted, but went for the Mutton).

One of the Lanes of Shahpur Jat - described as an open air street art gallery.

This is our little stationers ‘shop’ it’s a bit of den but somehow ‘Mr Mole’ burrows away and finds what I need.

My shoe needed mending, so the shoe wallah (mochee) who sits and works on the pavement near our flat did an amazing job for 50p.

The 14ft tall Lord Mahavira statue, installed by Jain worshippers in the mid 1980’s

The ‘backside’ (Indian terminology) of the statue (with Metcalfe’s Folly and Qutb Minar in background).

Metcalfe’s Folly - Sir Thomas Metcalfe was appointed by the East India Company to deal with the last of the Mughal emperors, Bahadur Shah Zafar, and to oversea civil matters in Delhi.

The Ahinsa Sthal Park. Nice to see open space and ‘green’.

Children’s Day celebrations

Ken and I work in the Chanderpuri community on Tuesdays (it’s nice to be able to travel once a week together). This Tuesday was CHILDREN’S DAY and so we were there to join in their celebrations. 

Guests from the local community were invited, speeches made, songs sung and finally 4 beautiful dancers entertained us with folk dances.

Many of the children proudly wore their new polo shirts that were donated by St Mary’s and St Peter’s School in Teddington. Thank you Allison, Deidre and Christine for adding them to your luggage!!!

We’ve also been meeting Amanda and Victoria as they visit all the communities collecting recipes, life stories and tasting various dishes (we’ve been in on the tastings too - big bonus!!)

Thankfully our ‘monkey visitor’ from last week has not reappeared - however I would have been quite happy for him to take my attempt at a microwave chocolate cake...... it didn’t turn out quite as expected..... 

Today is the beginning of our week’s (half term) holiday - a much needed rest and time to look ahead and prepare for the next 3 months. 

We’re looking forward to travelling to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple and the Pakistan/India Wagah Attari Border Ceremony.

Wagah is a village situated on the Golden Trunk Road between Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan and Amritsar, India. It serves as a goods transit terminal and a railway station between Pakistan and India.

Children wearing their new polo shirts and waiting for the celebrations to begin.

A special folk dance performed by four girls from Chanderpuri.

Great attention to detail!!

Children and visitors gather to celebrate 'Children’s Day'.

Fun counting games with Incy Wincy Spider....

Mums and Toddlers have fun with catching games......

“Come back monkey, look in the microwave .... time for cake?”

A very important moment as Rani shares the secrets of her Shahi Paneer recipe.... one to definitely buy the book for!!

Ken saw the fumigation lorry arrive at Chanderpuri yesterday.....

Results ......... hopefully it did some good?

Monkey business

Last Saturday, sitting in our lounge, enjoying a cool breeze (the balcony door was open) having a well earned cup of tea, I heard a thud. There is always so much noise so I ignored it. Another ‘thud’ made me get up to look - there was a very large monkey, sitting gazing into our fridge!! Ken was out.... panic and fright shot through my veins and then I remembered the lounge has a sliding glass door which I quickly pulled shut as I shouted and screamed and banged on the glass -(hoping to frighten our intruder.) He calmly chose a loaf of bread and was leaving as Ken arrived home to the sounds of his demented wife.

We’ve spotted lots of monkeys around our area this week - yesterday, a group of them had raided the veggie wallah’s stall and were gorging themselves on stolen bananas. Needless to say, the balcony doors are NOT left open anymore!

On a different note, we’ve enjoyed great support from all the Asha staff - all is going well.

Its been lovely to see Amanda and Victoria as they tour the different communities tasting dishes for the future Asha Cookbook.

“Hang on ladies” - there’s always lots to amaze us as we travel around Delhi.

Wow!

How much more can you get on a bike?

I was too frightened to take a photo so found this one on ‘google images’ - it was just like it, only he looked at me and smiled!!😬

Mums and toddler group at Kalkaji -all busy making counting games.

Angel receiving her certificate of attendance.

Well done Angel and Sahil - students at Kusumpur.

Awards week!

This week is mostly about Ken and his students. 

But first just a word about our visitors who have all gone back to the UK now. We can’t believe that Allison, Deidre and Christine only went last Saturday. It feels as if it was weeks ago that they left. We found this with Gail – she went home 2 or 3 days before Allison, Deidre and Christine arrived. It’s a weird feeling – does it mean every day is so packed full of activity that they just seem to last longer? We’re not sure. Anyway we miss them all immensely.....   

In the past Ken has only taught groups of students, but this time he has been teaching some individuals 1to1 (or in one case, 1to3), as well as groups of university students in Chanderpuri, up near Seelampur, which is about an hour and a half away on the Metro, and Kusumpur Pahardi, which is a 20 minutes tuk-tuk ride away near Vasant Vihar.

The individuals that Ken teaches come to our flat, either in the evening on weekdays, or on Saturday, which is a really nice change – having ‘students’ here in the flat and having the occasional meal together make it all feel rather cosy and fun (although hard work for the students who are traveling to us at the end of their working days!).   

Heather and Ken go to Chanderpuri together one day a week, by Uber or Ola taxi, as we have to take Heather’s suitcase (20 kg approximately), full of craft goodies for her classes. guitar and everything else you can think of!  

The past week has been a bit of a strange week as lots of the students are having their internal university exams at the moment, so attendance has, understandably, been haphazard for some. Also, some students seem to have gone off to their villages for a break.  

However, Sahil always meets Ken when he goes to Kusumpur and walks with him past the cows, pigs, dogs, water tankers and the ever present motor bikes zooming up and down the narrow paths to the Asha centre.  

It’s here that Dhanpati makes Ken a welcome cup of tea in the morning and afternoon and Pushpar often sits in on the lessons. Ken also gets morning and afternoon tea at Chanderpuri, so no complaints there, made by Anita and her team. 

During the week Ken met Aryan Mishra in Kusumpur. On Face Book he is 'Aryan Mishra, the Aspiring Astronaut', which tells you everything you need to know about his passion! He's going places!   

Now that the lessons are in their 6^th  or 7^th week Ken has started giving out Certificates of Attendance to the students who have come regularly to the lessons. See the photos. Well done to all those who have received their Certificates! If you haven’t yet had one, keep coming. You will get one if you’re attendance is regular.

We are now looking forward to seeing Amanda Clegg and Victoria Byrne, who are coming over for two weeks to pull together material for the Asha 30^th Anniversary Cook Book. Sounds like fun!

Love

Ken and Heather xx

A few pictures from Deidre's file of Old Delhi and the variety of products on offer on the streets 

One of my classes at Chanderpuri

Samar receiving his Certificate of Attendance - he hasn't missed a lesson! With Gulafsha and Amit.

Shoyeb and Rakesh receiving their Certificates.

A class at Chanderpuri

Usha, Sahil and Zeba with their Certificates

  

Some of my students at Kusumpur with Dhanpati in the middle

 Priti receiving her Certificate, with Pushpar