There and back again – Delhi

As usual, I left Delhi with mixed feelings. I truly dislike the place, I know that much, but there are good things about it too. I think they are actually easier to spot, when I don’t have to live there anymore!

We started the trip with the bang – almost missing the plane. After the last minute check-in, we had to brave security check crowd, pushing all the way to the front of the queue, shouting apologetically left right and center “our plane leaves in 2 minutes”. And in India, there is almost nothing worse one can do, then to jump the queue, though everyone tries...

We left our beautiful palm trees to land in 45 degree concrete jungle. Fortunately it started raining the same night. That’s another thing about India: rain constitutes “nice” weather here. I laughed about it for years, but there is something in it. After many months of perfect sunshine and clear blue skies, it’s incredibly refreshing to wake up one day, to the not so gentle shower of rain, put the cardigan on and look at surrounding greenery bursting with life in front of my eyes.

We didn’t really sign up for full on Delhi experience this time, as we decided to stay is Hauz Khas Village – a little oasis high on European vibe.

It’s quite lovely place actually: there is a deer park, beautiful temple, historical Hauz Khas complex and picturesque lake; all these surrounded by designer boutiqu

es, rooftop restaurants, bars and patisseries.

 

The whole trip was a blur of things, like a movie on fast forward – running form one place to the other, trying to complete all the work and sweeten it up with some side shopping. I managed to get some lovely fabrics and trims, but completely forgot to visit our coffee beans shop.

I came home to fully blown monsoon, and had few spinster days with the cat. It gave me enough time to clean and organize the house, plan few projects for the coming weeks and enjoy he rain with a cup of chocolate cake fudge. 

The only cloud on the horizon (figuratively speaking, cause otherwise there is nothing but clouds around) is the PIO card application process. As always any mention of Indian offices and paperwork fills me with and overwhelming sense of dread. 

Delightful surprise

We are flying to Delhi tomorrow and it’s shaping up to be “everything but fun” kind of trip. Horrible weather, tedious paperwork, too much to do in too little time… Not surprisingly, I’m getting slightly hysterical. And, suddenly, in the middle of the packing crisis, the sweetest surprise came to our doorstep!

Apparently there was wild beehive somewhere around, and group of villagers decided to take the matter in their own hands – so to speak. That resulted in buckets (and I mean BUCKETS) of delicious honey. I did have some misgivings, since I always saw bees as friendly and useful creatures which should not be harmed, but it was too good an opportunity to pass!

So, abandoning a pile of laundry, I spent lovely evening filling all our empty jars with golden liquid. There is sth very special about honey; the texture, color, clarity… and, of course, the taste. This one is absolutely delicious – not so sweet and a little fruity. Plus, sticking labels and stacking cute jars made me long for a pantry full of homemade preserves and pickles.

The whole situation kind of reminded me of childhood stories where the hero had to survive in the forest eating roots, berries and wild honey. When I was a kid, we used to bring honey from every countryside holiday, but it was all from beekeepers. This one is like a drop of fairytale… It’s definitely not an everyday thing to have pots full of amber goodness!

Unfortunately I have to get back to mundane preparations now, unless there is a unicorn waiting around the corner. 

house hunting

Today, our weekly trip to the seaside had much more purpose than just sunning and relaxing. Once again, we decided to look for the perfect house.

Some time ago, after beating our heads against many unsuitable and unsatisfying walls, we decided to go for a new project and put the dreams about old Portuguese villa on the back burner. Since, at the moment, our future flat looks like this:

   ...we still need to rent for another year or two.

Of course, one option is to stay where we are, in our perfectly lovely flat. The problem is, it’s an army colony, where average age is 70+ and total number of flats occupied throughout the year is maybe 5. Loveliness aside, it is rather on a creepy side…

And suddenly we found it! Beautiful old villa with big garden full of coconut palms and some weird fruit trees, just minutes from the beach! Of course, we were not the only ones who spotted the place, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up. My new mantra is: if we don’t get the place, we won’t have to deal with number of problems like leaking roof, snakes, tiny unappealing bathroom and hassle of moving. That’s my version of positive thinking!

Apart from enjoying the beach and visiting future and potential houses, I test-driven my latest creation. I really got into the whole “making my own clothes” thing, practicing on number of skirts, shorts, pants and moving onto the dresses. For now it’s nothing fancy – very simple patterns and testing my sewing skills. I’m afraid I’ll have to go through the pain of making my body form before I commit myself to anything more complicated. Draping is just so much more practical then patternmaking. I have no patients for tile, and test fitting on myself is just a pain.

For now, I have to put all these plans out of my mind and prepare for few days in Delhi, which is a challenge in itself. For example what do I pack for 45 degrees, rainy weather keeping in mind the cultural restrictions and the number of ogling man?