Year: 2010

  • Burnt earth calls for bright colours

    There is nothing left to the texture of Indian earth – it is parched and pulverized. Its particles find us at every corner and outlet. A thin film of dust covers everything and it is of no consequence how diligent you or others are at cleaning – dust is the outright winner of this season. The reason I write about it is…

  • Behind Closed Doors

    In temperatures like these there is a tendency to stay inside and perhaps behind closed doors where the rooms are dark and the currents are cool, where mattresses and cushions are laid out on the floor and where refreshing drinks are served to parched souls. I walked through a hot old Delhi and I could…

  • When in Delhi ….

    Do like the Delliwalllahs do …. The temperatures are sky high at the moment. A heat wave is gripping us and at 44 C it is ripping every bit of energy and moisture out of us. We look like this piece of ground from a pond nearby. Delhiwallahs and perhaps other cities as well have…

  • The new resident

    The latest addition to the family. In Geneva we used to have a family of kites who came to nest in the trees growing in the forest area by the stream at the end of our garden. We watched them mate and then be proud parents of a young kite and we followed their life…

  • Still hot but beware the forces of nature ..

    It has been getting hotter, and while still on this theme I decided to have a swim at dusk. So I jumped in the pool and enjoyed its coolness as I listened to to the kaaaaaaaaaaacalls of the peacocks and the nervous chirpings of plovers nearby. A beautiful indian jay was silhouetted on the sausage tree.I swam with…

  • Khajuraho an erotic heat

    Situated in a Madhya Pradesh which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite states, is Khajuraho. Khajuraho gained its name in all probability from the Sanskrit word Khajul which means date palm common to the area.There is romance in the way the place was built and erotic energy in what remains of it today.Legend suggests that Khajuraho was built by the…

  • Getting Hot ?

    Stop and sip a nimbu pani and crunch on a kakari.  These Indian cucumbers are unlike ones I have ever seen and it takes an small act of faith to try them – but I have no hesitation in recommending them. Small, twirling and bright green they are cracking and crunchy with some rock salt…

  • Hauz Khas Lake

    Hauz Khas is one of my favourite little havens in Delhi and I have written about it on a number of occasions. It combines living history with progress and development and it seems to do it well.The beautiful archaeological remains there, not least the Madrassa, are receiving a bit of an uplift from the Archaeological…

  • Plastic rubbish

    India has a lot of it. It is not surprising. Its development is staggering. So it is totally heart warming when initiatives are started often around a kitchen table and become important messengers of conservation and recycling.A group of women decided that they wanted an alternative to the plastic bag. So they started making cloth…

  • Indian Census 2011- No April Fools

    Is there a word which explains that you have been subject to the Census ? Is it censud ? Censured ?Censussed ?Whatever it is April 1st marks the start of the Indian Census 2011.President Prabha Patil will be one of the first to be ………. Details will be obtained on numbers, literacy and mortality, religion…