Year: 2011

  • Nutmeg and Mace

    And the winner is Mr Anonymous( please dont be shy) ….who said Mace.. which is half the answer of course and the other half is Nutmeg. The picture you saw was of the drupe. It is not a fruit and it is not a nut – it is a drupe and all its parts are used.…

  • A southern delight

    My driver comes from Kerala and his family are up in the Delhi visiting and apart from gifts of big yellow fleshy Keralan Bananas I got this. I tasted a corner, I marvelled at its natural attributes, sensual and inviting every way you look at it, I prodded and cut it and I googled it…

  • Pataudi Palace

    Living in Delhi is a bit of a skill and it takes a lot of energy to get it right. Escaping occasionally  is necessary  to recharge those tired batteries and give you a breather but finding places which are easily accessible is a harder task. Pataudi is one such. It is about 60 kms south from…

  • Moments of immense joy and pride

    There are some times in all of our lives that mark unforgettable moments and yesterday was one such for my family. My eldest son’s graduation from Cambridge University, a place close to out hearts and dear to our souls for so many reasons. The day dawned blue – vibrant blue, not a cloud in the sky and…

  • Season of plenty

    All these months the heat and the dust have taken their toll on the country, dust covers everything, the grass is looking yellow and there is a general wilting affecting lettuces, humans and flowers. Yet in all of this it seems that June is also the month of plentiful fruits and everywhere you go you…

  • The Shimla- Kalka Railway

    This is my last blog about our trip to Shimla and it is about the railway. We left Shimla on the Shimla-Kalka train and it could not have been a sweeter descent through the cedar forests.The railway was completed in 1903 so it is over 100 years old and still going strong. It resembles a toy train and is on…

  • The Viceregal Lodge at Shimla

    You can’t visit Shimla without seeing the Viceregal Lodge so I am devoting a whole post to it. It must have been such an ambitious project for its time and it was executed succesfully in every respect. This is India in the 1880’s – not much mechanization and before the hugely important completion of the Kalka…

  • Wildflower Hall and the forest in Shimla

    If you are looking for a special place to stay in Shimla go to Wildflower Hall. it is quite exceptionally beautiful.Others appreciated its unique location when it was built as a residence circa 1876. A picture of the original house and one of the subsequent hotel. The original house was burnt down and the second residence…

  • Shimla Town

    This place so reminded me of my childhood when my father used to send us to a wooden cabin in the Troodos range of Cyprus for some of the summer months. We would while away the hours picking pine cones, going for walks in the woods, riding tame horses and putting on our finest for a walk…

  • Shimla

    44 C and possibly on the way up – walking into my kitchen is like entering a furnace full on. They say heat rises and of course it does – it all seems to be in my kitchen- but you will be happy to hear that this does not happen at 7,234 ft above sea level. There it…