Delhi Zoo

When we lived here in the late 1960s and 1970s, a trip to the Delhi Zoo was always a fun outing with the children. One of the interesting things was a program they started to breed white tigers, descended from one caught in an Indian forest. I can remember seeing the genealogical chart painted on the wall of the building. I think the first one was found in the early 1950s. There have been many generations since then, and zoos all over the world have obtained white tigers from that first one. If you are interested, here is the Wikipedia article.

The morning after I arrived in Delhi I knew it would be best to keep as busy as possible throughout the day to avoid falling asleep at the wrong time. So we got on the Metro and went to the zoo. It took a short ride on three different lines followed by a scooter ricksha ride. The zoo is still as beautiful as I remembered it. The location is just beside the ruins of Purana Qila, one of the original seven cities of Delhi. It is spring here and the flowers are in full bloom.

Unfortunately, the animals in the zoo are not all in ideal enclosures. Far too many are in cages that are too small. The largest, most popular animals, such as elephant, lion, bear, etc., do have more natural surroundings with a moat to protect visitors. I decided to concentrate my photographs on the scenery and vegetation, so that's what you'll get here.

Looking into the zoo from the entrance; note Purana Qila in background

A view from the entrance area showing one of the portals to the Purana Qila

Pool and flowers near entrance

The rest of these photos are of various trees. I don't know most of the varieties, other than banyan, bamboo, "dinner plate," and Ashoka trees (the two straddling the palm in the first photo below). I really enjoyed some of the interesting shapes they make. Last year when I did a series on trees around Woodstock, I got more comments than any other posts ever. I hope you enjoy these!

 

More Food

We had one day in Delhi. We went to the zoo in the morning and I'll write more about that later -- I got some good photos. When we got back to Karol Bagh we were pretty tired and hungry, so we stopped at the Suruchi -- our favorite Gujerati thali restaurant.  We generally go there once per visit for dinner, but it was probably better to eat it at lunchtime.

They do have a menu, but the most popular are the thalis -- you can choose Gujerati, Rajasthani, or Punjabi. Punjabi is a lot like the Indian restaurant menus in the US, heavy on the gravies. The Rajasthani is more like the Gujerati, but we definitely like the latter best. First they bring some appetizers, which vary. This time the little ball in the upper left was called a tomato something and there was a bit of tomato in it. It was a little bit like a pakora and extraordinarily delicious! To the right of that are chopped cucumbers and onions and a wedge of lime. Then to the right is something yellow. Another appetizer, difficult to describe. It was rolled, a bit like a thin eggy crepe, but with something else rolled inside. From the left, the small dishes held:  kadhi, a yogurt and chickpea flour-based thin soup; thin dal-based soup; a vegetable called karela or bitter melon, slightly cucumber-like; potato curry; yellow beans of some kind; and cabbage curry. Most of these dishes are slightly sweeter than those in other Indian cuisines. In the center are the breads -- papar, chapatis, and two special ones. The smallest one is thick, filled with something and dipped in ghee. The one on top of the chapatis is a bit thicker, topped with gur (brown sugar) and a dripping of ghee. We were served thin buttermilk to drink with the meal; at first I didn't care too much for it, but I've learned to really like it. All of this food is refilled as long as you can keep eating it. Usually once around is enough for me.

Friday morning we took the train from Delhi to Dehra Dun. It leaves at 6:50 and arrives at 12:40. As soon as it departs we are each given a full liter bottle of drinking water and a newspaper (Hindi or English, as desired). Soon they come around with tea - a packet containing tea bag, sugar packet and dairy creamer packet. There is also a packet of two Marie biscuits, thin plain cookies. The hot water is delivered in an insulated carafe and is very hot. There are also two small candies on the tray but I managed to ignore them.

Next come the corn flakes. We are given a bowl with the dry flakes, then a bearer comes around and pours warm milk on them. It sounds much worse than it is; the flavor combination is quite good!

The main course consists of an omelet with a few veggies underneath, two slices of white bread, butter, jam and ketchup. Sometimes we make a sandwich with the bread and omelet and all the condiments. This is the non-veg meal; the veg breakfast has patties based on potato instead of the omelet. I like the patties, but with the bread it makes for a lot of starch!

After this we were given a piece of fruit and later on offered some juice. We don't stop for lunch in Dehra Dun any more; we are already well fed.

Return to India

My trip from Goshen went off without a hitch. Dan came a week ahead of me this time in order to visit a project in Northern Rajasthan where we support a family through Child Fund International. It was good to see him waiting for me as I came out of the airport.

American Airlines recently cancelled their daily nonstop flight from Chicago to Delhi, which was a disappointment. Air India is now the only airline on that route, so by default we purchased our tickets from them. Fortunately for us, the flights were not very full and we each were able to get a row of three seats to lie down on for sleeping during the flight. This made a world of difference for me! The flight actually pulled out of the gate ahead of its scheduled time and arrived in Delhi a half hour early. There was a very short line at immigration (the new Indira Gandhi International Airport has many more immigration officers on duty), my checked bag arrived, and I walked out about 3:30 PM. We use the airport prepaid taxi system and were on our way quickly. However, the driver went a very roundabout way, explaining that he had a low tire problem. He stopped at a petrol station and filled all four tires. At least none of them went flat before we arrived at our hotel.

We stay at the Bon Lon Inn in Karol Bagh and they know us well by now. It's nice to be greeted by familiar smiling faces. Breakfast is served in a small dining room. 

Dan dishing up zeera aloo (potatoes with cumin seeds). Other dishes behind held parathas, corn flakes, and omelets. [If you notice a reddish tint on the sleeve of his jacket, it is due to his going out on the morning of Holi last week, when colors are thrown on everyone.]

Here is a serving of the zeera aloo and a folded paratha. They also had toast (white bread) and tea already mixed with sugar and milk.

Heading Home

It's Monday morning here, our last day in India for this trip. On Saturday we went to Meerut for the day to visit our friends the Lals. We have done the trip frequently by car or taxi, and it is a long, noisy drive. So this time we decided to go by train. The Shatabdi that we normally take to and from Dehra Dun stops in Meerut, so we got outbound seats in the morning and inbound in the evening. The morning train leaves at 6:50 AM. We like to travel by Metro, but the trains only start running at 6 AM and we had to change at Rajiv Chowk. So instead, we left the hotel about 5:45 and walked toward the main street that runs under the Metro line. We found an auto rickshaw right away and headed off to the Ajmeri Gate entrance to the New Delhi train station. It took about 15 minutes. The station has 16 platforms and our train runs on Platform 16. The main station entrance is near Platform 1, which means that you have to walk up a long stairway and across a long bridge over all the lines. So it is important to remember to tell your driver that you want the Ajmeri Gate entrance, from which you can walk right onto the correct platform.

We arrived at Meerut about 9:00 and Anju and Sandeep were there to meet us. We had a very quiet day with the family. I was in the middle of a fierce cold that I picked up somewhere in Delhi. Brij is recuperating from a bout of bronchitis (we knew it was bad when he thought it was too much trouble to go upstairs to watch a cricket match on TV!). Dan went out and got a haircut at his favorite barber who gives a good head massage; he was asked why it had been so long since he had been there. Brij made his excellent aloo parathas for breakfast, served with fresh dahi.

I napped a bit between breakfast and lunch. Anju cooked a wonderful lunch with meat curry, biriani, aloo ghobi, and chapatis.

The evening train comes through about 9:15, so Anju and Sandeep took us at 8:45. We hopped out of the car and only waited on the platform for 10 minutes or so. Once we got to New Delhi, we quickly found another scooter rickshaw and were back at our hotel before 11:30. A long day, but always a good visit.

This morning (Monday) I checked in online for our flight tonight. It is always good to be heading home.

Sidewalks

When we first began staying in Karol Bagh, four years ago, most of the streets were badly paved, with messy gravel/dirt areas at each side. During this time there has been a sidewalk upgrade project on most of the streets, with curbs added. However, most people still walk in the street with the traffic (cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, ox carts...). These pictures might show you why.

Karol Bagh at Night

We are staying in an area of the city called Karol Bagh. It is an area of many, many hotels and lots of shopping. Going out after dark is a feast for the eyes. Some of these pictures aren't as crisp and clear as I'd like, but it's actually what it looks like.

BonLon Inn with Diwali lights

Fancy shop

Street flower vendor

Food shop near the Metro -- good gelato!

Jewelry store

I like Kate's - the Bling Store for Diva's! (not my apostrophe)

Another hotel lit up

Mother Dairy - Delhi chain, landmark for the street BonLon is on

Inside Roopak's spice store -- a mixture for every conceivable dish!

Need a scooter? Get one here.

Shoe stalls along Ajmal Khan Road

Produce shop -- Dan tried for bananas, but gave up as it was too busy

State Emporia

One of the shopping areas in Delhi that we've always enjoyed is on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, one of the radial roads out of Connaught Place. There is a different shop for each state in India, far too many to go to all of them in one day. I hadn't been there for some time, and one of the changes is that, although each one has its specialty items, more and more crafts are similar. I presume that is because with modern transportation and communication, there is a spreading of information across the country.

The first one as we headed out from the center of the city was Delhi (a city-state, the capital area similar to Washington, DC).

Many of the shops had a Ganesh (elephant god) statue near the entry. Ganesh is often used as a symbol of beginnings, or welcoming.

The salesman in the jewelry section was happy to see Dan, who has been a former customer. Unfortunately for him, we came away from there empty-handed this time.

In the Assam shop, we enjoyed these red and white cloths. The weaving was on a simple lightweight cotton and they came in many sizes.

Many of the shops had piles of colorful clothes.

Kashmir is famous for its carved walnut objects, as well as papier-maché. This desk caught my eye because it is taller than usual.

Imagine my surprise when the salesman lifted the top and opened the sides to reveal a complicated set of cubbyholes. Perhaps a bit of overkill, even for someone who likes to be very organized!

The Rajasthan Emporium welcomed us with a display of brightly colored statues.

To read about our lunch and see pictures, go to my new blog here.