Good food but empty house...

     It's been 2 weeks since I last checked in, and it seems as though a lot, and yet nothing, has happened since then.  The weekend before this past one, there was a work party for the company John works for at a fantastically swank place.  We ate, drank, and DANCED.  Oh yes, everyone had the spirit (or spririts shall we say) of fun in them and by the end of the evening, it was a full-blown dance-off, Bollywood-style!  So much fun and a great release, especially since at 5 am following the party, John had to hop a flight to Dublin.  He was gone for a week, working mostly, but also enjoying the famed Irish joys of Guinness, cool weather, beautiful landscapes, and pub culture.  Yes, I was sad that I had been left all by my lonesome for  a week to tend to our little flat in Delhi, but it wasn't all bad- I was introduced to a side of Delhi culture that couldn't have resembled my dearly-missed, New York, restaurant/foodie days more- and I mean that, of course, in the of best ways.
     The head of John's company must have taken pity on my left-behind soul because he called me up and invited me to a private food tasting at a new restaurant that was about to open.  One of the partners at the restaurant was a good friend of his and I happily joined, eager to try the molecular-gastronomy side of Delhi food and excited at the prospect of cocktails and conversation.  The restaurant was amazing- still a work in progress, set to open in 3-4 weeks, but the food, fantastic- shiitake mushroom canapes, chicken pate, lobster bisque, fresh tagliatelle, charred watermelon, and STEAK!  My first cow in months and delicious!  Not to mention other small bites and several desserts, each course paired with a different specialty cocktail- really top notch and exquisitely presented.  My hat off to the chef at the soon-to-be Smokehouse Room, Delhi!  
     The rest of the week I went to yoga, volunteered with the kids, worked on a couple of pieces, watched the occasional movie, and pitter-pattered about eating mostly popcorn and cheesy toast.  I must say, I regress culinarily when alone.
     At 4:00 am Sunday morning, John returned from Ireland, and while I'm thrilled to have him back, he'll be heading off to Uganda next weekend!  We've got a great week together ahead of us, and hopefully it will work out that I can join on these trips occasionally in the future.  In the meantime, I am looking forward to cooler weather, the festival and wedding season, and a trip of my own to Rishikesh in October!  We'll also be planning a longer trip down south to Kerala in December so if anyone would like to join us on a houseboat, cruising the backwaters, speak now!

p.s- changed the text background of this blog- easier to read?

a break in the dancing at Second Sin where the DevInfo company party was held

BEST Bollywood hot new song to shake your booty to!  

LOVE IT!

A long weekend with 2 holidays!

     This past weekend was our first holiday weekend in Delhi, which meant that about half of the city was gone.  We considered leaving as well, though it turned out to be quite advantageous to stay as there was less traffic and fewer people to fight for the weekend sights.  Saturday was a holiday called Raki- or Brother/Sister Day.  On this holiday, sisters tie red threads, or rakis, around their brothers' wrists.  The brothers then give the sisters small gifts and vow to protect them.  It's a very festive day with lots of family, love, and gift-giving.  All of the markets have been filled with stands selling rakis, which have become more and more ornate and are now sometimes quite fancy, made with different jewels and charms.
      For our Saturday we went to Humayun's Tomb, which was the precursor to the Taj Mahal and almost as large.  It's amazing that this huge structure with expansive grounds is just sitting in the middle of south Delhi!

After Humayan's Tomb, we beat it to Khan Market where we picked up some new books and enjoyed a leisurely late-afternoon coffee with our exciting new reads.
     Sunday night we went to a comedy show, of all things!  Apparently, stand-up comedy has only recently begun to pick up steam in India, mainly Delhi, and there was a series of acts billed under the "Cheese Monkey Mafia" performing in Gurgaon, a sort of satellite city southwest of Delhi.  The acts were, for the most part, really entertaining and mostly in English.  We certainly felt on the outside of a few cultural inside-jokes, but overall it was really fun.
     On Monday- Independence Day- after meeting up with a former professor of John's for lunch, we stopped by an amazing temple, Mata Ka Mandir, and then hit another big site- the Lotus Temple.
The Lotus Temple, or Bahai House of Worship, was built in the shape of a lotus flower in 1986 by an Iranian-Canadian architect.  There are 27 white, marble "petals" in all!

In the Mata Ka Mandir Temple

The Lotus Temple

     After all of that, we of course flew a kite, just like all the little kids of Delhi.  Or I should say that John attempted to and briefly succeeded at flying a kite while I watched.  A very good, albeit rainy, weekend for the sites of Delhi!  

the monkeys are no longer cute.

     I no longer find the monkeys living across from me adorable.  The other day, as I was rushing out of the house, I thought I heard our garbage man so I grabbed the garbage to give to him on my way out.  The garbage man was not there, but I was running late.  Now, I know not to leave garbage outside of our gate because the dogs will get at it, so I left it on our safely enclosed patio and locked the gate behind me.  Upon returning home, I unlocked the outer gate and what do I behold as the gate swings open?  A monkey sitting directly in front of my door, elbow deep in my rotten vegetables.  And he just stared at me and kept eating. He clearly had no intention of going anywhere before his feast was finished.  I would have at least attempted a "shoo monkey" but every person I had spoken to had told me horror stories about some friend being bitten.  And then as he opened wide for a nice, juicy, week-old tomato, I saw his enormous chompers!  They weren't worth the risk.  So I was barricaded outside of my own home by a monkey.  I looked about fretfully as several neighbors (including the garbage man) gathered and watched me debate my options.  After 10 minutes of this, a pack of dogs, who also now wanted my garbage and had access to my patio, finally chased the monkey up to the top of the fence.  I could then chase the dogs away and dart past the monkey into my house.  There I waited for him to finish digging through my discarded before venturing back out to clean up the smelly, rotten, strewn mess all over my patio.  I would like to mention for my own pride's sake, that this was no tiny squirrel monkey we're talking about- these guys are big, and I have no doubt they could take me in a fight if they wanted to!  Damn monkeys.

     In other news, Independence Day is coming up on the 15th!  That means a long weekend and few could be more excited than us.  What will we do?  A quick trip out of the city?  Gorge on cultural highlights, cheap whiskey, and chaat?   Perhaps we'll fly a kite.  Apparently that is what the Delhi-ites who don't blow town do to celebrate the holiday, in addition to watching the prime minister give the annual speech from historic Red Fort.  So Happy Birthday India!  Hopefully, wherever we are, we'll be celebrating in style!

jerk

Very Special Arts India- VSAI

     Last week, I started volunteering with a group called Very Special Arts India, which is a branch of Very Special Arts- The International Organization on Arts and Disability.  It's an amazing place and also happens to be in my neighborhood!  The organization works with children with disabilities and who are underprivileged through dance, theatre, music, and visual arts.  They also hold English and computer classes, and have a vocational program for adults with disabilities.  The vocational program fosters income-earning skills and provides a functional literacy class.  The adults enrolled learn to make goods such as woven products, jewelry, dolls, candles, and embroidery that are then bought by people in the neighborhood.  (My friend, Niti, told me that she buys all of her candles for Diwali there every year!)  I'm currently volunteering there 2 days a week, teaching arts and crafts lessons to a group of kids who are disabled and then helping with their dance class afterwards.
     They are really lovely kids, almost all girls, actually, all of whom have mental challenges to varying degrees and some of whom have physical disabilities as well.  So far we have made giant tissue paper flowers, crayon with tempera-resist night skies, and now this giant tree in the pictures below!  One of the bigger challenges is that, in addition to all being at different mental development levels, none of the kids speak English and several are hearing impaired.  I'm definitely finding that the more time I spend with the kids, the better I am able to communicate.  It's a wonderful environment and they have great facilities; the entire place is run on volunteers, donations, and a whole lot of compassion.  Obviously, it's a very happy place to be, and I am certainly there as much for myself, as for them, if not more.  I am, however, having a bit of a hard time coming up with lots of new arts and crafts ideas for the kids that aren't too complicated, so if anyone has any suggestions, please e-mail me!

     On another note- 2 monkeys have taken up residence in a tree across the street.  Actually, I don't think they are spending the evenings there, but on several occasions they have left their tree and decided to hang out on top of our fence (we have a very small patio/courtyard in front of our flat enclosed by a brick wall and gate).  Did I mention they love routing through the garbage for mango peels?  Not sure if the neighborhood kids have chased them off yet- before the monkeys arrived, it was their tree to climb...

We have new neighbors.  

Better or worse than raccoons?  You tell me.

Taking up residence in the tree across from our house!

Kids from my art class with the tree we just finished making!