A Winter in India

As you can see I’ve finally been found! Our apartment is at the far right side of this map about where the second ‘b’ in Babar Road is placed. The other curiosity that needs pointing out is that the spot where I am standing despite the title is not on this map!!!! I am still on Babar Road, but we have passed under the fly-over bridge, and directly behind Pam the photographer is the Intercontinental Hotel which is beyond the left hand margin of the map. This hotel is a five-star establishment surrounded by gardens, which must be the source of the other American looking folks we have seen in Bengali Market. We were on our way to Connaught Place to do some window-shopping, but were stopped by a concerned Indian gentleman. He said that it was not good to go to CP today since there were demonstrations and rallies in support of candidates vying for the position of President of the Market. I am assuming that each market has a form of government with a president who is the contact person with the city licensing agency. That’s my guess until I find out more. Connaught Place is the British version of a huge Neo-Classical Greek design shopping mall. Built in the 1920’s it has an inner and outer ring of buildings separated by ring roads, which are interlaced with radial access roads. Huge.

The dutiful autorickshaw driver took us to an area named Gole Market where we bought a kilo of mutton. This mutton was not presented on a white Styrofoam tray wrapped in clear plastic in a Shaw’s cooler. While standing next to cages with live white chickens we watched a very personable man take apart a hanging carcass of a sheep. There were at least five sheep carcasses hanging there minus the head, hooves, skin and innards. The butcher used two very sharp implements, an eight-inch carving knife and a meat cleaver, and a wooden chopping block. All the while he was sitting on a pillow on a raised platform about chest high to us. He used the cleaver to chop bone and separate the anatomy. Using his big toe and the next toe he held the knife handle at a 45° angle point up edge away from him. He moved the pieces of mutton against the edge and neatly separated excess fat. Using the cleaver on the chopping block he chopped the larger pieces into smaller uniform pieces. We did notice a missing end to his left index finger! He told us that we were the first foreigners to actually buy meat from him. Everyone else just photographs him as he waits on Indians.

We brought the mutton home and soaked it in chlorine water. We did likewise to the onions and fruit that we bought to hopefully avoid Delhi Belly. We buy bottled mineral water and add the chlorine to cleanse any food and rinse our dishes after washing. Pam bought all sorts of spices at the little market, so we are ready to make a homemade curry for tonight. If this becomes my last blog entry you will be able to surmise the reason.

Two gentlemen from AirTel just left. We are having a broadband connection installed sometime in the next four days if we can pass the security check. Life is good, lots of digital convenience and no television. I listen to my iPod after my eyes give out from reading. We take digital pictures and load them on the computer. Some of them make it to this blog. Once we get a more definite schedule we can plan tourist adventures to the many fabulous spots in Delhi, and we will share those digital delights with y’all. This combination Mughal and British Delhi is the seventh city to be constructed on this acreage. The very early cities, people and buildings, were completely obliterated by the victor. Luckily, the larger monuments, mausoleums and buildings of the last two Delhis have survived. So stand by for digital updates.