Life has settled a bit on good ol' Delhi and slowly getting my feet. We are without a car and will be for a little while which is proving annoying. I don't think we'll have one for two months god help me...... However we have had occasional access to one so have done a couple of things in the last week. The weather is glorious - February and March are brilliant here, lovely days and cool nights, blue skies, so good to get out and about.
So what have we been up to? S and I headed off to our first meet and greet together and met a really nice group of mums and bubs/little kids. S and her friend (who is one day older) are probably close to the youngest in the group (although there was an 11 week old bub there) while the other kids are all about 2yrs +. Everyone has been really great and have been up here for at least a year so will be good to show me the ropes.
On the weekend we all headed to Sharma Farm to buy furniture for the house. Sharma Farm is in Chhattarpur which took about 30 minutes from where we live. It is enormous (15 warehouse sheds apparently) and full of the most amazing furniture. Everything you can think of - beds, cupboards, mirrors, giant elephants, pots, buddhas, lights) but if they don't have it chances are they will make it for you. They had beautiful antiques along with replica items. It is heaven for anyone doing up a house. We bought a few things which will be here in two weeks and I'll post pics then. We did learn a lesson from this trip, don't do it on Saturday.... with a baby..... the traffic on the way back was insane!!! Cars everywhere, no one moving which was probably a good thing at times, a child who was over tired, cows, beggars and just chaos really. Our driver is my hero and weaved his magic and got us out of there even with the piercing screams of a tired baby in the back seat and T and me singing '5 little ducks......
Saturday night T and I headed to Sidewok for a cheap and cheerful dinner. It serves food from many an Asian nation but no beer and after the day we had we needed one! So instead we both had a satisying 'mocktail' woo hoo!!!! The food was ok but probably won't be rushing back, especially if they don't sell booze :)
Sunday T and I left the bub at home with lovely Pria and went to the 'new' Delhi. DLF in Vasant Kunj - 3 mega malls - a shopping mecca in the middle of a lot of dirt. The three malls are - Emporio (richee rich), Promenade (you're doing ok) and Ambiance (basic basic and electrical). I didn't bother with Emporio (later without my husband) but Promenade has a few good shopping middle range spots - Zara, L'Occitane, MAC and proper coffee (YES!)
So what have we been up to? S and I headed off to our first meet and greet together and met a really nice group of mums and bubs/little kids. S and her friend (who is one day older) are probably close to the youngest in the group (although there was an 11 week old bub there) while the other kids are all about 2yrs +. Everyone has been really great and have been up here for at least a year so will be good to show me the ropes.
On the weekend we all headed to Sharma Farm to buy furniture for the house. Sharma Farm is in Chhattarpur which took about 30 minutes from where we live. It is enormous (15 warehouse sheds apparently) and full of the most amazing furniture. Everything you can think of - beds, cupboards, mirrors, giant elephants, pots, buddhas, lights) but if they don't have it chances are they will make it for you. They had beautiful antiques along with replica items. It is heaven for anyone doing up a house. We bought a few things which will be here in two weeks and I'll post pics then. We did learn a lesson from this trip, don't do it on Saturday.... with a baby..... the traffic on the way back was insane!!! Cars everywhere, no one moving which was probably a good thing at times, a child who was over tired, cows, beggars and just chaos really. Our driver is my hero and weaved his magic and got us out of there even with the piercing screams of a tired baby in the back seat and T and me singing '5 little ducks......
Saturday night T and I headed to Sidewok for a cheap and cheerful dinner. It serves food from many an Asian nation but no beer and after the day we had we needed one! So instead we both had a satisying 'mocktail' woo hoo!!!! The food was ok but probably won't be rushing back, especially if they don't sell booze :)
Sunday T and I left the bub at home with lovely Pria and went to the 'new' Delhi. DLF in Vasant Kunj - 3 mega malls - a shopping mecca in the middle of a lot of dirt. The three malls are - Emporio (richee rich), Promenade (you're doing ok) and Ambiance (basic basic and electrical). I didn't bother with Emporio (later without my husband) but Promenade has a few good shopping middle range spots - Zara, L'Occitane, MAC and proper coffee (YES!)
DLF Promenade
This is also the home of important shops like Mothercare. Next stop Ambiance to buy boring household items like coat hangers and Tupperware *yawn*. Only redeeming feature about this part of the day was lunch at Smokehouse Deli with some quite beautiful Delhi-ites. Then you leave this bubble world and get back in your car......
Getting out on the road is a full on experience here - one thing is the traffic (I am never driving) but really that's nothing compared to some of the people either living on the kerb of the road or not far from it. Old people, young people, severely disabled people....... Some of the little ones wouldn't be much older than S and their older brother or sister (maybe 1 year older) is carrying them around between cars asking for money or food. It is so awful to see, especially with a little bub of our own in the car who stares at them quizzically with her big blue eyes. It's going to be hard to explain this world to her as she gets older......
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