Yes I went to a Crafts Museum

So I went to the Crafts Museum..... I am not really into 'craft' or good at it but I thought it might be an interesting excursion. Hopes were low on my arrival, there was alot of work going on and there was pretty much no one around, not even my mates were to be seen! My guess is the workers were slightly more switched on for Michelle Obamas visit last November. 

Thank God for mobiles, I quickly traced my friends, we woke the ticket seller who plugged in the cash register to issue me with my ticket (admission is about Rs150 for foreigners or Rs 10 for Indians). With the cash register plugged in we had power and a ticket. He then handed me the ticket which I then handed back to the man beside him who gave it a wee rip and I gained entry - hurrah!

The first rooms known as the 'Bhuta Sculpture Gallery' were full of beautiful sculpture and ornaments. There is some really beautiful things here capturing India's rich history, unfortunately there was also bright pink damp crystals on display to absorb the moisture and a real mustiness hangs in the air. An incredibly hot day doesn't help the situation. Or maybe its just museums.... while doing research on this piece I found this on the crafts museum website:

'The institution of the museum, aimed at housing objects of antiquity, is of Western origin.  Indians themselves did not have a tradition of setting up museums of fragmented sculptures, rusted swords and out of context painting.  Broken images were immersed in holy water, worn-out objects were left to decay and merge with the very earth from which they were created. It is due to this continuous process of abandonment of the old and reproduction of the new that the tradition of craftsmanship have formidably survived in India. as archaeological museum concept in the nineteenth century, it missed out on the fact that, unlike the West, the 'past' and 'present' were not so severely divided in its case, and it therefore failed to give adequate importance in its museums to the evolving context of its culture - the living practices of rituals; festivals; weekly markets; picture-shows of itinerant storytellers; the materials, techniques and tools of artisans; the cultural changes and the attitude towards the past and the contemporary tradition as such.  it is this overlooked dimension of Indian culture which is emphasised in the concept of the Crafts Museum.'

I will test this out with visit to other museums around town. Anyway I digress.

Moving on from here we visited the folk art that at times was a little bit scary...... we moved on and got a bit more air but moving to the 'Courtly Craft Gallery' where there are displays of an old home which is pretty speccy with stunning moorish lattice work on all the windows.

Then it was time for textiles. These were really impressive and my favourite part. Sari's from all over India and beautiful traditional costumes.

WOW! Loved it.

Pretty impressive trousers

The hand weaving on these pieces is extraordinary! I would love to have tried one on to see what it weighed, it was just beautiful and so intricate.

I also loved the jewellery on display. Even though it is quite ancient the styles could easily be applied to modern day.

It took us about an hour and a half to walk through the galleries and then visit the 'display village'. At the end you get to a number of artisans that are selling posters, clothing, jewellery etc.... at touristy prices. Unfortunately there wasn't a little stall selling chai as the courtyard would have been a nice place to cool down with a drink and just watch.

This museum was actually a very pleasant surprise and a quiet little spot to chill for an hour or so.

National Crafts Museum

Pragati Maidan,

Bhairon Road,

New Delhi-110001

9.30 am - 5 pm

Jaipur for Janmashtami

For the long weekend of Krishna's birthday, known as Janmashtami, we left the fasting Anna Hazare back in Delhi and headed to Jaipur. We decided to drive and was told the 230kms would take about 5 hours. Seriously 5 hours???? This is a shorter distance than Perth to Yallingup! This seemed crazy but I also know the roads here so I didn't doubt them.

We set off at 6am on Saturday morning. The road had sections of complete insanity, especially as the monsoon rains had caused a fair bit of flooding.

Thankfully not on this bus!

School on a Saturday and this...... bit tough.

Unbelievable conditions on the great highway.

Beside the rain, the other problem is the massive, colourful, completely erratic trucks. They drive those things like they are hatchbacks! Just insane and of course accidents are never far away.

The woman driving this Honda was furious but the truck just drove away....

Broken axle and a jack-knife - awesome!

Thankfully we avoided the accidents and arrived to the old wall of Jaipur 6 hours after we left Delhi. For those of you considering a trip to Jaipur there is a 40 min flight...... I strongly advise it.

Welcome to Jaipur

Jaipur is striking when you arrive, the amazing Amber Fort perched on the hill, the kilometres of pink walls protecting the city, camels, elephants, dogs everywhere. It's pretty amazing!

We went straight to our accommodation at Samode Haveli. It is a 200 year old house which is still in the same family. We had a great room overlooking the gardens, heaps of space but I had left S's cot at home! Agh .... They offered me a cot that would barely have kept a newborn safe let alone a walking busy toddler so I "politely" declined and S was given a bed on the floor of the walk in wardrobe.

Once I had regained my composure over the bed fiasco we headed to lunch. I chose poorly so I won't review this lunch but S enjoyed some of the local music.

Then to the pool. It was a great pool for families with a big pool, a toddler pool, a spa and also a walk out ledge that toddlers could play on. There was also a bar that served us an ice coffee or a mojito!

S and T enjoying the wading ledge

Saturday night we headed out to eat at 1135 AD but Anna Hazare protests had blocked off a couple of streets and we weren't going to make it up to the restaurant so we headed back and ate in the courtyard of the hotel. We had a Rajastahani feast and it was very good. Lots of meats and breads and all washed down with a couple of bottles of very good Australian red.

Sunday was tour day at the Fort. We paid our Rs900 and hopped on our elephant and 'zoomed' our way to the top. We had a fast elephant called Rani whereas our friends hilariously had the slowest elephant on the planet.  We managed to resist purchasing anything on the way up and enjoyed the slow swagger of sitting on an elephants back while soaking up a pretty speccy view.

Rani's mahoots orange turban

A very pretty Hati

Stunning view from the back of our elephant

The Amber Fort in Jaipur is impressive. Its a huge fort, full of sprawling rooms, grounds and makes for a really interesting tour. We visited the hammam, the gardens, the wall of mirrors and the water chamber. It was excellent. There are some also pretty interesting things to see at the end of the tour - snake charmers, stores Hot Pink and Tulsi plus a modern art gallery. Impressive!

Manicured gardens of the fort

Following a good two hours at the Fort we took the stroll down the hill, wound our way through the old city and ended up at Anokhi cafe for lunch. It is a European menu of pizzas, fritters, salads and pasta and really very good. It's attached to a large Anokhi store so you an do some shopping while you wait.

My friend M and I then left the kids with their dads and went shopping. There is so much shopping to do in Jaipur and we barely scratched the surface. We searched out some sparkly bangles, blue pottery and some nice fabrics but a return trip is a must!

After a splash in the pool, a mojito and leaving the kids with their babysitter we tried again with 1135 AD restaurant. This restaurant is at the Amber Fort and it is beautiful. They have refurbished one of the rooms in the Fort and it is stunning, completely over the top but that's it's charm. The meal was sensational and the garlic naan was possibly the best I have ever tried. There is no booze served here due to its location near the temple and the price for 4 was about Rs4500.

Inside of 1135 AD

With our friendly waiter

So our last day in Jaipur saw us chilling by the pool before we battled the highway back to Delhi.

It was a lovely weekend shared with great people and Jaipur is definitely worth another visit in the not to distant future.

Monsoon bread and Bukhara

The monsoon has showed itself in the last couple of weeks and must admit I am a huge fan of the lovely rain. It cools everything down and gives this city the drink which it desperately needs. It also means it is disgustingly humid but I'll take it.

What's been happening in our world this monsoon.....

Indian Independence day was on the 15 August and it bucketed down. We were all set to go and watch the famous kites but the rain had other plans... So we sat out the weather and I made my first ever loaf of bread and it was damn fine. A delhi food blogger, eatanddust, had provided the recipe on her blog, said how easy it was so I thought I'd try. It was so easy and really good. Here are the photos:



Step 1: combining water (I had no whey), cream, yeast, salt, sugar and flour

After the first knead....

Ready for the oven

Freshly baked bread

Hot bread with butter. One of my favourite things.

So it was a perfect morning, rain pouring outside, mildly hungover but the promise of yummy freshly baked bread.

Thankfully the rain eased in the afternoon so we escaped the house and walked to the local park for some kite action. It was a touch disappointing as we only spotted about half a dozen kites and families huddled under trees as they attempted to keep themselves and their picnics dry.

Oh well we got the idea.

Last week I was also lucky enough to eat at Bukhara, the famous north Indian restaurant that has hosted the likes of Bill Clinton. I hadn't eaten there before but had heard how excellent it was so was surprised by the very low key decor and complete lack of cutlery. However with the delicious breads I was quite happy without my knife and fork. All the food here is cooked in the tandoor, so don't expect rice. This gives all the food a very distinct earthy flavour. We order some delicious lamb ribs, paneer tikka, Dal Bukhara and chicken kebab.

It was a full on meal....very heavy but very good. I felt like it could have kept me going for weeks. However I had room for a VERY sweet Indian dessert!

So was it worth the wrap? I don't know, it was really lovely but I do think the meal at Dum Phukt was probably better.

Monsoon

Well like alot of Delhi-ites our family escaped the heat for a few weeks to enjoy cooler climates. But we are back home in hot, humid Delhi. This monsoon business is full on, I can almost see the moisture in the air, it's like living in a sauna.

So, given this weather I have been doing very little other than staying indoors and trying to keep cool. However we did venture out for lunch on the weekend to the Italian Cultural Centre (ICC) for pizza. We ordered two pizzas and a caprese salad. Given the weather and recent rains our poor waiter slipped with the pizzas so they ended up on the floor but the second time they did hit the table and they were great. Thin crust, light on ingredients (which I like) and the caprese salad was really lovely...... although most of the yummy bocconcini ended up my daughters mouth. We ate outside which was oppressively hot and humid. S was dripping sweat by the end of our meal, needless to say we didn't hang around. It's a nice garden setting at the ICC though and when the weather is nice it is the perfect spot to enjoy some nice Italian food.

So other than a bit of eating out and alot of monsoon drinking while we catch up with friends, there isn't much to report from here. I do however highly recommend a trip to Provence, France - what an amazing place!!!!

More from here soon ......