A Sacred Forest Before Breakfast

“There’s a trip to a sacred forest outside Delhi,” said my friend. “But you have to get up at 5.30am. Can you make it?” Well – sacred forests are rare in this neck of the woods, if you see what I mean, so it was a chance not to be missed, especially as our [...]

Huts, Houseboats and Heartlessness

“If I was going through the jungle and I saw a tiger and a Kashmir government officer I would first shoot the officer.”
Thus spake my husband today on hearing the news that the Dal Development Board, in charge of the lakes around Srinagar, Kashmir, were planning to remove the waterside huts where the houseboat families [...]

Now I know what it’s like to be a lizard

Weeks ago I blogged cheerfully that winter was over and the heat was on its way! Well- I was wrong and it wasn’t! A cold wave has had India in its grip for the last three weeks or so. Kashmir vanished under 17 feet of snow in parts and even Mumbai had temperatures as low [...]

Cold comfort

Two weeks ago was the festival of Lohri, a Punjabi celebration of harvest and the end of winter. Children hoard hard-to-come-by wood for weeks beforehand and fires are lit in the street in a proximity to houses that would make a fireman sweat. But no one worries too much about that. It’s a cheap and [...]

Loss to the World

Last Thursday, I was sitting down to blog something lighthearted about Christmas  in Delhi when news of the attack on Benazir Bhutto came through. Suddenly my pictures of kids in Santa hats and jolly remarks about our ethnically mixed Christmas dinner seemed utterly inappropriate.
We watched the unfolding news with mounting horror. Kashmiris are emotional and [...]

Local economy unravels

New town planning regulations or new enforcement of old ones- no one is quite sure which – have driven businesses from basements all over Delhi. Commercial activity in basements in most areas has been declared illegal and those who flout the rules may have their workplaces sealed with all the stock inside. A month [...]

Small but real sadness

This has been a sad week. Four years ago, husband Tahir proudly set up a sizeable showroom in south Delhi. After years of struggle and working for others, he at last had a place of his own. Starting as an unprepossessing basement space, it became an Aladdin’s cave. From floor to ceiling, glass shelves glowed [...]

After the Fast – the Feast

Yesterday was Eid ul Fitr – the festival at the end of Ramadan and an occasion of much rejoicing. In Kashmir, India’s only majority Muslim state, feasting, dressing up and meeting up are the order of the day. It’s also one of the few times in the year when the police turn a blind [...]

A Cloud Passes

The festival season approaches and in Lajpat Nagar there’s a lot to celebrate. Thanks to manoeuvres in high places, a whole year’s worth of stress and worry has been lifted from the business community.
For the last 12 months or more Delhi has been in a planning crisis. Well – it’s had a planning crisis for [...]

The Great Game

As I write, Lajpat Nagar is exploding in a cacophony of car horns, fireworks, drums, firecrackers and primal screams. India has just won the Twenty20 World Championship (cricket) against Pakistan in a nail-bitingly close match of exemplary sportsmanship and skill. For the last three hours not a car or rickshaw has moved in our street. [...]