Street Scenes -Bangalore

A lady with flowers in her hair....most South Indian women wear some kind of flowers strung up in their hair when then go out. Many times it is jasmine...very fragrant.


Street work being done in the middle of this narrow street..I believe they were digging up a manhole....There they were...barefoot and digging with biblical implements and lifting huge cement blocks...their work was done and the manhole covered while we were still bargaining at the shop.


Just a guy taking a nap in the back of the truck on his way to make some deliveries of baskets....I took this from the window of the car.

My pearls of wisdom: Put on some fragrance (you'll need it...or atleast someone else will appreciate it)work hard with your hands and take a nap whenever possible...very simple rules to live by...they do it in India all the time.

more photos of grounds

Here is anothr view of the cottage and some of the plants

Bangalore friends

A photo of Radhika with two packages of tea from her parent's tea estate in Assam. She is a long way from home. Very sweet of her to bring them for me, after I expressed an interest in taking some Indian tea back. I had her pose with the packets and she laughed and said it seemed like an Ad. she was doing.

A bit of a view of the cottage on the grounds of the house. The cottage is rented to Radhika.

Pearls of Wisdom: Ask and you shall receive

Vines: Pepper and flowers

This is a close up of the bougainvillea vine in the garden.






This is how pepper looks when it is green. We have a pepper vine going up a tree...and lots of green pepper ...some is turning red and as it ripens it turns black. I had forgotten there was pepper growing in the backyard here...I don't suppose we buy any from the market. I am bringing some home.....hope it keeps. Chandrika, aunty's helper/cook has kept some away for me.

14 Cookson Road - Bangalore

Daya's apartment overlooking Aunty's home 14 Cookson Road.


Water lily pond in the garden


Lane between Aunty's home and Daya's apartment


I remember coming to Bangalore, and the next door neighbour was a doctor who lived by himself with his mentally challenged brother and two servants. The doctor seemed quite normal and even came for dinner a few times. At night we would hear his brother howling..I know now why I don't like staying in the bedroom facing that side....kind of reminded me of something out of a Bronte sisters novel. Anyways, that house was sold, pulled down and a fancy apartment building went up in its place. My cousin Daya and her husband Arul have a nice two bedroom apartment there and sometimes she stands on her balcony and calls out to us to come have tea with her. Their apartment has a secruity guard who asks which apartment you are visiting and records your name when you go in - however, if they know we are coming from the next door house they dont bother.

Bangalore - the garden city

The brownish fruit on the tree is the Chikku fruit. I have been having my fill of that. One fruit I have never seen sold in Canada. Some people call it "mud apple"- but that is unfair....it has a pear like texture, flat black large seeds and a thin skin which is removed, The colour is mostly brown inside with a hint of green near the skin....and they are very sweet. Wish I could bring some with me. The birds seem to get most of the fruit on our tree in the house.

Looks very tropical doesn't it....our driver Vijay usually sits by the car waiting for us to go somewhere. Sometimes, he visits with the drivers or gate watchmen outside our gates....but always stays within earshot incsse he is called.

Some more colourful photos of the Bangalore garden. The fuchsia pink flowers are the bougainvillea vine. There are many different colours of that around. The purplish blue flowers are just coming out on the Jacaranda trees...reminds me of our tree in Ferozepore.
Beautiful red lillies (the kinds we get in the winter)in pots outside the windows...also a kind of a cactus that is in bloom

Bangalore home

These are actually very contented people relaxing after a big lunch



Bangalore is a place we always look forward to because we have Aunty Lilla who now lives in the lovely old heritage home where she and Uncle Joel spent many years. I first came here in the winter of 1968 and stayed with them and the children. The garden is still lovely and always with some beautiful flowering bushes or trees in bloom. The ambiance hasn't changed much. Bubly has made some nice changes indoors especially in updating the bathrooms and opening up the living room.

My last trip was here with the girls, Venita and Serena in 2004 December. Much time is spent relaxing in the portico as people are doing in the photos. People in the photo are my cousin Daya (who owns an apartment next door)her husband Arul and our cousin Nilou who was visiting from New York.

Images from Hyderabad

Shanti and I attended an Urdu language book fare where we ran into these little girls picking up children's books in urdu. Urdu is the official language of Pakistan, and before partition of India and Pakistan was very popular in the Punjab and Delhi areas and was definitely spoken greatly in Lucknow....it is a flowery language which allows a lot of respect and deference to once another, and therefore is much used by poets and song writers. It is generally spoken by the muslim communities in the areas where it flourished...but not necessarily by all the muslims. Hyderabad has a lot of muslims (It had a muslim Nawab - the richest man in the world at that time - before partition. However, the population in Hyderabad is also strongly Hindu. The muslims are mostly in the old area of Hyderabad) Many muslim schools use urdu as the main language.

Incidentally, the guys selling the books...did not read or write urdu, as I found out later but were asking these girls to read aloud the titles of the books they were buying.

The photo of the cake is the one someone in S. Africa ordered for Vasant's birthday with a very long message...I thought that was funny, or maybe someone forgot to shorten the message.

The other photo is of my cousins now getting on in years. Jaswant Krishnayya (who is from Pune)is on the right. He turns 75 in mid-April. Vasant Bawa is on the left. I was there for his 80th birthday. Both seem to have plenty of energy for their projects. Vasant is just about ready to publish another book and Jaswant still runs his software solutions company. I was glad to be included in discussions with both of them re their latest projects and felt very honoured when they took my remarks and suggestions seriously

Hyderabad - the quiet side

Here are some Hyderabad images of the home of a friend of Niou's. It is in the quiet of the contonment area in a community with tree lined streets...the inside was very modern. There was a large stained glass window, which I took a photo of...parts of this window opened up and brought in a cool breeze to the upstairs. We sat in his little lounge area at the top and sipped on cool drinks....later he took Nilou and I to a lunch at the Secunderabad Club, which I have already blogged about.

..more dinner photos at the Taj

The other photo of Amrita and I wasn't too clear...so posting this one...we did enjoy our Margaritas....the other photo shows Aunty Gypsie and Kavita and myself

Taj Hotel dinner - Lucknow

More photos from our dinner at the Taj...I had uploaded them to the blog before...but somehow, they got deleted. That's Amrita and I holding our Margarita glasses...I think mine is already empty...and the other is Rohina with the lovely smile...her proud daddy Ajit and uncle Inderjit looking on in the background.

Muslim procession in Hyderabad

Hyderabad is a heavily muslim populated city. While shopping, we ran smack into the middle of procession. Thankfully, it was celebratory procession and not a protest. My cousin wasn't so sure I should be taking photos...but it was ok

Photos that baffle your mind

Well, I'm just so glad we weren't planning on picking up any Chinese food that day!

The fact that some poor electrician/linesman has to figure out what wire goes where and some poor bloke is living with this mangled jungle outside his balcony boggles the mind. This is India...inspite of all this strange stuff, it still manages to work.

HYDERABAD

The first day in Hyderabad when we (Cousins Daya - who had come from Bangalore and Niou from NY for her brother's 80th birthday)went out to pick up the Indian sweets...we stopped for a drink of nice refreshing coconut milk.


Opposite was a fruit stand and please notice the name of the apartment building behind it:My Home Glory

Garden Ornament and more -Lucknow

This is a garden ornament of an Indian mythical somethings or the other ....it's actually 7 feet longer but seems to have sunk into the ground. It was given to my late Uncle Amarjeet by a local raja, with whom he was friends since childhood. I think the family is planning on having it dug out and displayed in its full glory.

The other photo shows Zarina and myself off to our interviews with Devi the driver. Nice of Aunty to have loaned us the car....sure beats sitting in a rickshaw - sometimes it felt one would fall right out of them!! But we did catch one every now and then and then felt really bad for the poor skinny guy peddling around with us in tow.
On the other hand, it is absolutely amazing how people manoeuvre their cars through the narrow roads and unbelievable mixture of vehicles and mish mash of people.

Taj Hotel - restaurant

This is where I had dinner at the Taj...delicious meal...and great service, specially when the GM of the hotel drops to ask if all is fine. Aunty Gypsie, Kavita, and Inderjit in the photo

Dass Home - Lucknow.

The garden and entranceway to Aunty Gypsie's home




The Dass home where I stayed in Lucknow. The upstairs is a separate unit where cousin Ajit stays with occasional visits from daughter Rohina


Pearl's wisdom: When the surroundings and people who live therein exude love and beauty and welcome you into their midst...then you know you have come home atlast.

Isabella Thoburn College - Lucknow

Isabella Thoburn College - Lucknow. The grand old lady, the seat of education for so many young women. Outside and inside the campus along a flower lined pathway. My grandfather's sister Constance Mayadass later Constance Dass was the first Indian Principal. Next door to the college is her own home, which she had built I believe around 1938 and where I stayed with Aunty Gypsie (Constance Dass's daughter-in-law)and family

High Tea in our honour

High Tea given in our honour by Aunty Gypsie...unfortunately, Zarina couldn't be there. Many of the guestes invited were the ones we would be interviewing, so it helped to get to know them.

Lalbagh school - Lucknow

These are two photos of Lal Bagh School for girls...an old Methodist(?)school...perhaps less popular now than it was in the early days..nevertheless a lovely building set among a lovely garden. We wandered around taking photos there after taking permission from the Principal who was pleased to let us wander around after she heard I was staying with the Dass's and was a cousin of Dr. Amrita Dass. Amrita is very well respected and well known for her institute on counselling services.