Return to Lutyens Bungalow

Thursday : No real hurry this morning but we are up and about soon after first light. Today we are changing hotels, not because we don't like the one that we are in, but because we really do like the one that we are going to. It also gives us a chance to pack all of the sundry domestic implements, gee gaws and Madame W's new wardrobe. She has become to churidars what Imelda Marcos used to be to shoes. The trial pack leads to the conclusion that we need an extra bag to get things home.

Rather conveniently the Bloomroom's free shuttle drops off a few minutes walk from our new destination.  We book ourselves onto the 10 a.m run and find that we have the minibus to ourselves and our luggage. It is a fine morning, not too hot yet, so we take the five minute walk from Jor Bagh Metro up to Lutyens Bungalow.  We are greeted with hugs and a cup of tea and told that our room will soon be ready. The plan had been just to leave our bags and check in later but this is good news.

The room that we are allocated is bigger than some with a nice garden view. We drop our bags and set off for Old Delhi. The Metro is moderately busy but again we appear doddery enough to be offered seats. At Chandni Chowk station we avoid the exit via the temple and urinal and instead take the the one via the other temple and the other urinal. We get brave and turn down one of the alleys off the main street and then navigate our way through the cross passages parallel to CC. This area is all fabrics and garments and R adds another pair of churidars to the collection. 

In due course we get back to the main street, almost at its western end. We try three ATMs before getting one to pay out. After a short tour of some of the local catering establishments we plunge into the spice market, a wonderfully chaotic area where the lifting and carrying is still done by manpower.  We have most things from previous visits when we turned a couple of local merchants into rich men in the space of minutes. R is recognised as she passes on of these stalls and invited in for a repeat performance. They seem disappointed when she restricts her purchasing to just nutmeg and cinammon. We also stop to buy a jar of pickle and are treated to samples of a really nice (but messy) sweet and sour lemon pickle. We also spot and purchase the ideal bag for our dirty washing to travel home in. 60 rupees and can be secured with a small padlock. 

Riding our luck we return along Chandni Chowk and head down a lane on the opposite side. This is all shoes so we cut through another alley to a street of serious sari and dupatta shops. R finds the scarf she was looking for and another one besides.  The salesman holds a Masters degree in Fashion Retailing. There must be serious money to be made round here. Just time for D to visit his regular shoe shine walla for the annual service and tune up on his Clarks' before our lunch appointment. 

E is a Yorkshire lass and IndiaMiker on her first visit to India. She is much braver than we were on our first or even current visit. She has been in India for eight weeks and been nearly everywhere. Next up for her is China.  She writes about her Indian adventures here http://www.indiamike.com/india/india-travel-itinerary-advice-f91/8-weeks-in-incredible-india-ongoing-report-t212011/   

When D arrives E and R are mentally devouring the contents of the sweet counters on the ground floor but we agree that lunch had best come first. Haldiram's is a bit like a MacDonalds but with proper Indian food, where you go to the cashier, order and pay, then collect your order on a tray. It was busy so we had to go up to the second floor to get a table. D then went to order and, collecting the drinks had almost got to the table with them, when a coughing fit led to the contents of the tray, lime sodas and lassis, being distributed across the floor.  This trick was last seen in 1997 at the Burger King in Hollywood when the excuse was jetlag.

Eventually we get sorted out and sit down to eat and chat with our new friend. We get on well and swop anecdotes over masala dosas. The lure of the sweet counter cannot be put off and after a good look purchases are made. E is very taken with a confection called an 'Orange Bhog'. A hastily convened committee samples one and concludes that it sounds better than it tastes.

We progress to Kinari bazaar where R has a purchase to make, and then head for the Metro. D is sure that he knows a place for chai but cannot find it so we finish up at another place which is very hospitable and clears some customers of the neighbours' doorstep so we can sit down. The chai is made just 2 or 3 cups at a time,  with the ingredients constantly being topped up and the final dispense being through a sieve. 

E takes part of the Metro ride with us, but gets off before we do. Hopefully we will see her again tomorrow night at the next event on our glittering social calendar. Back at Lutyens we have a cup of tea in the garden until it is time to get ready for dinner. We dine with Shukla, our host and a Swiss sanitation engineer who is on his way home from Bhutan but had 36 hours in Delhi between flights. His driver/guide had told him that it is not safe to leave the hotel. How we laugh! Later we are joined by a man who tells us that his name is eyelash with a K in front. He brings a bottle of wine to the table and shares it round. The conversation is very diverse and includes wine, whisky, Indian driving, kitchen design and domestic robots. Shukla shows us a photograph, over 40 years old, of her meeting Prime Minister Nehru.