Hello Lovely People – continuing my series of occasional travel blogs: INDIA 2023, no. I

What an absolutely marvellous excuse for another trip to India: an invitation to Gaurav and Sajni’s wedding in Jaipur in October 2023. An invitation accepted without a second thought. Not only a chance to celebrate with the wonderful couple and their friends and family (even though we live within a few hundred metres of the groom’s family in London, we so rarely all get together) but also the opportunity to plan another trip to this endlessly fascinating country. 

I have two places I really want to visit this time, I tried in 2018 but it was just too complicated. Fortunately Andy is happy to visit them too (😜) and the route fell into place. Map attached . . . 

We start in Delhi: a good night’s sleep, breakfast with the groom’s family – he is already in Jaipur – and as they head to Jaipur we have the day to tread ground familiar: Khan Market – and new: Hamuyan’s Tomb.

The weather is perfect: 25 degrees C and not humid. Khan Market is buzzy and fun. We get there by Uber, extremely cheap – around £4.20 including tip – to cover 18ks but it takes nearly an hour, from Aerocity where we are staying. We have not previously explored this new, expansive part of Delhi close to the airport: think Canary Wharf without the river and with aeroplanes. It’s sleek, modern, clean with very tight security everywhere. A new and unexpected – to us – version of India, accessible, comprehensible, familiar to foreign souls. 

On the drive we are reminded how extremely green New Delhi is: wide tree lined boulevards, many parks and gardens glimpsed through perimeter fencing, smart housing, hotels and buildings in the government and diplomatic quarters and so clean – a consequence of the G20 Summit held in New Delhi last month perhaps. In some way we are reassured by the still chaotic and cacophonous traffic!

After a very little shopping (Andy: sunglasses) we take a tuk tuk to Hamuyan’s tomb. It is set in a glorious tree filled park, the light is beautiful, the birds vocal – especially the vibrant parakeets and the mynahs – and the several monuments are evocative. Hamuyan’s, apparently the first paradise-garden tomb in India, was commissioned in 1558, and pre-dates the Taj Mahal by some 70 years but the resonances are clear. The Isa Khan tomb complex within the park is 20 years older again but smaller and less grand.

Apart from the buildings we were entertained watching White Ibis, Red-Naped Ibis and Black Kites all grazing, paddling and (in the case of the kites) bathing in shallow wetland created by the garden watering system. The photographs, from the cameras on our phones, give an indication but through the binoculars the colours of the Red-Naped Ibis and the antics of the kites were extremely visible.

Another Uber back to the hotel – over an hour, similar distance, still extremely cheap at £6.20 – and a swim in the roof top pool; it is dark now and somewhat surreal doing lengths as the planes take off and land beyond the glazed barrier at the pool’s end.

Dinner locally, a restaurant which claims to have invented Butter Chicken and Dhal Makhani. The latter was excellent regardless of its origins (Persia/Bombay perhaps?!) eaten with a mutton curry. No lack of spice today.

Today we travel to Jaipur and the wedding. We cannot wait!

Until next time, namaste

ALISON

THE PHOTOGRAPHS:

THE PHOTOGRAPHS:

Route/itinerary map

The breakfast table and an aloo parantha with ginger pickle and sambal veg

Walls of water – the hotel courtyard

Khan Market

Local colour during our tuk tuk ride

The entrance stone at Humayan’s Tomb

The Isa Khan gateway

More of the Isa Khan complex

The West Gate

A pink Taj? (Humayan’s tomb x 2)

Bird life

Another tomb, couldn’t find this one’s name!

Dropping in for fuel?

The rooftop pool

Dinner!!