Memories again… Now it’s time for College days… Apart from the 'educational part', we went on handicrafts shopping in Delhi as well as visited a few monuments, landmarks as well as a couple museums including National Crafts Museum New Delhi, National Museum etc.
It was our educational trip to New Delhi and as usual people had scattered all over Delhi, NCR and even upto Meerut, Simla etc. We were just 4 of us who didn’t have relatives in New Delhi and a sweet friend came to our rescue. Her grandad who belongs to Delhi booked a room in a safe, decent hotel for us to stay, located just opposite to their home, so that we could feel absolutely safe. Also, another friend ended up staying with us for 2 days and in her family friend’s place for 2 days.
VISIT TO INDIA GATE AT NIGHT:
One day, it was a fine night around 10 pm after dinner and my friend’s uncle was discussing about what to see in Delhi and I listed some museums, much to my interest and much to all of my friends’ agony. They all gave this ‘I’ll kill you if u plan for museums’ look and gestures. When we finished our chit chats all of a sudden we planned for a rather unplanned visit to India gate at 12 midnight. 5 girls, uncle and his small little son, in a car, with the expectations that the lighting show would be there. But unfortunately the lightings are all switched off by 11 pm and we were a bit too late. But still, the area was buzzing with activities. Soft candy men, balloon vendors and ofcourse Police Men were still at work. Though we couldn’t see the amazing lightings as claimed by the localties, still it was a nice trip at 1 AM, dead night! And on our way back we stopped for an icecream as well…!!!
The next day after a day’s work at Pragati Maidan, I put my request in front of ‘em to go to Crafts Museum. I knew it was a tired evening after a whole day’s hectic work at Pragati Maidan. But still, we wouldn’t come all the way to Delhi just to see Crafts Museum. So somehow I managed to convince them to accompany me to this place. Being located within Pragati Maidan, it’s not even justifiable to go without visiting this great place.
CRAFTS MUSEUM DELHI & HANDICRAFTS SHOPPING:
The place was awesome and my friends who initially scolded me for making them walk, now were busy shopping at the stalls put up in there of several ethnic stuff and base price. The best part of shopping here is - unlike buying ethnic stuff from other places, where hardly any money goes to the artisan, here we actually get to interact with the artisans and whatever we pay them is actually theirs without any interference of middle men. This is most definitely the best place to buy handicrafts in New Delhi.
I found a lady and her husband and her daughter / daughter-in-law from Gujarat selling all those wonderful embroideries and textiles designed by them. But what awe struck me more than their textiles was, she herself, the way she had made-up herself. A routine for her, an immensely awesome makeover for me. I just sat beside her and was inspecting every ornament and garment.
She was selling only textiles and not the ornaments and I loved her neck piece. The only option I had was to make it memorable with a pic of myself wearing all those gorgeous garments and ornaments. I just wanted to take a pic with just the neck piece. She readily gave it to me for a shot, along with an embroidered tunic to make the pic perfect. She was also ready to give the bangles and earring, but that would get tedious to remove, wear and again remove, so just the neckpiece & tunic on me for a perfect pic!
Pic Courtesy: By Daderot - Self-photographed, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Pic Courtesy: By Daderot - Self-photographed, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Also seen are several set-ups to imitate real crafts. Like Gujarati Haveli setup which shows jaali works, ‘Iyanar Koil’ setup which shows the Tamil Terracotta work,... the Bihar village home set up with ‘Madhubani’ done all over the walls,... the Maharashtrian village set up with 'Worli' Paintings all over the walls, and weaving setups, block printing set ups and several more. A huge ‘Temple Rath’ is placed at the centre.
The textile gallery was my personal favorite though. Infact that's why the formal name of this museum is National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum. The ancient Bandhej works, done with fine needle, intricate batik works which almost look like modern day screen prints, elaborate embroideries, real gold and precious stones affixed on garments. The regal legacy of India couldn’t be shown better. I loved it.
NATIONAL MUSEUM, NEW DELHI:
Next day I thought of going to National Museum when my friends wanted to go to India Gate again. I asked them to proceed and later join me at National Museum, which according to me, is one of the most important museums in Delhi. National Museum is located in one of the several roads going across the Janpath (The road that joins India Gate and Rashtrapathi Bhavan), parallel to Rajpath. After their sightseeing at India Gate they called me up, I asked them to come to Museum. Thanks to those several roads, they took a wrong road and reached Vice-President’s place and called me and said, “Arey yaar, we reached Vice-President’s place… Where is the Museum..???”. Question marks flew above my head and I said “Which road did u take?”. Then asked them to ask a policeman and reach the Museum and finally they reached.
The specialty of the return journey was it was the day of Holi. We had bought colors from Delhi to make the day special but also took care not to become a public nuisance with the typical reaction “College students are always like this.”…!!! Yes, we managed to prove otherwise…!!! With Mathura ke Peda, Agra ke Peta (After my confusion and clarification between Peda and Peta. A friend started explaining the receipe of Peda when I had actually enquired about Peta) and Nagpur Orange we reached back to Chennai.
Will Come soon with Haus Khas Green Park, special coverage. Wait and Watch.!!!
HOW TO REACH NATIONAL CRAFTS MUSEUM DELHI:
On Google Maps: Crafts Museum Delhi
Nearest Metro Station: Supreme Court, Old Name: Pragati Maidan
CRAFTS MUSEUM DELHI TIMINGS:
Tue - Sun: 10:00AM to 6:00PM
CRAFTS MUSEUM DELHI ENTRY TICKET:
Indians: Rs.20/- Foreigners: Rs.200/-
Dedicated to Mom, Dad and all my college mates esp. to Sumegha, Megha, Asmita, Neelima, Pratima and Swagata (those involved in all these Musings).
Interesting Bhusha :) Beautiful post... and your writing style RAWWWWWKS!!!
ReplyDeleteand am EAGERLY waiting for the fotos :P
ReplyDelete@Sow,
ReplyDeleteDanke... :) Danks a loootttttt...
Waiting for a particular 'special' pic from a frnd... Will update tomo as soon as I get it... Come back tomo... :)
thanks for n amazing post like tis.....just remembered the midnght milkshake in connaught place after a drive to india gate...hope u remember..good one..keep it up
ReplyDelete@Sumi,
ReplyDeleteI remember that very well. Few of us had icecream and few had milkshake i guess. I remember that well. Wrote that already too.. Check out the last line of India Gate para.. :)
ya i have read that.... good one....it was 1 A.M. not P.M. u can change when u find time...still i will say lovely things to be cherished...n thanks for the dedication...
ReplyDelete@Sumi
ReplyDeleteDone sweety.
Ur welcome and it was you and your family made it all the more memorable. Thanks a ton for it.. :)
Omg!!! pics are all good.. and yours in that costume is rawking... send it to your mapillai lolzz.. and my another personal favorite is that oosi mani paasi mani..... I've decent collection of it porukified from BESSY GYPSY :) Loved it :)
ReplyDeleteCheers,
@Sow,
ReplyDeleteThanks di.. As soon as I find him, I'll send it.. :D
One more thing, there are 2 gypsy's near our Kabali's home... :D I mean Mylai... :D Check out there too...
Awesome writeup. Superb Pictures. And Delhi is the place where I have spent the maximum years of my life. Your nostalgic memories revive nostalgia in me too. I spent five years in Delhi for my Engineering(IIT,1966-71) and again lived there for 6 years(1997-2003.And you have visited all the nice landmarks there.The India Gate/Rashtrapati Bhavan experience beats everything. I dont see any pics of the Qutb Minar. I hope you had your fill of chaats & chole bature for which Delhi is famous. Looks like you skipped the Red Fort,Raj Ghat & Shanthi Van etc. Did you take a ride on the Metro Rail which is the latest thing to hit Delhi?
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this post !
@Ramakrishnan Sir,
ReplyDeleteU r a 'Oor Sutrum Vaaliban'... Tell me one place u've not been too... :) I envy u for this... :)
Qutb, Taj, Rajghat and many more places were in a visit with my parents. Will write it up in near future.
Reg. food of course, Chole Bature was by default our breakfast everyday. There was a nice, small sweet corner which had delicious food in Karol Bagh. I forgot its name now. That was out breakfast and dinner place everyday. And ofcourse, Metro was our mode of transport.
Namaste! Gorgeous photos! Dhanyavad.
ReplyDelete@Nicolaides
ReplyDeleteNice to see Hindi words from you... Thanks for visiting my blog... :)
Hi:)
ReplyDeleteGreetings:)
Amazing tour of Delhi with fantastic photos. I enjoyed reading your beautiful narration. I was in Delhi in 1968 to participate in the Independence Day celebrations as an NCC cadet and we marched from Raj Bhavan to Red Fort. We camped in Garrison Grounds for 21 days.
As regards your query in my post, the photos were taken in Kochi in Kerala.
Have a wonderful weekend:)
Joseph
Beautiful photos with the sense of culture in it.
ReplyDeletethanks for dropping but today. was a treet to talk this walk through your journeys with you today. hope you are having a great weekend!
ReplyDelete@Joseph,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my blog. Thanks for dropping in my blog... :) And do keep visiting often.
@Tikno,
Thanks you. And welcome to my blog.. :)
@Brian,
U r welcome. Thanks a lot for taking your time to go thru my blog.. :) Do keeo dropping in often... :)
HI
ReplyDeleteNICE TRIP......
India Gate - Crafts Museum (New Delhi)
IS UR TOPIC
WHERE IS THE INDIA GATE PHOTO???
MATIKITAYA.....
@Rats,
ReplyDeleteThank u for dropping in and commenting.. :)
And my dear, did u see the time, when we went to India Gate and the disaster that hapened thr... How do u expect me to click a pic of India gate at midnight with no lightings also...??????!!!!!!!!!!
seri yethaiyoo solli samalichita
ReplyDelete