Delhi shopping, film, and return to Woodstock

Friday the 28th we slept in a bit, departing at 9:15 for the Qutb Minar site in south Delhi. This is near the oldest inhabited area, and the Qutb (pole) Minar (tower) is at the site of the oldest mosque, started in the eleven hundreds. The tower is impressively high, with beautiful calligraphic carvings all around its height. The surrounding grounds are nice, with other ruins as well as an impressively-beautiful mausoleum. Entering just before us was a caravan of diplomatic cars, including the Mercedes limo of the Chinese ambassador, license plate “7 CD 1”, with the red flag flying from its left front fender.

The kids were anxious to see a movie in English, so we found a nearby showing of “Legend of Zorro”, opening day. We went to the 12:45 showing, in a thoroughly westernized multiplex cinema, and price to match: Rs150. We enjoyed popcorn and a (chicken) hot dog, and the exciting sanitized story – no blood, but lots of swordplay and explosions… and several chewy onscreen kisses (a married couple, but still quite risque for Indian audiences).

After the film, we allowed the kids to wander around the nearby shops. The “Saket” neighborhood resembled an 1970’s planned shopping area, with high-rise concrete apartment blocks, and a few now-empty fountains. The area is disappointingly decrepit, though most shops are quite nice – several franchise restaurants, including Bennigan’s Restaurant and McDonalds, and several athletic shoe shops and book and music stores, but no food or good clothing stores.

We then drove to another shopping area, even older – Defence Colony, where expatriates had long been housed: Several nice restaurants, and dozens of small shops and general stores, but no large modernized store. But, I found boxes of imported Rice Krispies and Cheez-Its, for Chris and Cole – again, outrageously expensive even by American standards (Rs355 and Rs201), but a very special treat for them. The students were a bit cranky and tired, surprisingly not wanting to window-shop. We allowed the two Bhutanese boys to take a cab to the Bhutan embassy to meet some relatives (and recharge their wallets!), then meet us at our next stop.

We drove then to India Habitat Centre, a large complex of brick buildings surrounding a center atrium. They offer rooms, offices, conference areas, art exhibits, and restaurants for meetings, including the lecture hall where we viewed a documentary film about peasants from Allahabad who eke out a living by collecting waste oil from Delhi drains (then selling it to small-scale illegal recycling factories). A panel discussion followed, and we hope the students’ social consciousness was a bit raised by the event – a few students even asked questions! There were perhaps 40 other people in the audience, mostly sympathetic adults, and a couple of inarticulate college students, and the 4 small children of a panelist.

On Saturday the 29th, we departed Delhi at 9:30, arrived DehraDun at 4pm, with an hour stop for lunch at Cheetal Restaurant. Actually the worst traffic was in DehraDun, as there are only small 2-lane roads in and out of this million-inhabitant city, jammed with dusty shops lining either side. North of Dehra Dun, into the hills on the old Mussoorie road, is the large house of 2 Woodstock students and their multi-generational family. They invited us to stop for “tea”. We then made it back to the dorms by 7pm, well after dark.