Thursday, December 27, 2012

All lit up

 When the cold weather comes and the holidays beckon, this is what people in America do to their houses:
get out large amounts of decorative lighting and go to town.

We took a drive around the county and found some well lit houses.
 One in particular had a snowman frenzy going on. 
 There were probably close to a hundred snowman lit up, big and small.




It's pretty.  But I sure am glad it's not my electricity bill.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Ceilings

Every where I go, I look up at the ceilings.  Fascinating things, are ceilings.
Yet some people pay no attention to them.  How sad.
Just the other day I laughed because a woman who comes to my house every week looked up at the ceiling and said about the picture hanging track, "Did you just put that up there?"
"It's been there for over a year," I laughed.
"Oh," she replied, "This is the first time I've noticed it," and she laughed too.

There's so much you're missing if you never look up.

But I've been looking up for you, and collecting photographs.  Here are some of the ceilings I've seen:

The unknown tomb near Humayan's tomb complex.
The Afsarwala masjid ceiling.



Sher Shah's masjid at Purana Qila.
 The Diwan-i-khas.
One of the Red Fort Palaces.


Pretty cool, ya?  Next time you're out, look up!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

The saree shop man

 I know he gets lots of practice.

But when I try to fold a saree--six meters of slippery cloth, I make a mess of it every time.  Usually I have to ask for help.
 But he just sits there and whips the cloth back a forth several times.
And it all comes together just like it's supposed to.
Ah, what would it be like to fold and unfold hundreds of beautiful sarees every day?

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Perfumery

 I found a perfumery.
In the middle of a crowded, old piece of Delhi--one of the most bustling places in the whole city--there's a quiet shop full of glass and fragrances.

The claim is that all of them are natural and alcohol free (being that the shop is located in the heart of Muslim Delhi). 
We were allowed to sniff musks, roses, jasmine--it all started to smell the same very quickly.

I wonder what that shop owner does sitting there all day among those strong scents.  I wonder if he can smell the rest of Delhi or if his nose is too overworked.  I wonder what the value of fresh air is to him.

Nizamuddin is one of the most sensory overloading neighborhoods in the city.  And this tiny little shop concentrates heavily on only the olfactory sense.  I wonder how that imbalance affects a person.

I wonder a lot of things, but I'm content to take my wonderings home with me, along with a little bit of jasmine.