The Taj Lookalike

In the south of India and in a hurry ? Want to see the Taj but have no time to get to it. Want something like the Taj experience and that Diana moment on the bench - Look no further.

Baba ka Maqbara is the place for you - it is a replica of the Taj in the Deccan. Built by Aurangzeb's son on the outskirts of the town of Aurangabad as a tribute to his mum Begum Rabia Durani it is to all intents and purposes a Taj Lookalike but without the crowds.

The Taj never tires

The Taj never tires. It is just as amazing every time you see it and it doesn't matter how many times you visit. Each visit is different for its colours, the season, the light and the people.This time the morning colours were sharp, in focus and so bright.The people are awed by its beauty and proud that it is part of their heritage.

 

This is the first time I visited the Taj Museum and I saw some spectacular pictures of the Taj from many centuries ago, the orders for materials and all the drawings and plans that went into creating this architectural wonder. We visited it with a little boy who was there with relatives and who engaged me in conversation for all the time we were in there. I complimented him on his English and he smiled, turned to face me and said "Your English very good too. ". He is the small one in the centre of the picture.

Ah but did you know there is a Taj Lookalike ?? More soon,

HotelsUnder100

The news from abroad is singularly depressing, the global economies are suffering. It is an unanswerable question for me why those in the know did not ring out the warning bells earlier or why they even allowed this to happen, but perhaps that is another discussion for another day.

So with the exception of our well known billionaire friends in India and abroad all us mortals have to be a little more careful with the pennies. It is so welcoming therefore to see initiatives like the one recently launched by my good friends Philippa Kaye who conceived and planned a new site called Hotels Under 100.

The 100 refers to £100. She has collected the choisiest and most appealling venues and has put them all under this banner. It is user friendly and attractive both financially for all but also tantalizing to our travelling tastebuds. Click on it everyone and plan away.

http://www.hotelsunder100.co.uk/

Peacocks

The area where I live is awash with peacocks, peahens and peababies. I know so little about them I decided that this blog really needs to be about the National and sacred Bird of India which is so beautiful and so infuriating at the same time. Bit like India some may say ?

The story begins many years ago when  my husband bought me a shawl from a very beauitful shop in London called Liberty's and while the eyes were depicted as red and not blue, so representationally inaccurate, it has been much admired and worn.

It continues with the true history of Gustave de Revilliod de la Rive who bequeathed all the land on which the Palais des Nations was built in Geneva. He stipulated in his will that peacocks should always roam free on the grounds.I would often walk in the grounds and admire the birds who defied Swiss regulation.

Now here in India they are found everywhere but more so in the open areas in South Delhi where I live. They play hide and seek in the bushes at the back of my house, they strut along the pathways chicks in tow. They perch on the fences and cry ferociously and infuriatingly and they dazzle daily with their feathers.They are mainly blue and green here but white peacocks also exist. The colours result from the micro- structures of the feathers and way light falls on them. Male birds have the upper hand here as you know and perhaps like most things male it is a carefully constructed and thought out plan- the goal is clear- to get the woman.

The eyes do it and their dance which is called a "shiver" is exactly designed to lure the women in. Once breeding is over they shed their feathers which grow back longer and finer the following year with trains reaching 1.5 metres in length. They roost in trees which seems almost an impossible feat as they seem unlikely flyers and balancers yet they manage well and their populations are healthy. They are considered a sign of good luck and well being in all of Asia.

Forever looking for the associations between my origins and my life here I have found a story of how peacocks got their eyespots.

According to Greek mythology, peacocks got their spots thanks to a woman named Io. She was a priestess to Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus took a fancy to Io and turned her into a heifer in order to disguise her. Hera who was no fool,  tricked Zeus into giving her the heifer/Io as a present. Once she had the heifer in her possession, Hera appointed Argus, a man covered with eyes, to guard Io. Zeus then sent a minion to rescue the priestess, who killed Argus in the process. As a tribute to Argus and his many eyes, Hera bestowed the "eyespot" onto the peacock. 

I have no idea if their marriage survived but all is well in peacock land where males can have more than one wife.

A tree of many names

The weather in Delhi is perfect at the moment and being out and about in the day as well as the evening is a pleasure. Driving around the city recently I noticed a very strong scent and started asking around to find out what it was- no no not sewage, not frangipani, nor urine ....the usual suspects, this was distinctly different, almost overpowering a mixture of heavy spices, cloves, allspice, juniper, which hit your nostrils with an unmistakable and captivating aroma.

It took several leaf pickings and several pickings through my tree book because I could not readily identify it until my landlady said she knew it as being alstonia - so here it is Alstonia Scholaris also known as Saptaparni aka as the devil's tree, ditabark tree, white cheesewood, milkwood pine, blackboard tree-Saptaparni, satpatia, chatium, satwin, satni, shatan ka jhad !  I never knew a tree could have so many names. Courtesy of Pradip Krishen's book on Trees of Delhi.It is the small white flowers that are so heavily scented.

This was planted in Delhi in the 1940s when colonies like Golf Links ( one of the foremost colonies in Delhi )were being planned out and I am little proud to say that the oldest, largest tree is on Archbishop Makarios Marg who was of course the first President of my country on Independence.Ah these links ...

Breathe them in.

Frida, females and fun

Since visiting Mexico some years ago with my family I am fascinated by the figure of Frida Kahlo. It seems I am not alone in the world and my good friend Kanchan Chander has dedicated a part of her recent new solo show to this fascinating woman. Kanchan in her own right is also quite a woman and she occasionally pops herself into her beautiful artwork so that we dont forget her lovely face.

The Cover of the Catalogue

Frida led a very adventurous life in the 30s in Mexico City but she was also quite a tragic and troubled figure.

She was married to the painter Diego Rivera but was known to have had various lovers in her life, even apparently a short affair with Trotsky who was in exile at the time in Mexico.

Courtesy of First City.

Kanchan has taken her face and recreated it in a million different ways all with the finest detail and materials and with sense of colour and vibrancy which is captivating.

She is fascinated by the female form and a lot of her smaller works concentrate on this with senses of its multifarious functions in the form of a lover or a mother but also a doer of jobs and it is one of Kanchan's delights to slip in the odd artefact that she may pick up at a flea market and which embellishes a face or a body at once like a piece of jewellery but also as a tool.

Go along to the exhibition and then and enjoy a coffee or tea on the first floor while browsing beautiful art books.

"Revisiting the Popular" is on at Art Positive from now until the 3rd December-

Address Lado Sarai F 213 B

Delhi

Autumn in Europe

Autumn is definitely one of my favourite seasons and I am happily visiting the UK to see my boys at a time when the weather is still mild and the leaves are clinging to the trees in a myriad colours of burnt oranges and reds, subtle yellows and screaming ones too.The view of this wonderful drainpipe is outside my window.

I wander around and delight in the beauty of the place, the quaint gardens, the stained glass windows and the impressive doorways. I dawdle in the parks and the coffee shops and I soak in the atmosphere all around me in a city which if you let it runs away with you.