India Gate, New Delhi

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

We’re staying in the heart of the city, New Delhi, just a few minutes walk from Connaught Place. The Connaught area has a very intereting design – it’s made up of Connaught Place at the centre, then an inner ring (Rajiv Chowk), a middle ring and then an outer ring (Connaught Circus or Indira Chowk). The area is an architecturally uniform series of colonnaded buildings mainly devoted to shops, banks, restaurants, state tourist offices, airline offices and travel agencies.

One of the main differences between Delhi and Mumbai/Bangalore is that here it doesn’t feel so safe to walk around at night in a lot of areas. We’ve spoken to a number of locals and they have advised us against venturing out after 10pm. There are tourist police vans dotted around the city now, but one still needs to be aware of personal safety – probably no worse than London though!

We were really fortunate to be able to visit the Mughal Gardens within Rashtrapati Bhavan (the President’s Estate). These beautiful gardens are only open for one month every year and contain hundreds of different flowers and herb plants. Unfortunately, as with a lot of things in Delhi, photography was strictly forbidden and we had to leave our bags, mobile phones etc at the entrance. In fact, I’m really shocked at how much security there is here. There are armed guards at all of the main metro stations, and all passengers have to go through a security screen which typically involves a bag check too. They are really worried about terrorism here.

The recently-opened Delhi Metro system is really incredible – there are currently only three lines, but new construction is taking place all the time and the entire system should be ready by 2010. It’s very similar to the subway systems in Hong Kong and Singapore – very spacious stations and air conditioned trains. It’s a joy to take the metro and avoid the traffic!

I am pleasantly surprised by the pollution levels here – compared to Mumbai and Bangalore the air is really clean here, mainly due to the fact that the city is now using compressed natural gas (CNG) for autorickshaws and a lot of buses. I think this has made an enormous difference compared to the horrible emissions from old petrol/diesel engines.

It’s time to grab some breakfast now – more later!

Sizzling Brownie at Copper Chimney, Bangalore

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

I’m currently sitting in Bangalore airport waiting to board a Jet Airways flight to New Delhi – it’s about 1000 miles from here and should take around two and a half hours. Most Indian airports now have free Wi-Fi service provided by Tata Indicom – all you have to do is visit their kiosk and pick up a 30 minute voucher. Magic

We had a fairly leisurely day yesterday in Bangalore – we spent some time in the morning at the High Court and watched bits of trials taking place. Everything is carried out in English. I was surprised how accessible the courts are to the public – we were encouraged to go in and take a look at the proceedings! I guess India is the world’s largest democracy

Today’s photo is of food I’m afraid – sorry if you’re reading this and feeling hungry Copper Chimney in Bangalore is an amazing place to eat with fine decor and exemplary service – we had 3 courses and the bill didn’t even come to £5 per head! I think I need to stop eating so much…

Mysore Palace

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

Mysore is another city in the state of Karnataka, located about 160km from Bangalore and connected by a fairly modern highway for most of the way. Mysore is famous for its silk sarees and sandalwood products, including incense sticks, fragrant soap and pungent oils. On the way to Mysore, we stopped at Srirangapatnam – here stand the ruins of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan’s capital, from where they ruled much of southern India during the 18th century. The onion-domed Gumbaz is Tipu’s mausoleum and is also the burial site for much of his family. We also went to the Daria Daulat Bagh, which was Tipu’s Summer Palace and now houses a museum containing family memorabilia and paintings depicting his campaigns against the British.

Mysore itself has some wonderful sights – the key attraction is without a doubt the fabulous Mysore Palace which is breathtaking in size and beauty. Inside there is a kaleidoscope of stained glass, mirrors and enormous ceiling paintings. We also went to Chamundi Hill which contains the Sri Chamundeswari Temple and offers excellent views of Mysore. It definitely feels a lot warmer in Mysore than Bangalore – I suspect it was around 36C – a bit too hot to walk around in for long periods of time – even though I must have guzzled 4 or 5 litres of water yesterday!

In the evening we went to Brindavan Gardens, about 20 minutes drive from the city. Enormous crowds flock here each night to see the illuminated fountains to the accompaniment of film tunes. The display itself wasn’t as impressive as others I’ve seen (Sentosa Island in Singapore has an incredible sound & light show) but it was great fun being amongst so many people who had probably only seen this kind of attraction for the first time – there were so many “wows” and “oooooooohs” from the crowd

I’ve added some photos from Mysore at my Flickr photo gallery.

On a slightly different note, a few days a ago I bought myself a “teach yourself Hindi” book – on this trip I’ve realised that having at least a reasonable grasp of the language would be very useful. Although I can understand around 60% right now due to the similarities with Gujarati, I find it very hard to speak the language as I’m always worried about making huge grammar mistakes. Luckily the alphabet and character set between the two languages isn’t that different, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to improve my Hindi before my next trip to India.

Today is our last in Bangalore – planning to check out a few remaining sights and perhaps do a bit of shopping – Bangalore is a great place to buy books, which are sold at a fraction of our prices.

ISKCON temple at night

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

Yesterday we were extremely fortunate to get a wonderful tour of some great sights around Bangalore by a friend (thanks Pramod!) who lives and works in this city. We started at the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens, which contains a Glass House built in the style of London’s Crystal Palace. The gardens are extremely well maintained and contain so many different types of flowers and one of the four geographical landmark points of the city that were installed many years ago to mark the edges of Bangalore at the time. There are so many paths to follow in this beautiful park – now I know why Bangalore is called India’s Garden City

Lunch was a new experience – we went to the Marvalli Tiffin Rooms (MTR) which is so popular with locals and has a waiting time of up to 2 hours! Luckily we had a reservation, so we only had to wait around 30 minutes. Lunch is served in “sittings” – each one lasting around 45 minutes. At each sitting so many different courses are served one after another – authentic home-made style South Indian food – so delicious! It’s a really heavy lunch though – one definitely needs to go on an empty stomach to really enjoy it to its full – the meal includes both savoury and sweet items.

After lunch, Pramod gave us a tour of his wonderful apartment in Jayanagar and I was lucky to be able to take some photographs from his rooftop. We also visited the shopping area in Jayanagar which contains an indoor market-style shopping complex selling fruits, vegetables and numerous other items. We then went to the ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Consciousness) temple which is breathtaking and made of marble with extremely ornate carvings. By this time it was dark outside, but I manged to grab a really good photo of the temple by using a long shutter time.

Lots more photos at my Flickr photo gallery.

Today it’s another early start, as we head to Mysore, a city south-west of Bangalore.

Super Speciality Hospital, Puttaparthi

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

On Saturday we took a trip to the village of Puttaparthi, which is about 160km from Bangalore and situated in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The village contains Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s main ashram and attracts thousands of visitors every day from all over the world. The village and ashram are truly magnificent – especially the main prayer hall which is enormous and extremely ornate. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take photos inside the ashram area, but I have some of other buildings within the village, including the incredible Super Speciality Hospital which was built in the 1990s to offer free medical treatment and surgery in a wide range of medical disciplines. The hospital is run by volunteers, including a number of doctors from Europe and the US who give up their time and expertise to help those in need.

Puttaparthi is surrounded by seven hills and a river, and we were lucky to be taken by a friend to see the village from high up. It’s amazing how the village has developed over the last 30 years – as well as the enormous amount accommodation provided inside the ashram, there are many hotels and apartments for residents and visitors. We were particularly impressed by the museum, which is built in Chinese style and contains a lot of interesting exhibits about all major world religions and Sai Baba’s key message – that is the importance of service to others, regardless of their religion, caste, etc.

Back in Bangalore, we went to an Afghani-style restaurant called Samerkhand which offers a range of North-West Frontier food, including kebabs (vegetarian ones too!), rich curries and various breads such as kulcha (from Punjab), parathas and rotis. The food was great – but it was so noisy in there – kind of hard to hold any kind of conversation!

I’ve added some more photos to my Flickr photo gallery.

A lady carrying out embroidery

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

As we walked around Bangalore today we noticed that a lot of shops were closed – I discovered that this was due to a protest by the (fairly large) Islamic community here over the controversial material that was published a few weeks back in Denmark. Security appeared to be heightened in a lot of shops, especially those selling
“western” products – whilst we were in a shop called Peter England on Commercial Street, there were staff standing outside ready and waiting to close the shutters in case of any trouble.

We met up with some of the protestors in the city’s green lung (Cubbon Park) which is at the west end of the famous MG Road. Other than boisterous chanting, things seemed pretty peaceful though there were loads of police officers walking around wielding batons. From what I hear, the police here are much less tolerant of troublemakers than back home – the batons do get used quite often!

We came back to the hotel around 6pm to drop some bits and pieces back to the room and were planning to visit Bangalore Central in the evening, which is one of the all-under-one-roof malls that are popping up around the city. However the hotel gates had been closed and the staff in the hotel lobby advised guests against venturing outside. I didn’t get a chance to see exactly what was going on, but I noticed that some flags were being burnt just a few metres from our hotel. The hotel that we’re staying in right now (Royal Orchid Harsha) is in a district called Shivajinagar that has a large Islamic population, so this was probably the centre of the protests in Bangalore.

So, an unexpected curfew (well, an advised one anyway!) for us this evening – and we ended up eating at the hotel’s restaurant (Tiger Trail) which does a rather good and varied buffet for around £3.50 a head.

I like Bangalore a lot – one of the best things is that it’s fairly pedestrian-friendly. Most of the roads in the city centre are wide and have a good footpath, and as a result we actually walked for the whole day! It’s a very modern city, with enormous malls, designer label stores, supermarkets etc. The people are definitely a lot friendlier than in Mumbai – we’ve met some wonderful people here so far. The major problem here is the pollution – it’s horrendous and is mainly caused by the huge number of autorickshaws on the road. I really hope they can do something about that soon. Also the city could definitely do with an underground system – like the one that has been built in Delhi.

Tomorrow we are off to Puttaparthi which is in Andhra Pradesh and around 180km from Bangalore. Going to try and make an early start to avoid the traffic!

I’ve got a few amusing photos to share today – see my Flickr photo gallery to share my experiences of Bangalore.

Sri Sathya Sai Hospital in Whitefields

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

Arrived in Bangalore this afternoon – it’s really hot here! I think the temperature is about the same as Mumbai but it definitely feels a lot warmer here – perhaps something to do with the humidity.

We went to visit Sai Baba’s ashram in Whitefields today, and then stopped to take a look at the fabulous Sathya Sai Hospital which is run on a charity-basis and provides free operations to thousands of people every year. It really is absolutely enormous – I believe there are a few others around other cities in South India.

We have driven past a lot of the IT parks which consist of a myriad of glistening glass buildings – it’s really amazing how much new development is going on as well. The city is very definitely under construction! The one similarily with Mumbai is the traffic problem – it may even be worse here than in Mumbai. Especially around going-home-time, it’s really a struggle to get anywhere.

Feeling very tired today – in fact, I think I’m going to get some sleep now…

The Nehru Centre and surrounding gardens

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

The food here is just wonderful and so affordable too! Mumbai, being the eclectic mix of cultures that it is from all across India, offers a wide range of different types of cuisine. This evening we went to a really amazing place, serving North-West Frontier (Punjabi, Rajasthani, Gujarati) style food – it’s called the Jewel of India and is definitely one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at. In London, I’d expect to have to pay around £100 a head for this kind of luxury – the service is outstanding. Here we’re looking at under £10 a head! Mmmmm did I mention the food here is just great? And there’s so much choice too – even lots of international food such as Thai, Chinese, Italian etc.

We saw a lot of other stuff today, including the Nehru Planetarium which has an excellent show with a dome screen and reclining seats – far better than than the London Planetarium. We visited Malabar Hill too, which is one of the poshest areas in Mumbai and is mainly dominated by the Parsi community. There are some beautiful hanging gardens, and the Tower of Silence is there too. In case you’re wondering what that is, it’s the place where Parsi people who have passed on are placed to rest. As part of their culture, the body is not cremated or buried – instead, it is put in the tower and left as food for vultures.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Bangalore – and hopefully a new adventure will begin!

I’ve added some more photos to my Flickr gallery at http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilmadhvani.

Dhoby Ghaut

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

It seems that it’s been ages since my last post! We spent 6 hrs on the road yesterday – the journey to Nashik (Which is a fairly prosperous town north-east of Mumbai) takes about 4 hours, followed by a further 2 hours to Shirdi. Shirdi is a very small village that gets around 50,000 visitors a day, due to the temple of Shirdi Sai Baba, a saint who lived there about 100 years ago. The temple itself is beautiful, though we weren’t allowed to take cameras inside Of course, being a place that attracts so many visitors, there’s no escaping the myriad of people offering “VIP” entrance to the temple and plenty of other money-making scams.

I was quite amazed by the hotel we stayed in (Sun n Sand), given that it is in a village with very little around for miles. It has its own power generator and desalination unit, as well as some very comfortable rooms, a games room, fitness centre and nice gardens too. No internet facilities tho – bah! Maybe I am expecting too much here

One of the things that surprised me during our journey was the number of mobile phone masts everywhere. Even in villages with virtually no other infrastructure, there was at least one base station! And the mobile phone companies seem to be using every opportunity to promote their services, including advertising on the side of village huts! Anyway, it’s great that there is now at least a good telephone network here – a lot of these areas haven’t got access to landlines, and probably won’t for a good few years to come. Mobile phones are the way by which they conduct their daily business, and are becoming a real lifeline for the villagers.

Back in Mumbai we stopped by the city’s main dhobi ghaut (laundry facility)! Here thousands of clothes each day are washed and beaten dry – it’s amazing how many clothes are being washed at the same time – I wonder how they avoid getting them all mixed up and returned to the wrong people!

That’s about all for now – I’ve added some photos taken during the road trip, and a few from Mumbai too – including one of McDonalds, which is really taking off here, but with a twist. They have loads of vegetarian items – the Crispy Chinese burger is absolutely fantastic and meals (burger + fries + drink) are all under £1.50!

A thirsty monkey

Originally uploaded by neilmadhvani.

As many of you know, despite being of Indian origin this is my first trip to India – in fact it’s my dad’s first trip too (perhaps more shocking)! My parents were born in East Africa, though their parents were from Gujarat (a state that is north-west of Mumbai). This kind of makes the whole trip to India extremely exciting – I was definitely expecting a culture shock, and I’ve most definitely been well provided for in that regard!

Today we started off by visiting a Hindu temple (Siddhivinayaka) and I think it was at that point that I realised more than ever that I’m most definitely a “foreigner” in India, despite being of Indian origin. Having a great big camera around my neck can’t help, and whilst I can understand most Hindi, I can hardly speak it at all – I get the words mixed up with Gujarati which is my mother tongue. As a result of being a foreigner here, I find myself constantly approached by people trying to sell me garlands, flowers to offer to God and numerous other things – and these people really don’t want to take no for an answer. I really don’t appreciate the constant pestering Also I’m not a fan of rituals, so buying flowers like that to offer to God isn’t my thing – in my opinion it would be more useful if one were to donate the same money to charity instead.

Another annoyance was at Elephanta Island which we got to via a 1 hr boat ride from Mumbai. When you enter the island everyone (locals and foreigners) are charged a tourist tax of Rs 5 (around 6.5p) and then there’s loads of stairs to climb where one is greeted by another ticket office. At this point you find that locals are charged Rs 10 (around 13p) whereas foreigners pay 25 times this rate – Rs 250! I can certainly understand why the rate for foreign citizens should be a little higher, but any more than 5 times the rate is beyond a joke Anyway, on a fairly good note, we actually managed to blag entry on the local rate in the end, though it certainly wasn’t easy.

On my Flickr photo gallery, I’ve got some good pictures of monkeys on the Island – the one drinking from a bottle of water is particularly amusing. He unscrewed the top off the bottle and starting drinking just as we might do! The highlight of the day was a trip to Mahatma Gandhi’s old house which has been converted in to a museum. The exhibits are really well presented – Gandhi’s non-violent struggle to bring an end to colonial rule in India is truly inspiring.

Tomorrow it’s on to tha Maharashtrian towns of Nasik and Shirdi, where we will be staying one night.