In Delhi

These past few weeks, Eric has been traveling quite a bit : one week in France, one week in Delhi, and now 5 days in Mumbai. It will be nice when he'll settle back here again.

I've been spending a lot of time with Ruben at the park. We also had a few outings - noticeably, we went with Amy and her friends to the 'Jazz in Delhi' festival, a nice outdoor festival in Nehru park. It was great to be attending a concert / picnic in a park, even for just a bit over one hour. There was a big crowd at the event and quite a few familiar faces. Actually, it was only the second year that the festival was happening and the bands were not very famous ones, but it's exciting to see the cultural life of Delhi developing.

We went to play last wednesday with Gersende and Nino. Another opportunity to celebrate the first birthday !

With Eric back just on time for Ruben's birthday, we were able to throw a party at home to celebrate with our adult and baby friends : Brenda-Andy-Samantha, Shonali-Tahira, Amy-Annania, Merle-Justus, Gersende-Nino, Meriem-Zack-Maya, Rakhi-Nora, Shalini-Hitesh-Aadit, Geoffrey-Caroline-Rose and our neighbour Christelle (no baby there!).





Nino pushing Maya around.

Among other activities, I visited Jahanpanah with the expat organization Delhi network.
Jahanpanah was the fourth medieval city of Delhi, built in 1326 by the sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq. One should realize that the succession of the cities in Delhi was quite rapid - it is amazing how much the sultan rulers managed to build in a short period of time :
- Lal kot, founded in 736. It was on the site that the construction of Qutub Minar was started by the first sultan of Delhi, Qutb-ud-din Aybak in early 13th century.
- Siri, built in 1303. Mostly used as a military cantonment.
- Tughlaqabad, built 1321–1325 by Muhammad's father and abandoned by Muhammad.
- Jahanpanah.
- Ferozabad, built by the successor of Muhammad, Firuz Shah Tughluq in the second half of 14th century.
- Dinpanah in the 16th century.
- Shahjahanabad, the walled city built by Shah Jahan from 1638 to 1649. Shah Jahan shifted the capital of the Mughal empire from Agra to Shahjahanabad. This area is now commonly referred to as Old Delhi.

Very little is left of Jahanpanah although it encompassed at the time all preexisting cities of Delhi. A great wall was build to enclose them, and at the center the palace was set up. What we can now mostly see is a building called Bijay Mandal, which used to be part of the palace.



Nowadays, Bijay Mandal is tucked away in the middle of a popular neighbourhood. It comes as a surprise to find ruins there. Stumbling upon ruins or old buildings actually often happens in Delhi ; this is one of the great charms of the city.

Begumpur mosque was built near by in mid-14th century. It is not know whether Muhammad or the prime Minister of Firuz Shahd ordered the construction. This very big mosque has an unusual design in Delhi. It is a courtyard mosque, with single-vaulted arcade wings on the northern, southern, and eastern wings surrounding a large courtyard. A deeper prayer hall closes the west, facing Mecca.





And some street life.


I also helped to organize a workshop on volunteering for NGOs to try and mobilize Delhi network's expat community. It was a success, with more than 25 people attending. The NGOs director and volunteers who came to talk were very inspirational.
Some of the NGOs we work with :
- Project sunshine, an outreach program for 150 kids from the slums
- Tara, a residential service for 30 kids
- Naz foundation, a residential service for 25 HIV positive kids
- Project why, which supports 800+ children and also trains women

Last but not least, Ruben took his first steps on Sunday !