Delhi Day

Thursday evening we had a peaceful train ride from Dehra to Delhi on the evening Shatabdi.

We had a car, driver & guide in the morning for a tour of some sites in Old Delhi.  We spent some time at Raj Ghat, which is the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. It is set in a lovely park, and there were visitors there from all over the world.

We went past the Red Fort (didn't go in because it is under some renovation) and the Jama Masjid (holding Friday prayers), and spent most of the time wandering around Chandni Chowk. The guide was a bit disappointed with us as we weren't interested in doing any shopping until we got to the spice market street.  There we both bought a few packets of spices and spice mixtures.  In my jet-lagged fog last evening I accidentally deleted many of the photos I had taken in there, but fortunately SF had taken some - here are some of hers:
Selling colored powder for Holi:

 A tela with bags of spices:

 Packets of Holi poweder, chip packets, snacks:

 Making carrot and orange juices:

Going Down Day

We leave Landaur this afternoon to take the evening Shatabdi back to Delhi.  It is always hard to say goodbye to these mountains and this special place.

Here are some of my favorite views (some of the photos from previous visits):

Looking east to the Tehri hills:

Looking east from the bazaar to Woodstock & Witches Hill:

North towards the snows:

View north-east from Jabbarkhet Nature Preserve (Flag Hill):

 The snows from near Seokholi:

South towards the Doon:

West towards Landaur Bazaar and Mussoorie:

Tehri View to Upper Woodstock

One of my sisters wanted pictures of the path to Upper Woodstock, where we lived in the early 1950s and again in the 1960s.  Here is that journey on a most overcast day:

Tehri View (house damaged by earthquake .. now site a repository of miscellaneous building materials .. eventually slated to be site of new science classroom buildings:

Path between Tehri View and Upper Woodstock .. familiar but not quite as 'clean' as I remember (used to feel that I had memorized all of the rocks along the way).

Upper Woodstock from front & side (the public path does not run by the front door any more, and I felt that I shouldn't trespass on private home space, so only took photos through the gates.

Wrapping up

Yesterday I completed much of the wrapping up of our Archives work - finished updating the finding aids, getting them printed at the copy center, and replacing pages in the guides; inventorying remaining archival supplies; and drafting a report of the progress made during this visit.

In the late afternoon SF and I walked up to Rokebys via Edgehill (which is not as steep a climb as ZigZag path) for dinner.  We wanted to get a taxi for our ride back down to school, since it would be after dark - and we just happened to run into the driver/taxi service that brought us up from Dehra Dun, and arranged to have him pick us up at 7:30 pm.  We had a very good, leisurely dinner at Rokebys - I had tandoori fish, sauteed seasonal vegetables, rumali roti ('rumal' means handkerchief - this is a very large, thin chapatti), and a pot of their good honey lemon tea. SF had lamb kebabs and a 'lime soda salty.'

Here are a couple of photos from the Quad level - I have more, but for some reason the system is being cranky today and won't let me add them.

Visit to Gharwali village

It was another busy day in the office as I start to wrap up our work here and update the finding aids. Because I was busy, I didn't take any new pictures.

I mentioned that SF had gone with some staff and students to a Gharwali village beyond Kempti Falls on Sunday -  here are some of the pictures she took.

The snows from the road to Kempti:

Grain field near the village:

 some buildings in the village:

 Old stone pestles for grinding corn - now they have access to electric grinders:

 Washing dishes in a culvert:

Corn drying from the rafters.  You can see a couple of small dark panels behind the corn - this is for beehives. The villagers now have the benefit of bees for honey for their own sweetener and to sell for additional income.

Glorious sunshine!

In the late morning I walked with SF down to Ridgewood, where she was meeting up with the outreach coordinator and some students for a trip to a Gharwali village beyond Kempti Falls.  Then walked back up to school, started organizing my stuff (as we leave Thursday), had lunch, took my nap.

After nap it was still so beautiful and sunny, with no clouds - so decided to start walking up ZigZag path to see how far I could get .. and I made it all the way to the chakkar!  My 10 or 15-year old self would have been mortified that it took me over 30 minutes to make the climb, but my 70 year old self is quite proud of the accomplishment!  In fact, I found it an easier climb than I had on previous visits - the 'challenge fitness' class I have been taking at home paid off!

The "Lollipop Tree" - a family landmark near the top of ZigZag path:

Arrived at Sisters' Bazaar to find the snows still out .. Bandar Punch straight ahead and the Gangotri massif to the east both very clear .. some clouds over the peaks between the two.  So then walked around the back side of the chakkar and enjoyed the quiet and the deodar forest.  I thought of MG as I walked above the cottage she had lived in when we were here in 2017. 

My cell phone camera does not pick up very well ...

Back chakkar towards Lal Tibba:

 Looking back at the cemetery:

Lal Tibba area was full of tourists - at least 25 cars plus a dozen motorcycles .. ugh!  Walked on to Char Dukan and rested a bit with a cup of chai.  Then took the path down from there past Ivy Bank .. I swear that path has gotten much steeper in the last 18 months .. and was so glad I had both hiking sticks with me!  Then stopped at a fruit stall below the hospital and bought some oranges .. and made it back to the school about 3:30 pm with very tired legs & sore knees.

Bonus round #3

Another spot to identify --