Republic Day

What a joy to have quiet roads!


Republic day is a big deal for government, though I didn't really notice much populace participation. We had a stroll out to the Maidan - large park - where there was a very strong police and army presence. We missed the parade, but the India flag coloured cloth backdrop stretched at least a couple of miles.

Maidan was full of cricket matches wherever the surface was flat enough - delightful to have horns replaced by bat, ball and cheering sounds. Some matches were very formal despite having people wander across every now and again - proper clothes and umpires - while others were less so, but still taken seriously even with boundaries defined loosely, perhaps given if the ball was fielded by a player from the next door match? 
Lunch, after a couple of hours walking, was ice cream, the afternoon mostly resting, reading, pottering. We're about to go to our first wedding party - shirt and tie! 


Part worn tyres for sale

Another quiet Kolkata street 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The real wedding day

Today is simple to begin. We enjoyed a late and leisurely breakfast on the terrace (masala omelette with chillies for Steve, toast for Jen) with lovely fresh juice. After that we did very little - reading, watching cricket, bits of planning. I was restricted in my use of the library as shorts are not allowed in the reading room - I'm actually surprised we've not fallen foul of loads of club rules, but we're mostly tolerated. Skipping forward to the evening....  This has been the third day of partying and the biggest. Arriving at the Parsee Hall on time meant, of course, that we were amongst the first there and established outselves at a table, soon to be joined by others rotating in and out as we also shuffled around.  Jen abandoned me through most of the ceremony to get closer to the action with her camera. I was struck by the informality; the register was signed then a fairly large party mounted the stage for about 30 minutes of litany and chanting ceremony, surrounded by...
Read more

The Finest Kebab Ever! Apart from Bursa, perhaps...

Image
Peter Cat was not easy to find, though we are discovering that Google Maps is both incredible and misleading. After circling for fifteen minutes and exploring a couple of seedy back courtyards we came upon the obvious front door - with no queue. We'd have happily eaten our way through the whole menu, but chose the "signature dish" of chelo kebab - mutton, chicken, rice and a fried egg with a pretence of salad.  Yes, it was really good. Indian butter with the rice is so tasty, too. In retrospect, though, probably something less obvious would have been a more inspired choice - but no regrets at all and thoroughly recommended.  By the time we'd finished (not long) the place was full and I imagine they'll be turning tables every forty five minutes or so. Vast numbers of staff, all very attentive, but also keeping customers flowing through.  We need to find new accommodation tomorrow for a couple of nights because the Saturday Club is fully book...
Read more

We've made it to Heathrow

Image
And, amazingly, we've already checked in for our flight tomorrow early afternoon. Turns out it was a fine decision to come by ferry and train as the flight from Kirkwall is cancelled for the morning. Train was fine, but it is feeling like we've been travelling a long time already - must be getting old.  We also decided to go to the BA check in desk to make sure our Bengaluru leg wasn't cancelled - or that we'd been removed due to earlier leg cancellation. We did seem to cause confusion but at least it was accompanied by sympathy and rationality, unlike our call-centre experiences - isn't life easier face to face? It's now 9.30 and we're having supper. Maybe a lie in tomorrow morning. 
Read more