Indian Breakfast. “What can I do, Madam, to make you happy?” asked the young and very charming female chef our first night at the Oberoi Amarvilas (“Eternal Villas”) in Agra. I had told our waiter a moment ago that I had not enjoyed the chicken curry he had recommended. Before I could say much of…
A Tribute to the admirable Sikhs!
I knew next to nothing about Sikhs before my last trip to India, the word simply making me think of men wearing turbans on their head. But after learning a bit about Sikhism and visiting the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Sikh temple in New Delhi, I have come to have nothing but admiration for the Sikhs,…
Taj Mahal : Full Moolight tour on Valentine’s Day!
Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal in Agra India is open to visitors from sunrise to sunset. However, five times a month, the Taj Mahal opens its doors at night to a select few, the 400 people who have pre-booked one of the eight available “Moonlight Tours”, so called because they occur solely on the night…
Battielal and the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve!
Battielal was our naturalist guide for our game drives through the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Sawai Madhopur, a town located about 100 miles southeast of Jaipur, reached by way of a four-hour hair-raising, constantly bumpy but most interesting drive. Until 1971, the year Indira Gandhi brought about a constitutional amendment which took away most of…
Peacocks, Fenugreek and Blue Pottery
Peacocks, Fenugreek and Blue Pottery. In exotic Jaipur, I am having breakfast after a short but wondrous visit and am feeling adventurous. After all, we have surveyed the city from 2000+ feet above it in a sunrise hot air balloon ride, entered the courtyard of the magnificent Amber Palace dating from 1592 on top of…
Hot air balloon, elephants and peacocks – Jaipur !
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. The peacock is the national bird of India, and our hotel, the Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur, has several of them running around freely on the property. They are not only beautiful, even though it is early in the year and their annual “plumage” has not grown yet, but, as I found out…
The Gandhi paradox – A day in New Delhi!
The Gandhi paradox. We visited the Gandhi Smriti (Memorial) in the center of New Delhi, the house and garden where Gandhi lived the last month of his life and where he was assassinated on the 30th of January 1948. Even today, the Gandhi Smriti is a remarkably peaceful oasis in the middle of a…
Room service Maharajah-style!
Room service Maharajah-style! When we ordered tea and toast from room service for delivery at 5am, little did we know that room service at the Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur is taken to a whole new level. The waiter brought a toaster to the room and patiently toasted six pieces of bread to perfection before…
The best of colonial living : The Delhi Gymkhana Club
Delhi Gymkhana Club. “You’ll get your dentures before your get a membership at the Delhi Gymkhana Club”, headlined a 2011 Times of India article about the Delhi Gymkhana Club. “That’s if you apply young”, the article went on, “It will be a 37-year wait if you apply now”. That’s the average number of years an…
Kingdom of Dreams : Where Bollywood meets Epcot
Kingdom of Dreams. For an unconventional twist to your vacation in India, consider a visit to the Kingdom of Dreams, the recently completed Disneyesque mega entertainment center in Gurgaon, about ten miles southwest of the Indira Gandhi International Airport of New Delhi. Spending an afternoon at the Kingdom of Dreams represented for us an alternative…