A 90-minute flight brought us to Delhi, the political capital and home to over 16 million inhabitants making it India’s 3rd largest city. I don’t know if it was our mid day flight time or just plain lucky, but we maneuvered swiftly through what is usually world class traffic and arrived at our lunch spot “Latitude.” It sits atop a well known purveyor of Indian household items, Good Earth, and the restaurant was cozy but vibrant with lots of natural daylight and every inch (including the ceiling) covered with their distinctive fabrics.
Although continuously inhabited since the 6th century, Delhi was a relatively new city when the British decided to move the capital from Calcutta in 1911. Sir Edwin Lutyens, a pre-eminent British architect was commissioned to design the new capital and it took more than 20 years to complete. Ironically, the British lived here for just 16 years before Independence. We drove through “Lutyen’s Delhi” with its broad tree lined boulevards, gardens and capacious bungalows – all a welcome relief from the frenzy of Mumbai and the close (chaotic) streets of Varanasi.
Our destination was the Lodhi Hotel, a 67-room gem in the heart of the city. Originally opened as an Aman property, I cannot begin to say how much I favor the improvements (mostly tasteful accents of color) made by the oh-so-capable managers, a husband and wife team, Robyn Bickford (a Kiwi and ex-Aman) and Manav Garewal. The contemporary but inviting interiors and the many little details (like turbo-charged Babyliss hair dryers and lovely Wedgewood blue leather Lodhi bag tags attached to each of our suitcases when we checked out to name just a few) were appreciated by all. We stayed in Lodhi Premier rooms each over 1350 sq ft and with its own private plunge pool, which I, sadly, never had time to use.
This afternoon, we traveled a short distance to the Museum of Modern Art housed in “Jaipur House,” which was the city residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur. We were joined by acclaimed art critic, Kishore Singh, a stylish man who obviously has a very good eye! He guided us through two special visiting exhibits one of which was huge, haunting sculptures made entirely of jute and hemp by a lady called Mrinalini Mukherjee, who sadly passed away just before her showing opened. The other was a collection of paintings by India’s first female modernist artist, Amrita Sher-Gil, whose mother was Hungarian and her father a Sikh. I loved these canvases and they were probably my favorite thing we saw all day. Kishore then cherry picked some of the highlights from the permanent collection. Outside in the gardens are many permanent installations including a giant sized sculpture made entirely from stainless steel household items like pots, pans, tiffens, spatulas, etc..
Dinner tonight was in their very trendy restaurant called “Over the Water” (or “OTW”) in a private room which was actually a glass cube floating in a large water feature and we enjoyed a multi-course Indian tasting menu.
The next morning we awoke to yet another postcard perfect day – truly the weather each and every day has been delightful – temperatures in the high 70’s to low 80’s, abundant sunshine and zero humidity. This morning we explored Old Delhi which actually has merged imperceptibly with New Delhi in the company of Sufi scholar, Sohail Hashmi, who is also a resident of the old city. He had a long grey beard, a grandfatherly face and was someone who had an air of wisdom about him. He first gave us a short intro to Sufism since we’d be attending the Sufi Music Festival later in the trip and guided us along the main street which had mosques along-side Hindu and Jain temples and churches, all within a half dozen blocks—both a tribute to and a metaphor for the spiritual mosaic of India. We traipsed through a labyrinth of back alleys to show us magnificent old buildings now crumbling and falling into disrepair. We set off in bicycle rickshaws to explore the bustling 300-year old Chandni Chowk Market – narrow lanes with rats’ nests of electrical wires constantly overhead. My favorite was Kinari Street which specialized, shop after shop, in trims and borders of every color imaginable….enough inspiration to redecorate the house!
Our tour finished at Jami Masjid, the largest mosque in Delhi and said to accommodate over 20,000 worshippers. We shed our shoes and donned thin white cotton robes for the visit and truly, we looked more like we were on our way to the spa instead of a holy place.
Lunch was at the Lodhi Gardens, a delightful respite with outdoor seating. This green space was created in 1936 by Lady Willingdon, the vicereine and it surrounds the tombs of Delhi’s last Mughal rulers. Tiny pots of baby lettuce leaves served as our centerpiece which is a simple but clever idea I will borrow. At this point our group “divided and conquered” with half heading back to the hotel for spa, gym and naps, and the rest of us carried on to the Gandhi National Museum which is a small, but exceptional collection of letters, diaries, and other memorabilia. It is situated in the house where he spent the last 100 days of his life and was assassinated.
The day finished with a visit to Humayun’s Tomb, one of the earliest examples of a Mughal Garden Tomb. Perfectly symmetrical, it was designed in 1565 by a Persian architect and was a prototype for future tombs including the Taj Mahal. We saw it in the best possible circumstances – hardly any people and gorgeous golden late afternoon light bathing the pink sandstone exterior. Remarkably on our way out, one of our group bumped into friends from San Francisco – not the first time this would happen on the trip!!