a weekend trip

a short trip. few new places , few new people, and then back again. more later ...

the weekend

saturday: day trip to mumbai

sunday: a visit to imf; had an amazing session with a bit of bouldering + a bit of top roping. There were two moves that I did which really took me by surprise. On Tuesday I will see if I can again get the moves, but may be it wont happen.

Imf again

Felt very lazy to start with, but in the end got a bit of workout. May be next time I should boulder a bit for a change.

Delhi zoo

After many failed attempts, rather broken plans, we finally managed to visit the Delhi zoo. At the entrance we were pleasantly surprised to discover that we are not allowed to take in any food, plastic bags, bags for that matter. Already I was impressed -- definitely a fool proof way of keeping the place clean. We bought a map from the counter before stepping in, and later this turned to be an excellent decision.

The park/zoo is big, with lots of trees and plants. The place is well kept, and the animals/birds have nice enclosures, specially given the Indian standard of zoos. The highlight was the water-bird area. The place was calm modulo frequent calls by various birds. It was fascinating to just sit there and stare at them. Later we found a way to get to the back of the bird area, and that was even better. The tiger enclosure was also hidden around the corner -- I thought they have intentionally kept the tiger area a bit obscured.

We saw too many animals to list. Overall they were in good shape, and living in tolerable enclosures. Some areas (like for monkeys) new setups are being designed/setup. The white tiger, hippopotamus, rhinos, elephants, etc. all seemed to be enjoying the nice spring afternoon. I saw white buck for the first time, and did not end up finding the white peacock area. Also missed out the reptile area. Enough reasons to go back again.

First encounter with Hoolock Gibbon: The only reason we reached the place was lured by its loud and out of the world place. It is hard to believe an animal of that size can alone create so much noise.

A great day overall ...

a week goes by

Visited IMF twice, and finished reading Khushwant Singh's 'Delhi'. A lazy week goes by ...

new places explored

imf: good session on sunday.

monday: explored the area in and around india gate and cp. Went to Bengali market and municipal market, two of the smallest markets we have seen around here. Visited Triveni, which turned out to be a good find. Finally managed to go up to the indian coffee house in cp (P block?): a nice place lost in a busy world. Other places, for the record, bengali sweet shop, and nizam.

rail museum + islamic cultural center

Rail museum: the toy train ride was short, but an experience. The various coaches, engines, tracks, boogies made it an interesting stroll in the (rail) park on a pleasant, rather almost perfect, spring afternoon in Delhi. The trees were fresh and lively, and the birds happy and chirpy. Overall very pleasant, or that's the impression I recall.

We went to the islamic cultural center afterwards to check out its canteen/restaurant. The place was surprisingly empty, but that was probably we were too early. The decor was good, the service nice, the food above average. Nothing spectacular, but definitely a decent place to go back to.

imf + kabila

Went to IMF today. Was worse that last time, but still had a reasonable session. On the way back ventured into a restaurant havent been to before: Kabila. The food was decent, and the ambiance nice -- overall a place worth visiting again.

imf

Went IMF-ing yesterday. Not a particularly long session, but it was enjoyable. Working on a new route, may be I succeed tomorrow.

sunday run

It was harder than I thought. I finished in good time, but it was just challenging since I was a bit sick and didnt eat/hydrate properly. A lesson learned. In the evening we went to Nehru park for ravi shankar spicmay performance -- a memorable experience. Now if I recover soon ...