Lychee nuts in Mahrauli

Work is definitely getting in the way of my blog.  Grrrrr   But I'm not complaining, just explaining why I'm falling a little behind with it.  I hope this isn't the beginning of the slippery slope down.

Last Sunday, I went to Mehrauli Archaeological Park, located 3 metro stops south of the ashram, which is
much much  further than you'd think compared to three stops on the Toronto subway because the stops are so spread out here, but sitll only a 24 cent fare (can you believe it).

On the way out, I tried to find a shortcut to the metro station, or at least a route that reduced the distance I had to schlep across the busiest stretch of main road but in the process got turned around and ended up further away than ever.  Surprise.  On the bright side, I discovered these great ruins overlooking a park right here in our neighbourhood.  Didn't stay long because I was trying to pace myself in the heat, but will definitely come back.

Some days it seems like wherever you go in south Delhi you end up on nasty Aurobindo Marg, a very loud and congested north/south arterial road, and so it was Sunday morning that I found myself hoofing it up the road from the Qutab metro station looking for an entrance to the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.

Eventually, I ducked into an unmarked driveway and found some abandoned ruins so I knew I was in the right place, but wasn't entirely sure how safe it was, even in mid-morning.  Pretty soon, though, I discovered that there were lots of people around (well not lots, but enough) and I'd just come in a back door.  In retrospect, there may only be back doors to the park.

The heat was already intense by 10:30am, so I hung out in the shade of Metcalf's Folly (the vaguely european neoclassical looking structure in the photo below) for a while eating lychee nuts, watching kids play cricket, planes fly past the Qutab Minar and this boar - one of India's  vacuum cleaners - methodically polish up everything it could find on the ground.  All in all, it was a bit of a life-is-sweet moment.

This is the Jamali Kamali mosque, with its courtyard and mausoleum.  It's just one of many features, large  and small, in the park.  The second photo below is actually inside the little mausoleum on the far right side of the mosque, though it looks much bigger.

I have to take an anti-malaria pill once a day, with food, but not dairy or vitamins, so planning when to take it can be a bit of a daily chore, especially when you never know if the ashram is going to serve yoghurt with any given meal.  So since my tummy was full of lychee nuts I thought it was the perfect time to get that day's pill over with.  Apparently not.  Lesson learned: juicy lychees are not enough to stave off the stomach tightening and quiziness from these malaria pills.  So what with the mid-day heat, the last vestiges of my cold and a bit of nausea, I conceded defeat and headed home earlier than planned for a nap.  In the end, I only saw about 1/3 of the park, so will have to return here as well.

The temperature has dropped a bit since Sunday and we've had some pre-monsoon rain.  The papers said  that Tuesday afternoon's thunder shower in Delhi dropped the temperature 12 degrees, get this, to 29.  In  any event, we must be grateful for small mercies.  Sleeping has been much more comfortable since then.