The day started early for us today. We’ve been waking up at about 5:30am and not able to get back to sleep. This is very exciting for me because Keith can’t get coffee until after 7…
Since it’s Sunday morning nothing is really open in the area around our hotel. Keith and I decide to just take a walk. Immediately after exiting our hotel we are inundated with offers from auto- and bicycle-rickshaw drivers to take us where we needed to go. They didn’t quite understand that we just wanted to walk around. “Going for a stroll” must not be big in these parts.
At noon, Mintu picked us up to go the Crafts Museum. According to one of our guidebooks, this museum is “Delhi’s most enjoyable; showcases India’s incredible variety of local artistic and cultural traditions. There are crafts here from every part of the sub-continent and in every type of medium from tribal costumes to ivory carvings.” Unfortunately, the museum was undergoing an extensive renovation and many of the exhibits weren’t open. The one upside was that we got to see “construction” in India up close and personal- women carrying large bundles of building material on their heads and barefoot men first mixing, then slopping cement onto bricks to build a new wall.
Of the exhibits we were able to view (in non-AC with “perspiration” DRIPPING from us) we most enjoyed the “Textile Reference” rooms. Traditional brocade sarees in deep, rich colors, formal men’s wear with decorated turbans and gorgeous tapestries were displayed behind glass in the main area, but it was the exhibit off in one of the side rooms that really caught our attention. In this room, several different types and sized of looms were displayed. It looked as if, on other days, they might have craftspeople working the looms, showing how weaving has been done for centuries. Unfortunately, today wasn’t the day for this.
The highlight of this museum, for me, was going to be the outdoor exhibit area where one could see artisans creating traditional crafts. I thought that this would be a great way to channel the idea of traders along the Silk Road hundreds of years ago, but out of about 25 stalls, only 3 had people in them, although it was cool to watch how the terra cotta statues were made.
B ut maybe I was being overly critical as I was so eager to move on to my second lesson with Madame Rita…
Since it’s Sunday morning nothing is really open in the area around our hotel. Keith and I decide to just take a walk. Immediately after exiting our hotel we are inundated with offers from auto- and bicycle-rickshaw drivers to take us where we needed to go. They didn’t quite understand that we just wanted to walk around. “Going for a stroll” must not be big in these parts. 
The highlight of this museum, for me, was going to be the outdoor exhibit area where one could see artisans creating traditional crafts. I thought that this would be a great way to channel the idea of traders along the Silk Road hundreds of years ago, but out of about 25 stalls, only 3 had people in them, although it was cool to watch how the terra cotta statues were made. Another potentially interesting area of the museum grounds was where traditional huts from different regions of India were constructed. I had thought this would be reminiscent of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, but I was, again, disappointed. I think that several of the structures had sustained damage from the monsoons this season and since the place was so deserted, one really could not get a real image of traditional village life. Ah well.
Coming soon: August 14, part 2: My second lesson with Madame Rita and meeting Bidisha.
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