Have you seen my cool?

It's official.
I have lost my cool.

You'll ask: How the hell do you misplace such an important thing, where could it have gone?
And I'll tell you: It was easy and It's probably in the same place as all my bobby pins and socks.

It could have all been prevented if I had just not stepped off the plane on the 15th of Jan 2009. I could have just stayed on the plane and gone somewhere else. But at that point, I never thought I could be so careless.

So anyway, here I am 6 months later and I look at myself in the mirror and I can see behind my eyes, there is no more cool. There is only heat.
Who the hell am I? I don't raise my voice. I don't demand things. I don't crap on people.
Well, I never used to. Now I do it all the time.
All of you who know me, imagine I get in a taxi in South Africa and the driver doesn't know where my destination is. I flip out. My voice is raised, my face is red, I'm threatening to take the cab company to the consumer court. I'm giving it to this guy like he has never had it before. Behaviour to make my parents proud.

I'm not trying to make excuses, but Dehli is an aggressive city. It has one of the most extreme climates (below 3 degrees to above 45 degrees) and historically it was the first place to be invaded every time India was at war. These things and I'm sure others have given it a really hard edge.
So I jumped on the band wagon. I got aggressive. I got angry. I got furious. After exercising my virgin vocal chords for a few months, I realised that I had raced way ahead of the band wagon. Delhi is not furious or angry. It just knows what it wants and it does whatever it wants, which is pretty admirable. So unlike me, Delhi has a cool heat.

Now I am stuck with a heat I want less of and a lost cool. I've tried yoga, I've tried swimming, I've tried meditation. Still no cool.

So I ask again. Anyone seen my cool?

Mix colour with a heap of amazing...

DIR 69.

Being on your own in Delhi with nothing to do is the best way to discover new things.

One Wednesday morning, while losing myself in wondering around, I noticed a small display cabinet at the bottom of a tiny staircase. What had caught my eye was one of the most unique, exciting, outrageous handbags that had ever caught my eye.
My heart skipped a beat.
Trying to control the pace of my breathing I walked up the staircase and entered an explosion of perfectly matched vibrant patterns and colour. I knew I was in trouble.

Every bag and piece of clothing looked like something I imagine coming out of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Amazing, beautiful, wild.
I tried on everything that fit me.

Tanu, (the owner and designer) puts together material, patterns and colour in a way that is truly cool, and when putting on one of her garments, you feel like you are meeting a new friend - a friend who is going to show you that you’ve never really had fun before right now.

If you love colour and personality in your wardrobe this is the place for you.
If you’re a ‘charcoal is the new black’ kinda gal, you need to visit DIR 69 and get educated.

DIR 69 can be found in Hauz Khas village. If you walk past The Living Room on your right you will almost get to the end of the road and on your left there is a colourful sign and the tiny staircase.

cutting key craft

Keys are still cut by hand in Gurgaon.

ayee ayeeeeee ah! Holler man.

This video was taken at 8am on the road outside my apartment.
This guy is selling something, I'm still trying to figure out what...
He sings/shouts/calls/hollers/?!?!?!?!?!? to let everyone know he is there.
Notice how he turns around to do another lap.

Frolicking birdies

Taken in Stellenbosch while on holiday.

Indian-Loreal Hair treatment

Kristin and I arrived at the salon/ parlor I had previously been to, looking for Indian head massages - only to to find it closed. So we ventured into the one next door. The entrance looked pretty fancy so we excitedly climbed the stairs. Only to find a grimy, dingy room filled with 20 employees and no customers. I asked, wide eyed, for 2 Indian head massages and we were told that we were both in dire need of an India-Loreal hair treatment. Throwing caution down the sink we dropped our heads into the basins.
After our wash we were placed on chairs where the entire staff could keep an eye on us. They positioned themselves along the side of the room as if they were in front of a TV or maybe in this case, a freak show. I asked if we could move to another corner. Our entourage came with us.
It took 2 of them a good half an hour to remove the birds nest they created on Kristin's head.
But our hair looked pretty good after.
Indian-Loreal Hair Treatment - Because we're worth it!

Here's Kristin back in Delhi after a month long trip up to Dharamsala.

Nat & Mike come to India

My amazing, creative, crazy, wonderful friends managed to fit themselves in my bag when I left Cape Town. They really like India.

Beauty in the Gurgaon beast.

This is the view from my desk.
And if you look a little closer...Nice.

Taking it home.

The family all dressed up in their Kurta Pajamas.

Passing the time

I have slowly been teaching myself to read in the car to pass the time on my commute to work. The roads and traffic are so bad that car sickness is a hard beast to tame. I was pretty damn impressed this lady was not vomiting over her husbands shoulder. Maybe she's had more practice than me.

Beautiful Design where you wouldn't expect it

Sleeping on the job or the only place to sleep?

Here is a really interesting article with a lot of details regarding the laws and usage of cycle Rickshaws.

Said things

'Just do one thing.'
This is normally used when you are being requested to do a million things.

'Too much of work.'
In Delhi, there really is way too much of work. People work 6-7 days a week and 9 - 12 hours a day. In my opinion, it's either because people are hugely driven or because things are so disorganised that the work load is doubled.

'Namaste Madam Gi'
'Gi' is the Hindi word for 'Sir'. The above sentence translates to 'Hello Madam Sir'. It's weird being a woman man...

'What are you saying?'
This is used as an outraged statement when I ask questions about Indian history or Bollywood stars or the Epics. I'm considered 'uneducated' for not knowing these things. Then I ask if they know who Shaka Zulu is and prove my point.

Pairidaéza...!

The old Iranian language Avestan had a noun pairidaēza-, “a wall enclosing a garden or orchard,”
Along came the Greeks and then the English, they tinkered around a bit and we have the word Paradise.
The origin of this word is beautifully demonstrated by Samode Bagh.
It is a tented hotel in a walled garden. Along with a pool, old buildings with bats, camels, peacocks, horses, trees, green grass, delicious food, shady outdoor day beds...
it's a little piece of pairidaēza in the Rajasthani desert.















































Our journey started on Friday... 7 of us and driver, sardined into a Toyota Innova for a 5 hour drive into the desert.
I once again had to deal with my destiny of sitting in the middle. We even came up with a genius idea of how to fit in better... by spooning.














During our toilet-paper-free toilet stop (what's new?) there was a really long wait, so a desperate mother expertly aimed her sons pee into the basin next to me. I only noticed this half way through my hand washing. Thank goodness for Hygienic Hand Gel! My only real regret is being too polite and not having the guts to take a photo.

That evening we dined at Samode Palace which lit up and broke into song as we walked between horses and camels, into a shower of leaves and up stairs of flowers. Wel Come.













































On day one, Emilia and I walked up 376 stairs in the mid day heat, to the fort. I helped a woman carrying a million sticks on her head unstick her load from the surrounding thorns. A lady under an umbrella sold us flower garlands for a fortune and a guide adopted us on the way down. Our guide showed us the highlights of the local village.




































A family who has been making bangles for generations showed us how they use tree resin to make Indian bangles. Seeing the energy and knowledge put into making something that seems simple was awesome enough to get me to purchase an armful. Good marketing tactics.
































We then went on a sunset camel ride.






































Our beautiful ride took a dark turn when we went past a very disturbing site. A family was trying to get their male buffalo to mate with their female buffalo. The female was pretty much being set up for rape. Her front and back legs were tied together and she was again tied with the side of her face pressed against a tree - she was freaking out. Luckily the male did not seem that interested in her and then we turned the corner and I don't know how the story ends.

Rob and Dan met Ram on their village walk about. Ram organised a dune party for us. It was more of a dune get together, but wonderful none the less. We sat on a hill, under the moon, drinking and singing, with Dan playing his guitar in the background.










































Thanks Rob and Emilia for 'lending' some photos to a camera-less girl.

This blog post is dedicatred to my Finch (fiance) who took me on this beautiful holiday. Thank you Spoon!