A farewell to Delhi

So I've added a picture link to the sidebar of this site, and hopefull I'll find time to upload more of my adventures on there.

We returned from Chandigarh to wrap up our program a couple days ago. We had a farewell banquet with all the host families and program coordinators on Friday, and yesterday I went on a bike ride in the Old City.

Tonight, at 1am, we leave our hostel to board Qatar Airlines to Cape Town (via Doha). The flight is long, but I'm really looking forward to the weather and beauty of Cape Town. I hear it's wonderful. Our first homestay will be with a family in the township of Langa, and the second homestay will be with a family in Bo-Kaap. Then comes vacation...

Some shots from the bike ride:

spice market

those are the crazy streets we biked through

Shimla- the foothills of the Himalayas

While in Chandigarh I was lucky enough to spend a glorious 6 hours in Shimla, a city that's literally built into the folds of the mountains. The British used it as their summer capital in India, as it's significantly cooler than Calcutta or Delhi, so it the slight feeling of an older European city. It's quite touristy at places, but beautiful nonetheless. I took a half hour hike up a mountain to this Hindu temple, and as I was walking the entire mountain became enveloped in a cloud. It's so wonderful to get to spend a day in 70 degrees weather when it's been 100 for a week straight.

Shimla

Some of the many monkeys- they held me up for my candy bar and I was so scared I surrendered. Dangerous creatures.

My mountain hike

The British Mall area

The Himachali/Tibetan Bazaar

I got a fantastic yak wool blanket/shawl thing here. so warm.

Chandigarh- a lesson in planning

Le Corbusier's Chandigarh: the Capitol Complex:

Open Hand Monument

(The hand that's open to giving and receiving)

The plaza was originally designed for public debate and the realization of democracy, but after the president of punjab was assassinated no one is allowed in... thanks terrorism.

Secretariat (one of 3 Corbu buildings in the complex)

Housing in Chandigarh-

For my case study in Chandigarh I researched housing. We looked into Corbu's vision of creating "housing for everyone," which was realized through extensive government built housing for government employees. Since Chandigarh was planned in the middle of nowhere as the new capital of Punjab, no one seemed to think that people outside of the government would come to the city. Wrong. So private housing has filled in gaps, and both sectors (gov't and private) run the gamut from very high income to the lowest socio-economic class. As for the very poor, they are mostly migrant workers from the rural areas of the surrounding states who have come to the city to do manual labor. Since Chandigarh is one of the few municipalities with a housing scheme for slum rehabilitation, there is great hope that one might eventually be given housing. However, the process is long and drawn out; it involves being documented through biometric surveys ten years in advance of receiving housing, demolition of more established slums, and economic and political biases. Here's a few snapshots from our day in the field:

Slum redevelopment:

transitory housing for slums

multi-story small flats (one room each) under construction for rehabilitated slums

How the better half lives:

middle class private housing in Chandigarh- Sector 22