CRAFTS MUSEUM IN DELHI

We found a few good museums on this trip to India, but the Crafts Museum in Delhi has to remain the favourite. Every time we go, we find new, wonderful things. This year it was a set of wonderful, primitive paintings. There is a detail from one at the end of the blog. It is supposed to be 'looking at a paddyfield through a microscope' and contains wonderful animals, people and insects.

It is time to sign off on this India blog. I do hope to do another one next year!

MARTIN"S SCHOOL IN TIKLI

The school is coming on beautifully. All the kids have uniforms now, with bright yellow ties and belts. They are very proud of them. You can tell the new kids who just started yesterday. Their ties are brighter yellow - and they haven't learned to smile yet! They look incredibly serious. One little one kept trying to escape! Thankfully it won't take them long to love school like all the others!

TIKLI BOTTOM, NEAR GURGAON

Tikli Bottom was looking even lovelier than last time. It is very nice, being there later in the year, when it is warmer, but not yet ridiculously hot. The little boy Annie is holding is exactly the same age as Luna and made a debut in last years blog. He is a gorgeous little lad, much loved by everyone. Martin is very proud of his garden. He walked us round, introducing us to all his favourite trees. They grow amazingly fast here. Many of them are under seven years old and practically reach the sky. Some of them were brought over surreptitiously in a bag from Africa - others are definitely Indian Natives. All seem to thrive, even though they are set quite close to each other. A bit like Indians, who live happily in close proximity to each other!

GOODBYE TO USHA KIRAN

This photo from our bedroom is probably the family who lived in the palace in the thirties. I would love to know the story of the family and what happened to all six children. We felt that we were treated like royalty at Usha Kiran. Our chef looked after us exceptionally well. He chose our menu for us each day.

GWALIOR MARKET

There are several markets in Gwalior - this was a good one. Lots of salesmen wanting their pictures taken - but still looking grumpy!

DAY TRIP TO DATIA

We had a trip to Datia, a city with a 17th century palace and lots of other interesting buildings. It felt like a village - but held 100,000 people!

MOSQUE AND MUSLIM TOMBS IN GWALIOR

We found a Mosque near the archaeological museum, which was immensely simple and very beautiful. The washroom was extremely austere, but quite lovely. We also visited some beautiful Muslim tombs, set amongst wonderful, giant trees. The tombs had pierced marble windows (see end of blog).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM IN GWALIOR

There are two archaeological museums in Gwalior. One, up in the fort, is awful, the other, at Gwalior Gate, is possibly our favourite museum in India. It is mainly open air and contains some magical sculptures. Today was wash and brush up day, with lots of scrubbing and toothbrush work.

USHAR KIRAN PALACE, OUR HOTEL IN GWALIOR

We love it at Gwalior. The Ushar Kiran Palace is an old fashioned Taj, but one of the loveliest. Gwalior is also an old fashioned, sort of timeless city, with lots to see and do. I don't think we have ever felt as cared for as we have felt at this Taj. Many of the staff are the same as last year and they all seem to remember us. Our room is number 204 and we always want to stay in it! Infact, we think that Tigs and Debra really ought to be getting married here, as we know how much they loved it too, when they stayed a year and a half ago!

HYDERABAD CRAFTS MUSEUM AND MARKET

We visited a rather kitsch craft museum, designed to look like an Indian village, with models of crafts people working. These pictures were of costumes of giant characters that were supposedly being made in a large puppet workshop. The things in their necks are for the actors to look through. As well as the village, there was a large crafts market there, which we enjoyed. The best thing was a beautiful puppet show tent, which is near the end of the blog. Most of the place seemed to concentrate on Rajastani crafts.

HYDERABAD'S LAAD BAZAAR

We are in Hyderabad now and we visited the market, which is huge, dirty and not so appealing as many. It was only when I downloaded my few pictures that I realised that the shop I was photographing was actually my dream shop - full of beads! I doubt if we will be able to find it again! More pix of it near the end of the blog!

HUGE NANDI NEAR MYSORE

We revisited the largest Nandi in India, up a hill just outside Mysore. He is very beautiful and obviously much loved.

KAMBADAHALLI JAIN TEMPLE

One of our best visits was to this very old, rather domestic village temple, where we met lots of naughty village boys, a group of lady pilgrims, a very friendly priest and a very friendly local Jain. It was such a good visit. The locals live with the buildings and the carvings in a totally natural way. They even use it to hang out the washing! No tourists, because it isn't in any of the guide books. Terry found it in one of his architectural tomes.

TIPU SULTAN'S SUMMER PALACE

We had to secretly take pictures of the summer palace - something we never achieved last time! We were only yelled at once! Very difficult to get much out of the pics, though. It is the most beautiful place we've seen, with whole walls of minutely detailed paintings of Tipu's wars against the Brits. The last picture (which was allowed, after a donation), was in Tipu's mausoleum at Gumbaz. The walls are all painted in symbolic tiger skin.

ROUND AND ABOUT MYSORE

Of course we bought some more silk - and had a few more shirts and tops made up! This was a superb saleslady! The shops are so pretty, with gorgeous, vibrant colours. Babish, our wonderful driver (and also friend, after three weeks or more) posed with a lovely little boy outside the boy's Dad's shop.

TWO TEMPLES

We visited two temples, about four hours away from Mysore. We liked the one at Halebad best, with it's wonderful Nandis and beautiful surrounding grounds. There is a picture of the grounds at the bottom of the blog. Belur had some amazing wall sculptures and a rather fine tank.

DEVARAJA MARKET IN MYSORE

The produce in the market is absolutely superb - and the presentation is wonderful too. You could spend hours here, just looking at fruit and vegetables, as well as the amazing people who sell them.