National Museum, New Delhi

http://www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/index-2.html

Just got to my notes made during the Summer of 2009.Pictures left behind in India: awaiting their arrival through email or post!

Website:Not a very classy website,  more in the lines of  standard Indian textbooks and GOI websites announcing various vacancies.

Museum
The sculptures  and the Harappan collections are the strongest in this museum.
Is it displayed well? Yes and No.
Looked after well? No.
People happily, randomly and specifically touch all sculptures as they please!
Small random signs advising not to touch, but advice not enforced!

Museum Shop upstairs: Disinterested keeper, random kitschy junk which has no rhyme or reason to be there. Some random portfolios thrown among crafty cards, covered in dust.
Reflects the worst kitschy-ness in Indian Art: jumble of Kashmir-Rajasthani-North Indian random crafts which is someone's idea of India!!!!
  A few minutes away  one will find better products on the pavements of Janpath and Connaught Place.
Forget it!

Museum-Counter Shop with half empty shelves behind: Good service.Not enough goods!
The museum was in a frenzy of closed galleries, renovation works, non-functioning fountains bare in blue plastic in the central courtyard for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The better portfolio collection carried only one portfolio: that of  the 1982 Asiad Games! Pictures tomorrow!
 Some good reproductions from the Harappan Collections but none available except for the exquisite Harappan seals-reproduction copies in plaster-of-paris. Then only some of them! Ok, not great.
some portfolios, slightly dusty book collections: Bought the Chola Bronzes and the Harappan Civilization book.

Museum Cafe: If the electricity is out, be prepared to stew on the top most floor. Attentive service, red checkered table cloths: why?
Don't we have enough fabrics or designers to come up with something unique?

Menu: Fair priced menu, for the location and good food. Not exceptional. The plate of Rava Idlis: 30/- came with 2 fat idlis sambhar and chutney.
Rs. 30/- for an  cold coffee, Indian style: good!
Buffet was on with 4 covered containers. Did not check.
Server suggested Masala Dosa as being a 'good item'.
The elderly manager, a Sikh gentleman eating masala dosa but not forgetting to say 'thankyou for coming'!

And the Delhi of the Markets...

Street Food at Connaught Place, New Delhi.

The Delhi of the Dead and the Sleeping: Safdarjung's Tomb

In the height of summer in Delhi,  you can walk down to the Lodi Gardens and relax, or walk a little further, straight down Lodi Road ending at the gates of Safdarjung's  tomb. While the walk is along the shady pathway,  there is no let up to the heat and sweat.

Walk on a little bit more, pay the Rs 5 fee, walk on past the waterbody onto the main building, climb up the stairs and collapse near one of the doorways, either side of the main entrance: the breeze is unbelievable  and calm and quiet is broken only by the laughter of college kids playing hide and seek: boys and girls free from supervision and perhaps the unwanted attention a single woman visitor garners:

Can I sit here?

It is a public place

Am I disturbing you?

Shrug

Are you alone?

No, waiting for someone.

Do you work?

Yes

Is this your first time in Delhi

No, I keep coming for work

Do you like Delhi?

Not so much... need to be careful of Delhi folks.

Oh no, we have to change your impression..now that we have become friends.

We are not friends!

Silence...

Are you married?

Yes

Are you from South India?

Yes

Are you Christian?

No [ my bindi must have fallen off with the sweat beads!]

So you are Hindu!

Slight nod. "No, I am pagan!"  remains in the mental realm

Do you have kids?

Yes, 10!

Oh! ...Silence for a few minutes

"This peace is beautiful and these silly college kids are breaking it..."

They are fine! I like it!

Oh!

After finding out the fact earlier, Shri Govind was shaken off by a  remark to find out whether the door to the upper level was open or not.

By the time, Shri Govind went all around Safdarjung's  first upper level looking for the stairs, moi was down the stairs and out  through the entrance.

The ticket counter hosts the afternoon snooze of 3 employees  with the fourth one manning the counter.

A request for brochures and other documents gets a nod towards the empty display counter and a question towards one of the snoozers who obviously cannot make the effort and gives the usual Indian Babudom-brush-off, of finding it somewhere else and sometime later!!

With the kind of efforts and money being pumped by the GOI to primp the city in time for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, an eye and attention to Safdarjung's Tomb employees attitude might really  spruce up the monument!