Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Our next stop was the Selim Hill tea estate where we delighted in the beauty of our accommodation and surrounds. The estate was home to my great-grandmother and her family for many years and being there made me feel so glad for them - that they were blessed to have lived in such a lovely place (although I'm sure there were many challenges... one of the letters from my great-grandmother refers to India as 'that cursed place'!).

We luxuriated in the spacious wooden rooms, white tipped tea and being waited on hand and foot. The meal schedule was tough but fair: bed tea and biscuits, then breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, evening ‘snacks’ and then once we were able to button the top button of our pants again we would finish with a 3 course dinner. We are not going to be the sort of people who lose weight while in India. 

  
Introducing beautiful Selim Hill - the family estate sits atop the hill above left.

  
  
Dad blended in seamlessly with the local pickers while Kate preferred more of a supervisory approach...

  
 
We did occasionally take breaks from eating to wander through the tea plantations and factory buildings, visit hyper-active Kurseong, numerous other places of historical interest to our family and to check out an excellent ‘forestry’ museum where we stroked the fur of long dead tigers.

Above left is Kurseong which must have the best reception in India and on the right is the gravestone of my great-grandmother's brother who died as an infant. The region was uninhabited prior to the arrival of the British who brought the Nepali people down to work on their plantations. The town has a strong Buddhist feel but is open to more modern philosophies too, such as the Jennifer Aniston quote at the local internet cafe: 'There are no regrets in life, only lessons'. 

  One of the perks of visiting all of the plantations where our ancestors had lived was the free samples!

Time for a shameless plug: the Selim Hill estate has only recently opened as an eco-tourism resort and is in need of customers. If anyone out there is looking to stay at a tea estate in India this one is really fantastic (http://www.selimhill.com/the_hideaway.html).

One day in Delhi

*We interrupt this blog to cover Sophie’s family holiday in India for the benefit of the Dominy descendants. Sadly Dan was not able to come. I know that you will all miss his rugged good looks and photographic abilities as much as I do!*


I was joyously reunited with my family inside a gorgeous Delhi haveli. It was such a delight to be with them again and, as with most close relationships, it felt as though we’d never been apart at all. Soon after we were off on a whirlwind tour of Delhi.   We stirred a vat of curry at a Sikh temple sprinkled liberally with gold and then wove through the traffic to Old Delhi to marvel at the intricate carvings in an elaborate mosque, looking like Moonies while black birds circled dramatically overhead. 

 

Popeye's strength is required for effective stirring! and sister Alex looking glamourous at the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara temple.

  

Meet the team - at the back from left to right: Michael, sister Kate, my uncles Malcolm and Warwick and myself.  In the front: my mother Sharyn, sister Alexis and father Peter.  Above right and below is an imposing mosque.

  


  

We regretfully abandoned our glamourous robes in order to check out the narrow, bustling and chaotic Choux district where the women of Delhi are fitted for their wedding sari’s and jewellery. Entrancing culinary smells mingled with incense as we checked out tweenaged brides-to-be, some truly odd vegetables, tangled masses of power lines and intricate crafts.

 

  

Next we took a bicycle rickshaw to the Red Fort, a remnant of the Mughal empire.  We learnt about the turbulent English reign at the British museum (sometimes being partially of British descent is really embarrassing).

 
Those of us who were templed out stayed at the fort (below left) to check out the Indian museum and those of us who were not left to check out the magnificent Akshardham temple (below right).    
  

The temple is a spectacular spectacle- a mixture of the ancient and the modern where the traditionally detailed and delicate carvings are tastefully highlighted with LED and which features, amongst other wonders, an underground log flume ride in swan-shaped boats.  Like all of the most beautiful Indian places, it was no cameras allowed... sorry folks. 

  

We finished up with an enormous Indian feast (palak paneer how I’ve missed you!) and then fell comatose into our beds, a little like the gentleman below.  It is great to be back!