Garden of Dreams

The taxi that picked me up from my hotel in Allahabad yesterday morning arrived on cue at 7.00 a.m. Jumping into the back seat I noted immediately the absence of female connections for the seatbelts. Pointing this out to the driver (who was already wearing his) I received but a shrug in return. The porter who had escorted me to the car assured me though that I would be OK sitting in the back. This didn't seem logical given the presence of the male parts of the seat belts and that there are accidents on Indian roads as per anywhere else in the world; the only difference being the biblical scale of the carnage that occurs on roads in the subcontinent. Anyway, he seemed a reasonable sort of a chap and I elected to chance it on his reassurances. And sure enough he was right. Three bone-rattling hours later I arrived at Varanasi airport, still alive and well. Oh me of little faith...

On the flight I met an Argentinian tourist who was visiting Kathmandu for the first time and he asked my advice on what should be his holiday priorities within the scope of a four day visit. Inter alia I recommended two old favourites of mine that I visited myself just this afternoon. The first was the superb Chez Caroline restaurant in Baber Mahal which is a great place to while away a Sunday lunch, even with a restless Alisha. The other is Garden of Dreams in Thamel, a nobleman's fantasy garden from the 192o's that was re-discovered in 2000 in a very dilapidated state and restored to its former glory over the ensuing six years. It's a delightful place and I am particularly fond of the inscribed tablet with a verse from the Persian 12th century "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam". I would love to use this poetry as inspiration for a mosaic project in due course.

Reading the plaque though one is reminded of a major risk that is attached to living in Kathmandu for down the middle of it runs a crack that dates from the last great earthquake of 1934 that flattened much of the town and killed 8,000 people. A major quake is due again, if not overdue, and deaths next time around are expected to be in the region of 40,000. When you see the current chaos that permeates daily life in Kathmandu one wonders just how the city will manage when the "Big One" hits.