Day 21 - The missing Bazaar and the Terracotta Exhibition

Another free day to wander Delhi at will. Pollie and Garry were going to one of the bazaars to see a trader they've bought ethnic jewellery from before, so we tagged along to see how it's done. I ended up buying some strange sort of sewing contraption from an insistent street trader who kept repeatedly sewing the front of his own shirt to show me how it worked. I'm sure when I get home I'll wonder how I ever managed without one. I also bought some old necklaces, primarily of course to cover up the holes in my shirts from demonstrating how my sewing kit works. We then set off, on Pollie's recommendation, to see Sadar Bazaar -a mainly wholesale bazaar, very untouristy, stocking eveything the world would probably need if they could only find the place. Unfortunately we never did. Instead we walked for miles through the least salubrious areas of central Delhi, before resorting to a Tuk Tuk to take us back to the spice market so that at least we would know where we were. He saw us coming and drove us the extremely long way round - normally this wouldn't have mattered much but we were on a very tight schedule as we had to leave the hotel at 5pm to attend the opening at the Habitat Centre of the Terracotta Exhibition. (1000 pieces in all from Indian artists and invited guests from around the world.) Paul, Katherine and Francoise were exhibiting pieces they'd made at the Sanskriti camp and also pieces they'd sent previously ( unfortunately Paul had suffered quite a few breakages in transit )

We had all scrubbed up quite well, and didn't feel too out of place midst the Delhi art glitterati.

A Ray Meeker ceramic sculpture at the Habitat Centre.

The evening started with speeches and awards. Ray Meeker and his wife Deborah Smith from Golden Bridge Pottery at Pondicherry, S.India were honoured for their contributions to Indian ceramics, and finally the exhibition was opened. It was very well attended and quite a lot of the work was sold. We circulated, ate nibbles and drank. Anju who doesn't normally work in terracotta was showing some lovely intricately slip trailed plates - my overall favourites of the show were some pieces by a Swiss potter who's work we'd previously seen at the St Sulpice show in Paris.



Late supper - excellent day.