Friday 28 October 2011

A Delhi-lightful day!

Thursday
Went back into Delhi in the morning in search of more fabric, the driver took me on a little tour,
Great city I was surprised by the open spaces and big parks..very British in many ways.
But never too far from traffic and hoards of people by the roadside selling all sorts .
I was taken to this underground Bazaar-market....very dark ...not a place one would want to spend too much time....thankfully I found some beautiful embroidered dresses to cut up.......
I didn't see many tourists down there...suffice to say I was the focus of attention...'Sir...Mr....Wait.....Stop.....look at this...... this good Mr english' ....and so on!....
Went to the huge Monument India Gate, looks the Marble Arch built to commemorate the 90,000 soldiers of the Indian Army who lost their lives while fighting for the Indian Empire, or more correctly the British Raj in World War 1.
Whilst taking pictures a street seller shadowed me wanting me to buy these ...what I describe as helicopter sticks...fired into the air by a catapult rubber band, then spirals down to earth like a sycamore leaf....good fun!..he started by saying 2 for 100 rupees ( £1 10p)...I walked away saying no.....'4 for 100 rupess'....still saying no as I walked away.....'6'.....'8'  eventually I brought 10 for 100 rupees..hours of fun these sticks!....
Back to the Circuit, lots of movement in the paddock, teams have big hospitality units...I noticed when you look closely at all the buildings either side of the paddock..there aren't many straight lines!.
Thursday ...press day so all the journos were wanting the drivers impression of the circuit and India...with their media skills they batted diplomatic answers back.

A great event took place in the paddock around 4pm...along a  high metal fence were hung many paintings by under-privileged school kids and also kids with learning difficulties and mental handicaps.
there must have been 100 of them,  The kids had come from all over India and were asked to paint their surroundings...all kids between 8 and 16.  Blew me away!...such beautiful honest pure paintings...a real insight!..their dreams and desires were born out in these pictures.

All the kids gathering in front of their works....then all the drivers came and in turn signed all of them...great for the kids to meet the drivers and for them to put their signatures on the works but....somehow it didn't seem the right thing to do...signing all over the lovely works...but in December all the paintings will be auctioned off to benefit the kids directly ..so very worthy..I loved one in particular painted by this girl with Cerebral Pusey...amazing expressionistic piece..loved it..I reserved it!
...although it was signed by Jenson Button..so may be popular....
After that I was invited to drinks in the Virgin Hospitality it was Bob McKenzie's 60th Birthday..he's a good friend of Virgin. He 's the Telegraph reporter and rally driver...and father to the BBC's Lee McKenzie
In the evening there was a big welcome reception at the Hotel with a Bollywood themed show...lots of great food..not too spicy...wine and plenty of whiskey...kept on filling our glasses!
I sat on a table with Ross Brawn , principle of Mercedes...had a chat with him about Iceland!
He loves to fish there....a great hide-away in the off season...also sat next to the new boss of Allsport
David Campbell..he used to be the O2 boss in Greenwich..lots of stories...although we couldn't agree that his mate Chris Evans had once opened an influential art gallery with a naff name.....wellhung gallery!
A really good evening, he invited me to join him tonight(friday) to the F1 rocks concert.  Metalica...quite useful already having the earplugs for the races!!!
Friday,
Just back to hotel, another full day at the circuit, very hot 31 degrees and clear skies
But always very dusty, the track gets dirty very quickly, but it was the dust that stopped the second
free practice....it was 4 dogs!...stray dogs not a care in the world!..this could potentially
be a big problem during the race..looks out for some stray animals!,...how Martin Brundel describe that!!
In my capacity as a photographer with a small lens!  I took to the track during the 2 practice sessions...not many places to takes pics!....the snappers and cameramen are not too happy,,,usually there are holes cut into the high fences to takes pictures...many holes.....this track only has 7!
Seems very odd to me..
The paddock was so busy!..saw the CEO of Singapore track  and the German equivalent ..it looks like the stands will be full this weekend..they look spectacular..you will see on TV.
There was a presentation of the trophies on the Track with Mr E and the CEO of the title sponsors AirTel, Mr E came up to and asked how my work was going and then introduced me to The CEO..how nice...that means a lot to me...good day!

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