Chandigarh 11/07

We'll be leaving (finally) for Shimla later today, and I won't have a guaranteed opportunity for internet access until we get back.

Yesterday I went to the Rock Garden. The Rock Garden is a feature that was not planned – a man named Nek Chand (?) started building it in the forest on the outskirts of town. He lived in a little hut out there, and collected bits of broken ceramics, wires, bottle caps, and other odds, which he used to assemble in the most fantastic shapes and landscapes. The walls and banks are adorned with strange figurative creatures, and also with abstract forms of volcanic rock. It's an absolutely incredible example of what I guess they call outsider art. It's rather like the yin to the city's yang of modernity and organization.

I met a man in the British Library yesterday who was quite old. He sat beside me and asked if I was British. When I told him I was an American, he started telling me about his wife who was also American, and from there he told me many interesting stories. He said that he has traveled extensively in America and Europe, and met many famous people while doing so. He told me a story about meeting Albert Einstein, and also Pearl S. Buck. I have no idea whether his stories were true, but they were well told, and he was certainly old enough to have met Einstein before his death (1955). I enjoyed listening to him. I drew a picture of him.