You know what? It's like falling in love. When you've been to a place a zillion times and you still find it new on every visit. When you're still awed by its sheer magnetism. When there's a secret hidden in it's gallis and aromas and you take it in , wanting to savour it forever. When you hate a thousand things about it and still accept it as a part of your being .Yes . It is like love. I think i fell in love with Delhi. Again.
What is it that you expect from the national capital? A little bit of India in it? A little bit of the old world charm? A frenzy of the futuristic skyscrapers and fast cars? A little bit of warmth? A little dose of charm? A little dash of irrationality? A cold shoulder? A dab of mysticism?
Yes, That's Delhi.
What do i want to tell you? That the first thing that hit me as i came out of the airport was the hot wind that was blowing off my dupatta and tugging at one end of my dupatta was a girl barely eight , hair sun bleached to different shades of blonde plaited in a faded ribbon , muddied face and the blistered palm outstretched , begging with that maddening soul-wrenching innocent pitiful look in her eyes. I looked up and found dozen or so such children , almost similar , scampering in the taxi stand outside the airport . And i felt something knot inside. This was our capital where
policies for children get made. This was our capital where sits the parliament and screams in loud voices to eliminate child labour from the country and provide basic health and education to every child 5 to 14 years of age. And this wasn’t the only place i found them . If you go to Delhi this is as permanent as the Qutub Minar. When i talked of them , my friends in Delhi just shrugged. They have come to accept it just like they have accepted the Minar.
Muchun and Asad, my knights in shining armour and Honda City and Toyota Zen {just don't ask me about it!!!;) } in Delhi, decide to give us a detour and we go to Delhi through Gurgaon from the Airport.
Once you hit the road what hits you is the construction of "The Metro" and traffic jams at every other junction. But yes, it isn't as bad as Kolkata, nor is it chaotic like Mumbai and Pune.
And Gurgaon is an antithesis. The Gaon that it once was has been replaced by a string of malls that seems unending and endorsements and ads scream from hoardings as big as a gully cricket ground. What were the scattered villages and farms have been taken over by skyscrapers and neon lights, which could be a part of any big city in the world. I frankly lost count of the malls we crossed.
Do i really want to tell you about the call of the malls in Delhi? During my stay at Delhi i went to scores of malls and believe me i can't tell one from the other. From MGF Metropolitan, Central , SAHARA and bleh bleh at Gurgaon to the Great Indian Mall and some other bleh bleh in Noida to those PVR complexes in Priya, Saket and don't remember where. I do remember City Walk Select Mall at Saket though. Only because we went there a dozen of times as we were staying nearby and one evening we managed to get drenched in the jet sprinklers . I swear i was the oldest of all . Linu, my cousin who was my travelmate from the word go, was the one who initiated the plan. Afterwards, my jeans and tee stuck to me like second skin and we sat shivering. The summer clouds threatened above but boy , was it fun!! The nice part about this mall is that it has loads of space and open air. Also "The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf" serves a mean cup of coffee and Smoked Vegetable Sandwich. And yes, it has “Crosswords” . All this apart, i have had my share of malls for a lifetime and it would be a matter of life and death to make me want to get into one of those.
There are a few days i will remember forever from my trip. And Asad has loads to do with it. He showed me the Delhi i therwise would never have seen. I think if you've a friend for a guide who has grown up in the city and knows it as well as he knows himself, it's an advantage nothing can beat . And the way he always took care of me, i know no amount of thank-yous is going to measure up to all of it . We did fight like animals at times but that's more me than him. He's chivarlry personified. Guess what? The guy opened the door of the car for any women around too!! Linu will vouch for it !!
The visit to Qutub Shah's and Nizammuddin's Durgah was an experience which i won't easily forget. Mostly because i'm drawn to people and people are drawn by faith. The Kawwals with kohled eyes, the women praying through the marble screens tying colourful threads in "mannat" , the maulwi who says the "Dua" and screams obscenities at the little beggar children in the same breath. The smell of "Atr", incense sticks and roses. I can still feel the Goosebumps when i remember the rendering of Kawwallis in the background and the soulful recital by the beggars in the narrow gulli that takes you into the Durgah. Asad said it brings bad luck to visit one durgah and not visit the other or so they believe. I went to both so that should do me some good.
Or do i tell you about the old walled city which is a different world altogether. The fluttering of pigeons with the Azaan at Jama Masjid, The colours of sarees and intricate lehengas and mouth-watering mithaais at Chandni Chowk, The smells of Parantha in Parantha Gali and delicious Kababs at Karim's in Gali Kababiana. Do i tell you that this is the Dilli i love the most. It’s not the metro Delhi at all and you get lost in the beautiful colours, the narrow gallis, and the lovely smells of food being cooked and served on the streets, the music bellowing from speakers in every second shop. The burkha clad women, the demure little girls, the pan spitting men, the colourful rickshaws, just looking at them is a different feeling altogether. Ah..Rickshaws. The car parking is a mile away from Jama Masjid and you have to take rickshaws to reach the Masjid. Of course , you can walk too. But i simply had to sit on a rickshaw. I didn’t even remember what it felt like.
Believe it or not, it's a mela at the India Gate at night. I'm not sure if it's every night or only on that Sunday we went but the place was bustling with thousands and thousands of people , laughing, singing, playing, strolling, eating and of course littering the place. And it was later than 12 in the morning when we were there. It was crazy. And it was full moon too. Khirod Sir said it's like that every weekend and as we devoured one ice cream after another and strolling finally reached the India Gate, the picnic just seemed to have begun.
And India Gate: She is magnificent. She stands in testimony for the pride of being Indian and every time you look at her she sends your blood rushing through your veins like fire and a feeling akin to patriotism. As i write i can feel the goosebumps start all over.
The Rastrapati Bhawan and Lal Quila look beautiful by the night too. It's either the lighting or maybe i'm just a hopeless romantic.
Another monument that’s breathtaking after the sun has set is the Qutub Minar. Lit softly from below by the artificial lights and the zillion stars from above, the soft wind blowing through it’s corridors and singing some old forgotten tune, you can set lost in her for hours and not realize how time has flown.
And Delhi is a foodie Delh-ite.
Be it the street food or restaurants, the tastes are mind-boggling and the variety just amazing. The Pani puris with Pudine ki Chutney, The Dahi Bhalla, The Papri Chat, the famous Alu ki tikki fried in pure desi ghee, and the amazing assortment of paranthas and chutneys to accompany. Oh yes. the pickled chilies. You find these in every market and corner worth its name. I already wrote about Karim’s and everyone who’s a foodie swears by its seekh kababs. There’s this joint called “Kasbah” at GK and the tandoor is one of the best in the entire region. And once you are in GK don’t forget to check out the “Bread and More” . It’s cakes and pastries are a visual delight and let me not start with what it does to your taste buds. There’s this place called Qureshi’s just behind the South-Ex Market that serves food on the street. A must visit for any foodie. If you are a vegetarian, I would recommend “the Taste of India” chain but only if there were lesser flies and they did something with the ventilation. The Haldiram’s isn’t half bad either. If you have the craving for hot just cooked biriyani at the middle of the night, the place to go is ‘Comesum” near Nizammuddin Station. Believe it or not, it’s open throughout the night and the crowd starts pouring in when the clock strikes the midnight hour. "Eatopia" in the India habitat Centre is another place where you get an assortment of food. Just make sure you avoid the weekend rush or else you won’t find a place to sit. And IHC is a treat for a person like me. Wonderful exhibitions of paintings and photographs, plays, experimental art by amateurs and professionals. I could go there every day and still not get bored by it. If you love south Indian food “Sagar Ratna” is the place to go. There’s this place called “Evergreen” in Green Park that’s supposed to serve lovely food but i wouldn’t know as we got kicked out for reaching late for lunch. And it was only three in the afternoon. We ended up eating those stupid French fries and sandwiches and burgers at McD’s and i was in a bad mood throughout the day. Asad swears by the Chinese in Taj and Mishti hates it and i have no taste for anything Chinese, so i am no judge on that either. But Muchun, my permanently hungry chaperone did carry those “Yo China” boxes every time he had one of his hunger pangs. And that guy. Has he got an appetite! I wouldn’t bet on it if i weren’t sure he could digest anything eatable within seconds and manage to feel hungry again. Oh! Before i forget. All Italian food lovers, “Big Chill” in Khan Market is the place to be. I loved it more because it had the big posters of all those long forgotten classics, from Casablanca to My Fair Lady and Humphrey Bogart looking down at you from every other poster. And that they give you a choice of pasta, sauce and bread to choose from and the heavenly smells that come from the kitchen is just beside the point. Hyatt was a fiasco as are most big restaurants. They are more about ambience, service and subdued voices than the food itself. So, i’d give it a miss. And before this turns into a food guide, I’ll stop. I can already feel my stomach rumbling. God knows how i managed to lose weight after eating so much!! On one of our eating trips, when i finally said no to ice-cream at the end of a big brunch, my host said, “ My dear, remember. All good things in life are either illegal, immoral or fattening”. Ouch!
I will remember the times i spent with the little kid, my nephew, all of six months old and he was a treat. Do i miss him!! And my bhaiya and bhabhi just celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary and still behave like love-struck teenagers. They made me wish for a married life. Asad's family gave me such a warm feeling of being back at home. Another couple that gave me that mushy feeling was Ajit Bhai and Namita Di. And their son, Aryan's a treat. The kid, all of four years is a car buff and loves bungee jumping and oregami. What age do we live in!!!
And i will remember the movie i watched which was meant to be a punishment for me - Khuda Ke Liye. It was meant to be a payback because i made our gang go through the ordeal of watching a crap called “U Me Aur Hum”. But what a payback it turned out to be. Definitely ranks as one of the best movies in recent times, beautifully portraying religion, rise in extremism, 9/11, love, sacrifice, repentance, and confusion in youth, intrinsically woven together with strings of music. The music is so beautiful i bought the music and gifted it to everyone around who had an ear for it. I loved the movie even more because Asad was there and he had given me a great background on modern Muslim families and the confusion and contradiction within. He also called the Muslim men a certain profanity of the sister kind which can’t be quoted here and it was hilarious at points when he gave comparisons of the movie with himself. Incidentally the profanities of the mother and sister kind are not profanities at all for Delhites. They are more a part of speech, mostly used as a pronoun and adjective, but sometimes can take forms of noun and adverb too. The Eff word is an accessory like those D&G glasses or CD perfume, to be used as frequently as possible. They asked me to get used to it, but i’m not sure if i ever will.
And in the meanwhile here’s a list of books i managed to read up on. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, 366 teachings of Islam, The Quran, The Naxalism Movement in India, Talent IQ, Globalisation and its effect on India, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalled Housseini, The Zigzag Way by Anita Desai, Buddha and his Teachings, Conversations with God- Part 1 to 3, The Speaking Tree, Volume 1, A Good Earth by Eckhart Tolle. And i finally got my own copy of "The Undercover Economist".
There are some things that didn’t go as i had thought. Like the trip to Hrisikesh, Haridwar, Kasauli and Vaishno Devi . And that can wait till my next trip. And a BIG tip. Do not ever go to Delhi on a pleasure trip in summer unless of course you have a thing for an open air-scalding sauna, which is what Delhi turns into March through July. Do not get your clothes stitched by a “Masterjee” in any high-end boutique unless he's your regular one . The chances are there will be a hole in your pocket and safety pins keeping your dress in place. Do carry a garbage bag with you always. It's almost impossible to find one anywhere in Delhi. Do not take your car out, if it has rained even for 15 minutes. You are bound to get stuck in a traffic and chaos. Do not walk aroung with a locked knee and sprained ankle, and definitely not in four inch heels, you'll just end up falling at all the wrong places. Do not go to a mall with any kind of plastic card that has dough in it. You’ll end up buying things you never needed in the first place, you’ll end up paying a hefty fine to the airlines and when you finally take out those pair of Levi’s I’m sure you wouldn’t want to know how much you ended up paying for it. And to think it looks so tattered and torn your mom’s in two minds if she should use it as a swab.
There was one thing i missed in the entire trip. My Camera. Next time.
I am back at Keonjhar after more than a month and strangely when i think of Delhi now the first thing i remember is the last look i had of the city from my flight. all lighted up like diwali celebration, the blinking lights and zillions of stars crawling an a snail’s pace in straight lines..
They say “Dilli dilwalon ki hai” ..i don’t know that. But i sure miss it. Thank you M, A , B &B , KS, M , Ab, ND, Aryan and Puchul and everyone who made it so beautiful for me.
And to all my friends , sorry for not replying and updating you sooner. But now you know.
