Some songs hit just hit the chord so right with us. I wonder is it just the word or the melody or the music in the background, I am still to decipher that, though all I can say is that these songs make me smile or feel sad or make me head bang. I am currently listening to 'Abhi Nahi Aana' by Sona this song is about how this singer doesn't want her beau to come so soon as she wants to enjoy the distance between them, it is strange how I just cant smiling as Sona sings those notes.
There are songs like 'Gimme some sunshine' from 3 Idiots which I can totally relate to and so when I like such songs there is no surprises but I remember listening to Rabbi and his 'Bulla ki Jaana' again and again even though I didn't understand what he meant in most of the part of the song but I listened and felt happy and heard it again.
Singing acording to me is one of the most difficult arts to master as emotions are expressed through not only the words that they read from the lyrics sheet but in the voice, the pitch, intonation and what not that makes that song great listen. Try listening to some Sufi songs they kind of get a grip on the concentration part of your brain and all you do is stay in raptures without possibly understanding a word but still understanding what cannot be narrated.
I can confidently say that good breed of musicians make our lives pause for a while and take us through a ride of emotions anytime, any place voluntarily or involutarily.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Humara Bajaj
Bajaj will phase out its last scooter, Chetak, next month. I for one feel very nostalgic about this scooter. This was the first vehicle that my father owned (not counting the bicycle) and was very proud of. I still remember back then, when my Chetak was brought home we all very so happy. I used to feel very proud when the Bajaj Chetak advertisements of ‘Humara Bajaj’ ran on television.
My father learnt riding it with a neighbor's help on the 100 feet road in Bangalore and how when he first went to office on it, we all were thrilled to wave bye from our first floor balcony. That was the time when all the members in the family were thinner than and smaller than now, so we all fit on it well, with my younger brother ahead of my father as I sat between my father and my mother. When I think of it now, I just can’t imagine how we managed. We were always so thrilled to travel on our Chetak!
Out of the excitement of buying a Chetak, I had developed a special skill of sorts. I could, from a distance, just hear a two-wheeler and tell exactly which vehicle it was. I agree there were very few two-wheelers back then, but I as a 9 year-old took great pride in my skill.
During those days I tried and successfully rode a Kinetic Honda, a gearless scooter, but never dared to ride my own Chetak. Not until I was 13 year-old (that was in 1998), when my friend Balaji told me that he could take the responsibility of teaching me to ride it (his elder brother had taught my father to ride the scooter). I knew all the theoretical knowledge one needed to know to ride the bike except for actually riding it. So when I started to ride it the very first time, I thought it would be too easy. But it was far from easy, and anything but a smooth ride.
It all started with my friend Balaji explaining all the procedures (which I've said before I already knew and thought of him as a sucker ;)) in the presence of my father. He told me all the small things -- how to release the clutch and accelerate and stuff -- and then I started the scooter. My first few attempts to get the vehicle in motion failed and I once even managed to do an involuntary and scary wheely (damn clutch!). I finally got the scooter in motion and after going a little ahead, there came the big issue of changing gears, which I could hear Balaji screaming at me to change, but I decided to scream back at him, “Balaji, I will ride only on first gear for now”. I was so scared thinking I would have to start the bike again in case I screwed up that I stuck to the first gear all through. I rode the entire circle of about 300 meters on the first gear.
After that, there was just no looking back. I would take my scooter with a very springy seat to any place around my neighbourhood. I rode this vehicle till 2006, by then my younger brother also had learnt to ride it and we also had a car and a Royal Enfield Bullet as alternative modes of transport for the family. I don’t remember the price we sold it for second hand. I think it was about 7 – 10 thousands rupees or so. Since I had a new Bullet to my self I didn’t feel much of a pain to part with it but now when I think of it I remember the good times we had on it. There was this one time during school, when I took a triple seat on it and I can guarantee you neither me nor the other two will ever forget the pain and the joy of that ride.
I started riding really early in my life and take pride in saying that not once was I ever caught by the Traffic Police (like a true Indian can never pass a chance to boast about how we break the law and get away). All said and done, I am sure the next generation is definitely going to miss a trust worthy vehicle which uncannily needed a 45 degrees tilt before kick starting it.
Humara Bajaj!!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Day Dreaming
There are 9 zeroes in a billion and Slim comes with double digit ahead of those 9 zeroes. 1-2-3-...9
Looking at the list of the Uber-filthy-wiping their face with dollars-burning cigars with dollars-cleaning their ears with Rupee earbuds-coating their cars with Gold rich people like Carlos Slim from Brazil made my mind boggle for sometime like a TV not receiving reception but I recovered soon being a strong man. And while I tried to get back to normal a flood of thoughts came to mind, please continue reading I didnt pen down all of them but just a few, as only very little made sense anyways.
Stream of my thought went through how I first my first cycle made me feel like the luckiest person in the world to now where I am writting down my thoughts on a blog with little food, money or shelter (compared to the uber-filthy..... rich). Without further digressing into some inane topic I will get to the point. Some of them.
Flashback (imagine thundering of clouds)
I started following the richest people list only by the time I reached 10th standard. I remember this was possibly the first time I wanted a lot of money and felt like my hard work for something might just get me lot of money (How Naive I was stressing about 10th standard result).
Well that was the time I was a fan of Mr. Gates who made my OS (Ok I’ll accept I didn’t know properly what OS meant back then but what the hell! At least I knew that Mr. Gates made My Computer for me) Also at the time there was this whole thing about how many dollar can Bill Gates give to every person on the Earth and still have some left for himself. I can’t remember the amount but I do remember how awe struck I was to know this little trivia. Till this day I have not tried to confirm the authenticity of that claim but I seriously don’t care now as I am not getting any ;(.
Digressing from the topic, so pulling my self back to what I actually came to write. And it is about how I am proud to be a world citizen in this era and time. How is that related to my start of this blog, well not very but little, I’ll admit. So to take things ahead I used my special powers granted by Google & searched for 2000 list of Forbes most rich people & compared it with the current 2010 one.
I keep 2000 as the point of reference simple because this was the time I started growing my intelligence repository (it has been filling for 10 years damn!! I still feel dumb at least once a day on most days) any ways!!. To me this is an indicator of shift of wealth from Just USA to the rest of the world. From 8 out of top 10 richest people in the world coming from st="on"USA in the year 2000 to only 3 people in 2010.
This list has not yet hit the equilibrium as people from all continents of the world do not figure on the list but I am sure it will once be true. Very importantly my country men figure twice in the list NOT that it makes me swell with pride but makes me happy that wealth is been distributed around the globe. I fail to understand how people from rich European countries do not figure in the list considering they are high on individual wealth like st="on"Norway which figures 2nd on the list of highest GDP in the world. These countries also claim to have the best living standards but do not have anyone amongst the top 10 richest people in the world. They surely figure somewhere down the list but the top 10 is the place all the billionaires want to be in.
That brings me to this question. ‘Are people in the happiest countries so content that they fail to figure on top slots of richest people in the world or are these countries a classic example of Inclusive growth?” I request you to answer this question in the comments please.
Anyways all I wanted to tell you all is that I wish for a world where the richest people in the world come from all points on this round earth. Imagine the 3rd richest man in the world from the flood hit country like Bangladesh or the 7th richest man in the world from the genocide infamous st="on"style=""Republic of Rwanda. When this happens the wealth would have possibly percolated to the perimeter of this world. Then I am sure I would be glad I am in this country working my part in improving the economy of st="on"India (every drop makes an ocean) and not for development of some other country (at my patriotic best).
As I stopped my diahorea of thinking I was with a anxiety if I would ever figure on that list..even if not i'd be happy (not).
(There are many more thoughts from where this came if you want a piece of my mind dont ask me I possibly might bug you with it if I met you..So long folks!)
Monday, February 1, 2010
Click happy - My first DSLR Canon 1000d
1st Feb 2010 would probably be amongst the most memorable days in my recent life. On this day I have got my camera which i have been yearning for so long. My wallet has become so light but I am filled with excitement that cant be contained in me.
I got the delivery of my Canon 1000d in my office and just cant wait to reach home and start clicking my way through.
Fantasti-click!!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
My first Mumbai Marathon
"Damn I didn't realise my legs have become so stiff," I told this to my companion while climbing down the Mumbai CST station's subway stairs.
The day -- Jan 17, 2010, big day of Mumbai Marathon, I woke up at around the same time that the half and full Marathon runners of began their tryst towards reaching the CST station enclosure; where the run ended. I got ready and was thinking whether I should carry Glucose water or Relispray or some bandages when I got reminded that I was running a measly 6 km and not a 21 km or a 42 km, so my carrying all of these aids would be unnecessary.
So with my mind clear of any confusion, a camera, my wallet and my friend -- newspaper in my hand, I headed out for an experience that I yearned for, for so long.
When I saw the sea of crowd at Azad Maidan, I was happy that so many other people also share the same passion of running on a Sunday despite being very well aware that this walk/run would lead to at least two days of body-ache. Anywho!! I began my walk with few of my office colleagues and after sometime of just walking got bored and split to make a dash and a run a while. I didn’t define 'run a while' even to myself, very well aware that I hadn’t ran for at least 2 years (except of course to catch a train or a bus but I am sure that doesn’t qualify as a run). So when I finally began to find my way through hordes of people walking, I found a friend of mine by chance. After exchanging pleasantries, we found our way through the crowds to run, sometimes on the extreme left of the street, sometimes on the streets and sometimes behind the very crowds, which had come down to cheer us through.
People on the streets cheered on while we made our way through and it felt as though our running and reaching the end made a difference to the society. With this in mind I strode ahead. On my way I saw a few people returning and bumming out of the race. And let me add, they were not the oldies but some middle aged aunties. The oldies in this gang of runners were the most energetic. While the old folks passed by, they hooted, cheered and even gave out a kind of war cry to the runners. In a line I would say that the atmosphere amongst these energetic people was electric. So I went ahead smiling and panting.
After a 2.5 km exhausting run, 3.5 km walk and many people past, we reached the end. I thought of going back to the Kayanis for a heavy non-vegetarian breakfast but only to be stopped by the thought of losing some weight. So, I continued to the refreshment area where I fell in absolute love with Horlicks Nutri bar, I had two of those. After all the water that I gulped down with fruits and snack bars, I headed back home. While I walked, I didn't feel much of a pain but the stairs at the CST subway made me think otherwise.
As I sat in the train and started, my encounter with the pain cropped up from all the thinkable parts of my body. This continued all the way, even as I slept almost the entire day till the next morning. Today is the day after and as I sit writing this my tail bone hurts and I can't put my finger on what could cause my evolutionary evidence to ache so much but all I know is -- I can't even run for the trains, which I must say I am or rather was good at. Enough cribbing!!
And now time for some long-shot promise to self.
I don't mean to make you laugh out mocking me when you read the next line but I think I am going to run the 21 km Half Mumbai Marathon next year on January 9, 2011. What the heck I'll choose better shoes for next time ;)
Thursday, December 24, 2009
"I am bored" is probably the most often used word in the year 2009. I was bored with
• not getting placed for long cause of the lousy recession
• having to sit in front of many employers who refused to pay well
• with news channels picking up all the silly topics to discuss about
• inconsequentially
• listening to Radio Jockeys claim each of their radio channels being the No.1 channel in Mumbai
• with people chronicling their entire life on twitter
• with trains getting more crowded
• with trains getting horribly crowded
• with my e-mail box getting filled with all the irrelevant job offers
• with people calling me to remind me of the various loans they can give me
• of not having much of consequential work to do
• of TV getting filled with garbage day in and day out
• of Bollywood stars and their stupid tantrums
• of our cricket team not winning very often
• of driving in over crowded streets
• not being able to go to my friends marriage due to some unforeseen events
• with my friends going to trips while I stay back for work
• with having to clean the utensils everyday after my parents to transferred to Delhi
• with endless discussion of how a goddarned mailer would look like
• with futile discussions of reaching a target of 1 crore a month from 1 crore per quarter
• with having to come to work while other just start for work
• with being back stabbed by our politicians every time you wan to trust them
• with ill judgment giving people taking critical calls
• with having to do things I wish I didn’t have to do
• of the nepotism
• of writing any more…
• not getting placed for long cause of the lousy recession
• having to sit in front of many employers who refused to pay well
• with news channels picking up all the silly topics to discuss about
• inconsequentially
• listening to Radio Jockeys claim each of their radio channels being the No.1 channel in Mumbai
• with people chronicling their entire life on twitter
• with trains getting more crowded
• with trains getting horribly crowded
• with my e-mail box getting filled with all the irrelevant job offers
• with people calling me to remind me of the various loans they can give me
• of not having much of consequential work to do
• of TV getting filled with garbage day in and day out
• of Bollywood stars and their stupid tantrums
• of our cricket team not winning very often
• of driving in over crowded streets
• not being able to go to my friends marriage due to some unforeseen events
• with my friends going to trips while I stay back for work
• with having to clean the utensils everyday after my parents to transferred to Delhi
• with endless discussion of how a goddarned mailer would look like
• with futile discussions of reaching a target of 1 crore a month from 1 crore per quarter
• with having to come to work while other just start for work
• with being back stabbed by our politicians every time you wan to trust them
• with ill judgment giving people taking critical calls
• with having to do things I wish I didn’t have to do
• of the nepotism
• of writing any more…
My Delhi Trip
“Have you heard..blah blah blah blah” n this continued for 2 and a half hour constantly only taking break when one of them went to pee. My god I started my journey on the wrong seat with 2 constantly chattering women who couldn’t be stopped by anything less than the call of the nature. I’ll let that pass as a non spoiler but a major irritant in my start to the trip to Delhi from 6th Dec 09 to 13th Dec 09.
I was warned by my parents and again warned by my friend Tyagi that “It gets really chilled in Delhi get some warm clothings along” but when the captain of my flight declared the weather outside as 25 degree Celsius I thought is everyone kidding me 25 is jus 2 degrees short of what it is aamchi Mumbai, so started my stay in Delhi. As I got out of the airport I was hit by the chaos on the street caused by unruly drivers but that was not much considering I drive quiet a bit in Mumbai. I heard a lot about Delhi and what it is all about. How this place had arguments on every street corner or how people misguided you when asked for directions and more. I decided to check these things for myself and so I set out on a mission guised under the pretext of roaming the Delhi city….
My first day in Delhi was pretty much normal with only a visit to our family friends and then watching TV the whole evening only to go to a small event where children put up a small show with fancy dreaa & dancing & singing for the chief guest who blasted the inhabitants of the colony for absentism of most of the people of the colony. This by the way went on for 30 minutes witn the man repeating himself enough number of times that people actually wished they too were in the list of absentees. As this ranting got over we made way to the food filled garden. The food was good but this was not the best of Delhi that i had in my trip...
On the next day I went to Qutub Minaar, one place every person who visits Delhi for leisure visits so I thought I was not different and headed there in my car. The roads as such were crowded but only thing that bothered me was how people driving in the left most lane took a decision in a jiffy to go to the right side cutting a whole lot of drivers short of getting the biggest dent on their car. Then there were people who decided that “I own the road” and drove past you and cut your path without any kind of provocation on a Red light of a signal. And this I’d say continued through out my 7 day stay there.
Hearsay #1: Delhites drivers have no road sense. My verdict - True
I reached Qutub Minaar’s ticket counter where the ticketing handed over a person ahead of me a 3 Rs. 10 notes, half torn Rs. 5 note & 5 Re. 1 coins which when refused by the guy ahead of me the ticketing guy gave him a stern nonchalant look and said “aapke yehi bante hai,chalo abhi” translated it means “buzz off”. I tendered exact change to avoid any such situation myself. I forgot all bout this li’l incident as soon as I walked into the Qutub Minaar premises marveled by the beauty and the architectural genius of people of that time. Imagine this it is year 1192 where you had no fancy lifts or cranes or even trucks and the king says to you go build 234 feet high minaret. I am sure it was one hell of a job to get 5 different types of stones to make 5 different layers of the Minaar with some a dash of intricate design to make you want to kiss the sculptor hands. I pity those guys who made it but also am sure they are much smarter than me, who felt dizzy just looking up to see the Minar from close. Anyhow…
As I was walking through these gardens I noticed a hell lot o couples seated their having a gala time forgetting about the world around them and others who stared at the foreigners and slyly took their pics with their mobile phone cameras. This is my country men at their worst ill behaviour. May be not the worst but at least at their socially-tolerated-but-critically-spoken against behaviour. I still love my country but have my doubts about the people of India.
I drove in New Delhi in the parts where there are embassies staying and I could hardly concentrate on the road as the place is clean, beautiful & above all very well maintained. Then in the same part of Delhi I learnt of how damn difficult it is navigating with all the god darned circles. Every circle has 6 to unending number of exits and only a person with orientation classes of Delhi city can get to the right place at one shot driving in the city all alone. To explain how bad it is there let me illustrate with an example. You could reach a circle and have a particular road been pointed on both the side which is because the circle falls in middle of the passing road. At such tough point you have to decide whether you want to go to left side of Niti Road or right side Niti Road. Another thing the city is round so it’s a high possibility that roaming for ½ an hr on a VIP road (which is deserted for most part of the day) you realize that you have come to the same point you had lost your way from.ooof!! I tell this out of experience My parents & I were roaming in the city from 10.45 pm to 11.30 pm just going around in circles and because at night time on the VIP part of the city there is no one walking on the streets we could only find our way back by asking the police man at the Naka bandi for directions.
Hearsay #2: Delhi city is round and confusing – Very tiringly true.
One thing everyone talks good about Delhi is its food. I’ll try to list all the things that I heard are good in Delhi and got to have during my 1 week stay
Dahi Bhalla
Tikki chaat
Chowmein
Double egg roll
Chole bhature
Paneer items
Butter Chicken
Sheermaal
Kheer
Gajar ka Halwa
Lassi
Seek kabab
& some things that I ate at Karims but cant remember the name of.
And should say all of these things were yummy while some were yummy as hell and couldn’t stop my self from having one more of. These things are more or less a good amount of things that ‘You should have in Delhi’ list of things. I can assure you if you are a true foodie like me u'd come back home with excess weight like me.
Hearsay #3: Delhi food is good– True & can I add it’s not just good it is amazing and it is a lot to choose from.
One of the best times I hear to go to Delhi is when it is cool and that is between end of November & start of December because after that the cool become chilling cold till February. I happened to be there in times when the weather Gods played it cool for me though for a Mumbaiite that I am, I found the weather cold for sometime and then got used to it. Though one thing that I was taken aback was the time the sun sets. At bout 6 pm it is dark enough to 8 pm on a normal day. This accompanied with fog made it even worse. I would feel lazy the whole day and understood why Delhiites refused to work or postponed them when I spoke to them (that still leaves the rest of the years laziness unexplained but that could fill up some other blog post o mine). I slept for 1/2 hour bursts through out the day at any point of time that I was reading a book or watching TV coz and that made me feel like a Rank 1 lazy bum but what is one to do when the weather around is so good & when you are out to holiday.
Another thing that is famous throughout India during my visit to Delhi are the marriages. And I happen to be in the part of the country which knows how to splurge when celebrating. I happened to go to 4 events out of which 2 were marriages & 1 engagement and as usual I would directly go the best part of the marriage FOOD. The spread of food for all the four events was yummmm and always elaborate. The food always had starters like chat and sev etc followed by main course & at least 3 types of wow! sweets. These 3 categories were religious followed but the spread in all of these kept changing for good. Ya, one more thing about this food spread it always ended with coffee. Piping hot coffee on the buffet spread made me wonder as I am not quiet used to having coffee being served at the end of eating but I soon started enjoying it in the cool weather around. I later gathered that coffee is not just served during winter events but also through the summers as well. And I thought south Indians very true coffee lovers.
Sticking to the topic of food my MBA classmate & friend "Tyagi"Gaurav Tyagi took me out for a day of enjoying the food in Delhi. Before I met him I had had large glass of Lassi & Sev Puri to start my day with then I met him at Delhi University campus where he showed me around the place. I cant resist myself from saying that most of the gals in Delhi are brilliantly beautiful, especially in DU campus you see a lot of them together at one place which makes this place a certified 'Chick Hub' (Excuse my language). While showing me around the place Tyagi showed me all of the big colleges like FMS & Delhi school of Economics and I was really amazed at the vast expanse of space these colleges offered to their students. Every college had a beautiful building with a legacy of who's who of the Indian greats having studied there and of course the lawns which I felt I missed through my college life in Mumbai. Back to the topic of food I roamed on the back of Tyagi's bike around in Delhi and this bike ride gave me chills. Not that Tyagi rides rough but the cool weather at high speed make it chilling cold, especially during the evening time. We had Aloo Tikki, Dahi Bhalla, Veg Kakori Kabab & Rosogulla for lunch. The dinner happened to be something that I had been thinking of for really long time, my first visit to 'Karims'. At Karims I met Tyagi's non-veg eating expert friend Sohail as Non Veg is not the expertise of vegetarian Tyagi. Now at Karims I relied totally on Sohail to order and must say he did a fine job in that. I ate and ate and ate more till I was full after which we order for the sweet sheermall roti & kheer. We ended the day there, then began my finding way back home with great help from Tyagi & Sohail who I dropped till a metro and was guided to reach a point I knew my way back. So at end of this eating binge I was mad full and headed home finding my way through the maze like roads of New Delhi.
Repeating my stance of Hearsay # 3.
Hearsay #4: Delhi people misguide you with directions - Looking at the pain Tyagi & Sohail took to guide me right & of several places where I asked people for directions I can safely say this hearsay is a Big Lie.
On my last day at Delhi I visited Lotus temple which is made by people of Bahai' sect which had really pretty women volunteers who moved around to maintain a decorum of that place, next I visited the Akshardham temple which I didn't go in as there was a huge line to enter & also the main temple was shut for renovation, then I went to Raj Ghat where I found couple romancing just few feets away from the final resting place of Mahatma Gandhi, after this we visited Lal Quilla having walked around I felt like the Mughals really knew how to live lavish as they made every provision to keep themselves exclusive and had all the possible luxuries that one can imagine in that time n era & lastly I went to the most majestic presidential palace in the world. Of all these places Rashtrapati Bhawan & the area around it awed me the most with its grand building and even grander history which swells into you as you look at it. The view from the Rashtrapati Bhawan to the India gate made me want to come here for the Parade on the Independence Day.
During this journey I found that I didn't encounter all the ill things I heard about Delhi. May be I was there for a short time to actually face it but what ever it is I am glad that we have such a well maintained Capital and I found the people really warm and the weather fun (at least of the one week that I stayed there). But still at the end of the day I love Mumbai and would not want to go settle there. And I told my mother while leaving "Delhi is a good place but good as a hill station not ass a permanent address".
I was warned by my parents and again warned by my friend Tyagi that “It gets really chilled in Delhi get some warm clothings along” but when the captain of my flight declared the weather outside as 25 degree Celsius I thought is everyone kidding me 25 is jus 2 degrees short of what it is aamchi Mumbai, so started my stay in Delhi. As I got out of the airport I was hit by the chaos on the street caused by unruly drivers but that was not much considering I drive quiet a bit in Mumbai. I heard a lot about Delhi and what it is all about. How this place had arguments on every street corner or how people misguided you when asked for directions and more. I decided to check these things for myself and so I set out on a mission guised under the pretext of roaming the Delhi city….
My first day in Delhi was pretty much normal with only a visit to our family friends and then watching TV the whole evening only to go to a small event where children put up a small show with fancy dreaa & dancing & singing for the chief guest who blasted the inhabitants of the colony for absentism of most of the people of the colony. This by the way went on for 30 minutes witn the man repeating himself enough number of times that people actually wished they too were in the list of absentees. As this ranting got over we made way to the food filled garden. The food was good but this was not the best of Delhi that i had in my trip...
On the next day I went to Qutub Minaar, one place every person who visits Delhi for leisure visits so I thought I was not different and headed there in my car. The roads as such were crowded but only thing that bothered me was how people driving in the left most lane took a decision in a jiffy to go to the right side cutting a whole lot of drivers short of getting the biggest dent on their car. Then there were people who decided that “I own the road” and drove past you and cut your path without any kind of provocation on a Red light of a signal. And this I’d say continued through out my 7 day stay there.
Hearsay #1: Delhites drivers have no road sense. My verdict - True
I reached Qutub Minaar’s ticket counter where the ticketing handed over a person ahead of me a 3 Rs. 10 notes, half torn Rs. 5 note & 5 Re. 1 coins which when refused by the guy ahead of me the ticketing guy gave him a stern nonchalant look and said “aapke yehi bante hai,chalo abhi” translated it means “buzz off”. I tendered exact change to avoid any such situation myself. I forgot all bout this li’l incident as soon as I walked into the Qutub Minaar premises marveled by the beauty and the architectural genius of people of that time. Imagine this it is year 1192 where you had no fancy lifts or cranes or even trucks and the king says to you go build 234 feet high minaret. I am sure it was one hell of a job to get 5 different types of stones to make 5 different layers of the Minaar with some a dash of intricate design to make you want to kiss the sculptor hands. I pity those guys who made it but also am sure they are much smarter than me, who felt dizzy just looking up to see the Minar from close. Anyhow…
As I was walking through these gardens I noticed a hell lot o couples seated their having a gala time forgetting about the world around them and others who stared at the foreigners and slyly took their pics with their mobile phone cameras. This is my country men at their worst ill behaviour. May be not the worst but at least at their socially-tolerated-but-critically-spoken against behaviour. I still love my country but have my doubts about the people of India.
I drove in New Delhi in the parts where there are embassies staying and I could hardly concentrate on the road as the place is clean, beautiful & above all very well maintained. Then in the same part of Delhi I learnt of how damn difficult it is navigating with all the god darned circles. Every circle has 6 to unending number of exits and only a person with orientation classes of Delhi city can get to the right place at one shot driving in the city all alone. To explain how bad it is there let me illustrate with an example. You could reach a circle and have a particular road been pointed on both the side which is because the circle falls in middle of the passing road. At such tough point you have to decide whether you want to go to left side of Niti Road or right side Niti Road. Another thing the city is round so it’s a high possibility that roaming for ½ an hr on a VIP road (which is deserted for most part of the day) you realize that you have come to the same point you had lost your way from.ooof!! I tell this out of experience My parents & I were roaming in the city from 10.45 pm to 11.30 pm just going around in circles and because at night time on the VIP part of the city there is no one walking on the streets we could only find our way back by asking the police man at the Naka bandi for directions.
Hearsay #2: Delhi city is round and confusing – Very tiringly true.
One thing everyone talks good about Delhi is its food. I’ll try to list all the things that I heard are good in Delhi and got to have during my 1 week stay
Dahi Bhalla
Tikki chaat
Chowmein
Double egg roll
Chole bhature
Paneer items
Butter Chicken
Sheermaal
Kheer
Gajar ka Halwa
Lassi
Seek kabab
& some things that I ate at Karims but cant remember the name of.
And should say all of these things were yummy while some were yummy as hell and couldn’t stop my self from having one more of. These things are more or less a good amount of things that ‘You should have in Delhi’ list of things. I can assure you if you are a true foodie like me u'd come back home with excess weight like me.
Hearsay #3: Delhi food is good– True & can I add it’s not just good it is amazing and it is a lot to choose from.
One of the best times I hear to go to Delhi is when it is cool and that is between end of November & start of December because after that the cool become chilling cold till February. I happened to be there in times when the weather Gods played it cool for me though for a Mumbaiite that I am, I found the weather cold for sometime and then got used to it. Though one thing that I was taken aback was the time the sun sets. At bout 6 pm it is dark enough to 8 pm on a normal day. This accompanied with fog made it even worse. I would feel lazy the whole day and understood why Delhiites refused to work or postponed them when I spoke to them (that still leaves the rest of the years laziness unexplained but that could fill up some other blog post o mine). I slept for 1/2 hour bursts through out the day at any point of time that I was reading a book or watching TV coz and that made me feel like a Rank 1 lazy bum but what is one to do when the weather around is so good & when you are out to holiday.
Another thing that is famous throughout India during my visit to Delhi are the marriages. And I happen to be in the part of the country which knows how to splurge when celebrating. I happened to go to 4 events out of which 2 were marriages & 1 engagement and as usual I would directly go the best part of the marriage FOOD. The spread of food for all the four events was yummmm and always elaborate. The food always had starters like chat and sev etc followed by main course & at least 3 types of wow! sweets. These 3 categories were religious followed but the spread in all of these kept changing for good. Ya, one more thing about this food spread it always ended with coffee. Piping hot coffee on the buffet spread made me wonder as I am not quiet used to having coffee being served at the end of eating but I soon started enjoying it in the cool weather around. I later gathered that coffee is not just served during winter events but also through the summers as well. And I thought south Indians very true coffee lovers.
Sticking to the topic of food my MBA classmate & friend "Tyagi"Gaurav Tyagi took me out for a day of enjoying the food in Delhi. Before I met him I had had large glass of Lassi & Sev Puri to start my day with then I met him at Delhi University campus where he showed me around the place. I cant resist myself from saying that most of the gals in Delhi are brilliantly beautiful, especially in DU campus you see a lot of them together at one place which makes this place a certified 'Chick Hub' (Excuse my language). While showing me around the place Tyagi showed me all of the big colleges like FMS & Delhi school of Economics and I was really amazed at the vast expanse of space these colleges offered to their students. Every college had a beautiful building with a legacy of who's who of the Indian greats having studied there and of course the lawns which I felt I missed through my college life in Mumbai. Back to the topic of food I roamed on the back of Tyagi's bike around in Delhi and this bike ride gave me chills. Not that Tyagi rides rough but the cool weather at high speed make it chilling cold, especially during the evening time. We had Aloo Tikki, Dahi Bhalla, Veg Kakori Kabab & Rosogulla for lunch. The dinner happened to be something that I had been thinking of for really long time, my first visit to 'Karims'. At Karims I met Tyagi's non-veg eating expert friend Sohail as Non Veg is not the expertise of vegetarian Tyagi. Now at Karims I relied totally on Sohail to order and must say he did a fine job in that. I ate and ate and ate more till I was full after which we order for the sweet sheermall roti & kheer. We ended the day there, then began my finding way back home with great help from Tyagi & Sohail who I dropped till a metro and was guided to reach a point I knew my way back. So at end of this eating binge I was mad full and headed home finding my way through the maze like roads of New Delhi.
Repeating my stance of Hearsay # 3.
Hearsay #4: Delhi people misguide you with directions - Looking at the pain Tyagi & Sohail took to guide me right & of several places where I asked people for directions I can safely say this hearsay is a Big Lie.
On my last day at Delhi I visited Lotus temple which is made by people of Bahai' sect which had really pretty women volunteers who moved around to maintain a decorum of that place, next I visited the Akshardham temple which I didn't go in as there was a huge line to enter & also the main temple was shut for renovation, then I went to Raj Ghat where I found couple romancing just few feets away from the final resting place of Mahatma Gandhi, after this we visited Lal Quilla having walked around I felt like the Mughals really knew how to live lavish as they made every provision to keep themselves exclusive and had all the possible luxuries that one can imagine in that time n era & lastly I went to the most majestic presidential palace in the world. Of all these places Rashtrapati Bhawan & the area around it awed me the most with its grand building and even grander history which swells into you as you look at it. The view from the Rashtrapati Bhawan to the India gate made me want to come here for the Parade on the Independence Day.
During this journey I found that I didn't encounter all the ill things I heard about Delhi. May be I was there for a short time to actually face it but what ever it is I am glad that we have such a well maintained Capital and I found the people really warm and the weather fun (at least of the one week that I stayed there). But still at the end of the day I love Mumbai and would not want to go settle there. And I told my mother while leaving "Delhi is a good place but good as a hill station not ass a permanent address".
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)