Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Dilli Dilwaalon Ki
Dear Diary,
I returned from Delhi yesterday morning, and still haven't recovered from the hangover. During the 3 days that I was there, I realized how much I missed my hometown, and how happy that city makes me, especially in the amazing winters! Along with the cold winters come a lot of fringe benefits- Hot street food tastes much better, you get to eat peanuts while lazing in the sun, many seasonal fruits and vegetables like radish and oranges are available, the days become much shorter and it gets extremely foggy(a benefit if you enjoy the cold), you can enjoy Vodka or Rum better... I could go on andon!
Well, the trip itself was extremely hectic but great fun. The flight was 2 hours late, so I reached Delhi at 2 AM, and home at 2.30. The fog started the night I reached Delhi. Left early morning and was on the road till 8 at night along with ouroutdoors agency, travelling across the length and breadth of Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Ghaziabad, selecting outdoors sites. Saw parts of Delhi that I did'nt even know existed, would have seen more places that I had seen cumulatively in Delhi till date. Well, slight exagerration, but you get the picture!That night, went to a friend's place and we went out in the cold to eat some street food. Had delicious aalu-tikki and aalu chaat. Relived my growing up years!!!
Worked throughout the day on Saturday, and in the evening(Christmas eve), went to catch up with some old friends, with whom I was sharing a placewhen I was working in Nagpur. Had a marvellous time, drinking and singing throughout the night! Haven't laughed that much ina long time!
On my last day in Delhi, i.e. Sunday, I fulfilled another long-pending dream- I travelled by the Delhi Metro. When I left Delhi4 years ago, it was still being constructed, and for the last couple of years since it has been in operation, I've never been able to travel by one. This time,I had to look at some Branding options on Metro stations so I went to some stations and travelled by the trains. It was heavenly after travelling in Delhi by autos with drivers out to fleece you, and over-crowded and slow moving buses! That evening, went to a Bikaner Sweet Shop and had aaloo tikkis, samosas and jalebis! Yum Yum!
But the icing on the cake was the incident that happened on my way back.I had an early morning flight, so I left home at 5.15AM. No autos in sight. After 10 minutes of wait, saw an auto coming my way and flagged it. The auto already had two passengers- with dhotis, faces covered by shawls et al- the typical Jat Delhiite, but I was desperate and I agreed to share the space with them. I asked the driver if I would have to travel like that throughout the half-hour journey, and he replies- "Nahin saab, bas in dono ko Central Jail chhodh doon, phir seedha airport chalenge"!!! Experienced a different kind of chill for the rest of the journey till they got down!
Thankfully, the flight was delayed by only half an hour, the fog having cleared in time!
All in all, a great experience!
As the great Lord Budhha said- " Dilli dilwaalon ki"!
Cheers!
I returned from Delhi yesterday morning, and still haven't recovered from the hangover. During the 3 days that I was there, I realized how much I missed my hometown, and how happy that city makes me, especially in the amazing winters! Along with the cold winters come a lot of fringe benefits- Hot street food tastes much better, you get to eat peanuts while lazing in the sun, many seasonal fruits and vegetables like radish and oranges are available, the days become much shorter and it gets extremely foggy(a benefit if you enjoy the cold), you can enjoy Vodka or Rum better... I could go on andon!
Well, the trip itself was extremely hectic but great fun. The flight was 2 hours late, so I reached Delhi at 2 AM, and home at 2.30. The fog started the night I reached Delhi. Left early morning and was on the road till 8 at night along with ouroutdoors agency, travelling across the length and breadth of Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Ghaziabad, selecting outdoors sites. Saw parts of Delhi that I did'nt even know existed, would have seen more places that I had seen cumulatively in Delhi till date. Well, slight exagerration, but you get the picture!That night, went to a friend's place and we went out in the cold to eat some street food. Had delicious aalu-tikki and aalu chaat. Relived my growing up years!!!
Worked throughout the day on Saturday, and in the evening(Christmas eve), went to catch up with some old friends, with whom I was sharing a placewhen I was working in Nagpur. Had a marvellous time, drinking and singing throughout the night! Haven't laughed that much ina long time!
On my last day in Delhi, i.e. Sunday, I fulfilled another long-pending dream- I travelled by the Delhi Metro. When I left Delhi4 years ago, it was still being constructed, and for the last couple of years since it has been in operation, I've never been able to travel by one. This time,I had to look at some Branding options on Metro stations so I went to some stations and travelled by the trains. It was heavenly after travelling in Delhi by autos with drivers out to fleece you, and over-crowded and slow moving buses! That evening, went to a Bikaner Sweet Shop and had aaloo tikkis, samosas and jalebis! Yum Yum!
But the icing on the cake was the incident that happened on my way back.I had an early morning flight, so I left home at 5.15AM. No autos in sight. After 10 minutes of wait, saw an auto coming my way and flagged it. The auto already had two passengers- with dhotis, faces covered by shawls et al- the typical Jat Delhiite, but I was desperate and I agreed to share the space with them. I asked the driver if I would have to travel like that throughout the half-hour journey, and he replies- "Nahin saab, bas in dono ko Central Jail chhodh doon, phir seedha airport chalenge"!!! Experienced a different kind of chill for the rest of the journey till they got down!
Thankfully, the flight was delayed by only half an hour, the fog having cleared in time!
All in all, a great experience!
As the great Lord Budhha said- " Dilli dilwaalon ki"!
Cheers!
# posted by Obi Wan @ 5:54 AM 
Comments:
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aha..you are back. Another cliche..Ever wonder why...even when the hero belongs to the poorest of poor families, his mom always makes him GAJAR KA HALWA?
Also, wonder what the equivalent of gajar ka halwa is other movies or heroes who speak languages other than hindi..
Is Bengali = Rosogulla?
Is Tamil = Paal Payasam? hehe
Gujarati? Marathi? ORIYA? Kannada? Telugu? Think think
Also, wonder what the equivalent of gajar ka halwa is other movies or heroes who speak languages other than hindi..
Is Bengali = Rosogulla?
Is Tamil = Paal Payasam? hehe
Gujarati? Marathi? ORIYA? Kannada? Telugu? Think think
Ohhhhh my god! You shared an auto with soms prisoners???
Actually, I may have something in common with you now. In Chennai, the government gives autos to criminals to rehabilitate them! And since I travel daily by autos, you can imagine!
Actually, I may have something in common with you now. In Chennai, the government gives autos to criminals to rehabilitate them! And since I travel daily by autos, you can imagine!
tcp: I would like to believe all moms make gajar ka halwa for their children, whichever part of the world they might belong to, anything else just won't be the same :-) btw, my mom too had packed gajar ka halwa for me this time, but my friends in bombay ate all of it!
AFJ: To be fair, I don't think those guys in my autos were really criminals, or they wouldn't have been going to the Central Jail(an institution of Bollywood) of their own accord! Must have come to visit some relative!
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AFJ: To be fair, I don't think those guys in my autos were really criminals, or they wouldn't have been going to the Central Jail(an institution of Bollywood) of their own accord! Must have come to visit some relative!
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