I can never get enough of the city called Delhi……….its fondness has grown and travelled with me through my CA days to my corporate adult days…and every visit reinforces and enhances my fondness for the spirit called Delhi!
My earliest tryst with this city was my break with a school bosom buddy and that ten days of Delhi Darshan was perhaps the most outrageous experience of my life………exploring a city with your best friend with no holds and in the height of post examination excitement is difficult to recreate in your adult days…we scurried around the city like tramps….eating the what’s what of Delhi street food….admiring the architectural treasures that Delhi boasts of…..shopping and giggling through the high and cheap shopping havens that is sprinkled across Delhi! And as if the happiness and freedom was not enough, my face to face moment with the Taj and Fatehpur Sikhri will probably remain as one of the most awe inspiring moments of my life…
I brought home a gigantic portion of happiness and a bit of Delhi with me and over the years the word Delhi always rings and floods me with the laughter and sheer elation that I experienced….I have had the fortune of brushing and flirting with the city over my last few official trips…Pleasant trips to CP…that circumference of Delhi with the glittering India Gate at its heart, bordered with lush greenery and beautified with the white pristine monolith structures…Shopping Nirvana in Delhi’s streets….the carnival of bags, shoes and dresses that strokes and brings out the shopaholic in me…Eating my heart out at the ‘Northy’ food festivals...sinful, buttery yummy food that creates a glutton out of me…
This time was no different from my earlier ‘brushes’ with Delhi…except for the fact that this was my ‘maiden summer’ visit to Delhi…………the visit shattered my ‘stereotype images’ of Delhi…of association with foggy winters…..women clad in colourful shawls……..aroma of ‘masala chai’……….This time’s escapade with a friend was under a sun that was bordering on unrelenting………….Delhi impressed me from the word ‘go’ from the moment I landed in the and only ‘T3’ of India…….Its vast but yet planned expanse struck its first blow of ‘wow’! This is definitely the ‘anti-third world’ experience that we should offer every non Indian stepping foot on this land……….I was literally taken for a ‘joy ride’ when I boarded the metro from the airport to Delhi’s warm heart called CP! I felt as the train lounged forward that we were slowly bridging the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them’ atleast in the infrastructure battles of the world……right from the boarding point to the clean plush seating arrangements to the wide angle view of Delhi..the ride kept me enthralled and for that moment I was enjoying the journey rather than the destination!
Exploring CP on foot and taking in the white British structures was as soothing and sweet as the Vanilla shake that I consumed through the walk………As if to break the monotony of the silence and peace at CP, there was a whole different world underground….the noisy crowded Palika Bazar that was buzzing and screaming down below……its vendors nudging and pushing each other for a ‘purchase’… a wide display of the Guccis and Pradas of the world at a poor man’s price…….I moved on to the ‘yo’ experience called Khan market……..the frame changed drastically from the ‘street food’ to the ‘European aped cafes’ dotting the streets…..the high and mighty brands displayed in style..Destination Delhi Haat was my next stop…….As if by rule, I gorged on Aloo Parathas (just can’t resist the Paratha experience in Delhi) and tried my first taste of ‘fruit beer’ and then set on my shopping spree….only a woman can understand the magnetism of ‘your kind’ of colourful display of stoles, scarfs, junk jewellery and all things nice and Indian!..............I tried my act of the ‘knowledgeable bargainer’ but finally succumbed to the temptation and came out with a few material possessions…..
My last stop for the day was at the lush green Lodhi gardens….was fortunate to catch a peacock performing live with its plume in full bloom….I felt and admired the remains of yesteryears and the peace of the acres of greenery around….To finally end the tour in style, I slurped down an icy freezy kulfi under the sweaty Delhi heat and headed for my guest house in Noida a truly satisfied tourist…..Noida of course did not offer me any more ‘sights’ for the day and painted a ‘grey dreary dusty’ image probably to my prejudiced eyes after an overdose of Delhi..
But Noida aside, from the uber cool to the wide highways….to its historic and traditional structures and markets….I realized that Delhi has truly kept its head aloft…re-inventing itself and keeping itself ahead of the country …through the Mughal era to the ‘nameless’ era that we live in………!
It was truly snatched and kept the word ‘capital’ for itself …and needless to say a deserving crown that no city can battle with!!
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