Delhi Diaries...

I know, I know. Its been a while, eh? All this work, really makes me not want to open the laptop after I finally reach home. But then, this blog isn't about my work life and it won't start now

I'll try to make it up to you with a really long, extremely funny post. Or, you know, just long. Pakka promise.

As avid followers of my Facebook updates would know, I had been to Delhi on a vacation the week before last.

(As an aside, Facebook has seriously become the source of all information. And I'm not just talking about 'what I'm eating NOW' type updates that some friends seem to leave here, but also as a source of actual news. For instance, I came to know of the big fire in Mumbai and the death of Arjun Singh through Facebook.

About the latter, I'll have to say that I'm not shedding any tears. He was a caste- politician, the worst kind. The kind that doesn't have anything else to offer to the people and hangs on through sheer humiliating grit using divisive politics. Politicians like these have given politics, national service and numerous such previously noble roles an ugly taint that will never go away)

Moving to happier things now.

So as I was saying, I was in Delhi and this post is dedicated to the trip.

February nip

One of the best things I like about Delhi is the bite in the air during winters. You may be bundled up from neck to toe in multiple layers of sweaters and jackets but just as a you walk out the door the first cut from the seemingly random gust of wind wakes you up. (As an additional advantage it gives a rosy tint to all the nice cheeks walking around in Delhi :) )

I wasn't able to go home in December-January and I wasn't really expecting it to be cold at all. So much so that I just threw 4-5 t-shirts in my bag for the trip.

But the rain gods had been kind to me. A couple of days before I landed it rained like it wouldn't ever stop there. Consequently the weather there was exactly like in late December. One of those awakening breezes were blowing as I stepped off the plane. Brilliant!

To add to that R was attending a wedding near the airport and he played hookey there to pick me and we went and had a nice coffee before going home. The only discordant note, and this may be as age catches up with me, but I see a lot of school/early college people, both guys and girls, smoking nowadays. And it was the same at the coffee place with a bunch of people out smoking like its the coolest thing in the world. It's not.

The weather remained kind to me throughout the trip and it was just like visiting during winters! Happy

Uproot-ion (is that a really a word)

Another very significant event that is happening is that my family is moving to our new house in Noida. For many this movement could be a regular thing that doesn't raise any eyebrows. But we have been living in that house for over 27 years!

Its the only home that I've ever known and it feels really weird that the next time I visit home, I may not be going to this house. Each nook and cranny in the house (umm as many of them that you can have in a flat) has so many memories attached to it. I don't grudge my parents the difficult task of folding up our life in this house and moving to a new place to set up again.

I have been away from home for over five years now and was in the hostel for another six years but the realization of the move still made my stomach drop a bit. I know it sounds quite melodramatic but really, it does leave me with a bit of a sinking feeling. I'm sure the new place will be great but leaving familiarity behind does take some time!

Metro-man!

Mumbai revolves around the local trains. Most people there know train timings and mould the pace of their life around it.

Delhi, it seems, is following the same path. Before the Metro train, the gang used to meet up usually in South Delhi. But this time it seemed like everyone just wanted to plan the evenings out based on the Metro's schedule and locations.

And I'm not complaining!

Driving in Delhi is becoming more and more stressful everyday. Every time I visit I dread taking out the car, especially the bigger car (the fiery Ferrari red Nano is still a crowd favourite :)). It seems that the broader the road, the more 'adventurous' the drivers become! Driving on some of the high speed stretches (DND flyover on this trip)should ideally be a cruise. But when you're comfortably driving in your lane at a hundred, you don't want glance in your rear-view mirror to see a big SUV hunkering down at you at over 140, veering away only at the last moment (Believe me, I'd rather drive in the narrow lanes of Bangalore where the low speeds mean that a bump on the road will be just that, a bump).

So I wasn't really averse to making the Metro my Swap-mobile (i'm so funny, no? :))while I'm in Delhi. My only problem with this state of affairs is that the meeting point is invariably Connaught Place. And my super sense of direction again kicks in as I always spend half an hour wandering around all around the place before I manage to reach the meeting point.

Can some one please tell me which freakin' circle is the outer circle??

Busy-ness

As I wallow in self pity about the long hours I put at work, a trip to Delhi makes me realise that everyone is as, if not more, busy nowadays. People who would not move out of the hostel bed, or at most the canteen chair, even if you kept a gun to their head have now been transformed into maniacal professionals who regularly put in 13-14 hours everyday. It is very difficult for friends to catch up. I mean AA and I could meet just once in the entire trip! (it was an all nighter, so it was all right). And he had to really make the effort to make time or it wouldn't have happened.

Globalization is not helping either. The one day we all managed to catch up, AK had a conference call that started at 11:45 pm! Story of all our lives now.

I wish I'll be able to lead a Ruskin Bond type existence sometime - a quaint cottage in the hills, surrounded with old friends and mountains.

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