DELHI DHAMAKA

I recently visited Delhi where I had loads of fun and like always I want to share the insides of the trip with you guys. I left Jammu on last Sunday i.e. 14.02.2010. My train ticket was a RAC. Hmm, the beginning not good at all. I will spare you the trauma of that night in the train. But yeah, it was sleepless and by the morning my back was almost broken. I passed my time reading Paulo Coelho. The train was late by an hour or so, and reached Delhi at around 6 in the morning on the platform number 16. I was told it stops at platform number 1. Another not so bright moment.

Nevertheless I stood waiting and spotted my di and jiju. Aahh such a relief. After hugs and kisses we walked to the platform number 1, where they had parked the car (apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought the train will stop at platform 1). I came to know later that di & jiju had to go back and forth the platforms. Now this was the first time I was actually staying with di’s in laws so naturally I was intimidated. But that fear slowly decreased and towards the end vanished in thin air. My di showed me up and I braced myself to get ready.

I had a smile on my face when I spotted in the washroom my favorite soap, the shampoo that I use and all the stuff that I use. Thank god for sisters. World would have been a miserable place without them. My sister had even bought a night dress for me as she knew I did not have a “good” one. (Good as per my standards that is). She had to go her office and I was with jiju and aunty and uncle. Talking to them unaware as in when I dozed off to sleep (I was dead tired). Woke up late in the evening (lunch inbetween). So my first day was spent in home apart from the small outing to the nearby market which was awesome. Everything is available there. EVERYTHING. You name it and you ll find it. It was great.

Next day was fantabulous. I had watched this show on MTV called WEIRD FOOD GUIDE. In that they had shown this place KARIM’s.

It’s a very famous food outlet which goes way back to Akbar ka zamana. Its some 5000 years old. Though it’s grown hugely over the years and has many branches, the oldest and original one is in Chandini Chowk of Delhi. I always had this fascination of visiting both Chandini chowk and karim’s. Had some mouth watering food there at karim’s. Mutton biriyani, kebabs, chicken mmmmm yummmmmy. Roamed all around the market of Chandini chowk (oldest market of Delhi). It had great Indian feeling to it. Street vendors were selling wow foods but I had to save a place for karim’s. I was about to faint with all that wandering (I wanted to see each and every part of Chandini chowk) so we took a rickshaw and went to JAMA MASJID, LAL KILLA and SIS GANJ GURUDWARA (where I missed Vandy a lot, there were soo many great looking Sardars there, she would surely have gone GA-GA over them). By the way, I forgot to mention that whole travel that day was done in the metro. The to-fro ride in the metro was mind blowing (it was my first time).

Next day Wednesday, I went to visit some relatives in south Delhi. Saw IIT DELHI on the way and automatically looked here and there scanning every nook and corner for the SASI’s but was disappointed, maybe it was just fiction (5 point someone). Also had a great lunch at delhi darbar.

Thursday went to malls and markets with di (Karol Bagh, Rajori Garden, Janak Puri etc etc etc etc). Had loads of fun and food. And of course shopping. Got to see and eat a lot of new, great stuff.

On Friday finally jiju took a day off and we went to many places. Started off with MUGHAL GARDENS. Situated right behind the RASTRAPATI BHAVAN its took us almost an hour to find it (we were 5 mins away from it... !!!!). We kept going round and round and ended up coming to the same place again and again. But one thing I want to mention is that people there are so friendly and helpful. You ask them one simple address and they tell you all they know about it, including the optimum fare for rickshaw/ three wheeler. So finally we found the way and entered. There was this announcement that camera’s, pendrive, pen, pencil, eatables, bags and not even car keys were allowed inside. DAMN. All the beautiful places I saw didn’t allow camera’s inside. Mughal gardens are open to visitors only for 2 weeks in a year so I was feeling quite lucky. And the view inside for spectacular. I was spellbound by the beauty and colourful flowers. The different variety of roses, the herbal garden, the musical fountain, all was fantastic. Also walked on the road where the republic day parade is held. From there we went to RAJGHAT paid respect to Gandhiji. Saw other SAMADHI’S too. Next stop was at the ZOO sadly it was closed, so we went to PURANA KILLA. True to its name it was purana and under maintenance. We stopped for some snacks inbetween. Stopped at the INDIA GATE next. Next roamed in the CONNAUGHT PLACE and PALIKA BAZAR and the Connaught place garden. Had lip smacking lunch at KFC and my favourite pizza at PIZZA HUT. Finally went to the BIRLA MANDIR. Came back home with a throbbing headache.

Saturday went to AKSHARDHAM TEMPLE which is in NOIDA. There were a few other places we had in mind to visit that day, started with ashardham. To enter inside took more than an hour, comprising of strict security checks and again NO CAMERA. The TEMPLE was huge, huge very huge. To just look around took some good two hours. Next we went to this exhibition. We had no idea about what it was or would be but we took tickets. It started with a brief introduction of GOD SWAMINARAYAN (for whom the chain of ashardham temples is build). Next was a play about god swaminarayan’s life. It has a background voice and dolls dressed up which moved and lip synced in coordination with the voice. Each play was of some 10- 15 minutes and there were some 5-6 plays, one is required to chance the hall and move to the next one. Also the set-up was beautifully done. Like there was a play about hardships swaminarayan faced... and that set comprised of a waterfall, trees and the blue sky with clouds, the hall being dark and each place and person focussed with the help of lights. There was also a movie about the life of the god in theatre 85'*65'screen (it was not boring). But the thing I loved was the boat ride. Now it was not some ordinary boat ride. It was a journey through the history of India sanskruti vihar indai's glorious heritage. It moved automatically (without rowing) through the Vedic culture showing gurukuls, students, etc on the both sides of the bank. It was basically a tunnel through which the boat moved and on both sides of the water were depictions. There were a lot of things and a voice in the background described everything. There was aryabatta, sushruta, medicinal study, cosmic study in ancient India and all the stuff that we learned in history. The various dance forms. The Ajanta ellora caves. It was the journey of India from past to present depicting how far we have come and where we have to reach and what is the correct way to going there. It was wow. And I was sad when the ride came to an end. Mesmerising it was. Then we had food there in the temple (it has a nice bag eatery point which serves great vegetarian food, snacks everything). We had different varieties of food and ice-cream (I had the ICE CHUSKI). Went to the garden there which was good (not as good as the mughal garden) and had statues of the who’s who of the Indian culture. Religious leaders, spiritual leaders, patriotic leaders, great sons of India. I was unaware that the best it yet to come. There was also this musical fountain which started at 6 45. We were double minded whether or not to wait for it but finally decided to give it a try. And trust me it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I have witnessed a musical fountain in dark before but there was no comparison to this one. It was ........ (speechless). It was themed on the three gods BRAMHA ( music- veena) , Vishnu (music- flute) and Mahesh (music- damroo). The music, the lights the water and the silent chanting of vishu sahasthyan... the atmosphere was divine and mystic. Everyone including me was lost.....

The last day Sunday was basically spent in deciding which nearby places should be visited so as to reach back in time (had a train to catch in the evening). So went to this nearby district park, which has this beautiful artificial lake surrounded by ducks. Stayed there for some time, strolled in the nearby market. Ate cheese burst and Chocó lava at dominoes (Vandy are you listening). Came back. Watched a pathetic movie called MY NAME IS KHAN. Then came the time to go. I didn’t want to go back. I was given soo much love (and gifts) by uncle and aunty that I m sure I will keep visiting them. Love and miss them all loads.

With love
Sepo