My Delhi Memoirs
Though we travel the world over to
find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not ~ Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Being married to a defence officer is
like a travelogue for me...seeing places, tasting different cuisines and
learning varied cultures ; all these have been eye opening and interesting
experiences for me.
One such posting was to New Delhi, a
place I had always been warned about, for its notoriety ,pollution and
aggressiveness. Having lived in Mumbai for most of my married years ,the word
aggression did not make any sense to me because, however ambitious a Mumbaikar
is, an aggressive streak is not something you would witness in them. Anyways,
as we landed in Delhi, the first thing that struck me was the cleaniness and
the beauty of the city. Every street was lined with flowers of various shapes, sizes
and colours and in spite of the concrete jungle that Delhi was, there was
enough greenery to soothe your senses. The vehicles were on a fast lane and
organised ,even though there were times when you were counting the number of
planks on the dividers on either side of the road, because you had nothing else
to do stuck in a jam!!
The food lovers that we are, finding
the locations of the best restaurants came easy to us. Be it Italian, Chinese
or Japanese or for that matter the cuisines from the various states of our
country, were relished with great fervour and enthusiasm. A visit to the Andhra
Bhavan or the Orissa Bhavan was a must every Sunday. ‘Gun Powder’ at Haus Khas
village ,the Manipuri stall at Dilli Haat ,’Gulatis’ at Pandara road, Saravana
Bhavan at Janpath were some of the favourite
meeting places with friends and family alike. Driving all the way to India gate
to have your ice creams after dinner was
yet another ‘looked forward’ to activities.
And when the travel bug bites , you
embrace it. Driving in and around Delhi, with the sole intention of seeing and
capturing the beauty of the places was one of our major pass times. A road trip
which brings back so many fond memories was through the state of Rajasthan; the
climb to the Amber fort in Jaipur, a walk through the by lanes of the Fort of
Jaisalmer, a camel ride on the Thar desert,a visit to the palace of the Jodhpur
Royal family, praying at the Ajmer Dargah, shopping for Bandhinis...experiencing
the flavour and colour of Rajasthan through its cuisines, textiles and people. 
The
drive to Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh ,with friends, during peak winter ,was
another one of our adventurous trips. The amazement on our faces on seeing the ‘Taj
Mahal’ and the ‘ Qutub Minar’ at close quarters, pictures of which we had seen
only in our history text books, was a sight to see!! The birds and the beauty
of nature at the Bharatpur Bird sanctuary was captivating. A drive through the mustard fields and stopping at road side Dhabas for 'hot aloo parathas' was just so enjoyable.Yet another feather
in our caps was a visit to the Dalai Lama’s monastery in Dharamsala. The Nehru
Park ,the historic Railway Museum and The Lodhi gardens were some of the lazing picnic and photography
points on a Sunday.
Shopping in the malls has never been my cup of tea.But Delhi has enough of street shopping to satiate your appetite for clothes , jewellery and footwear...and of course street food like the different chaats ,chole baturey ,aloo tikkis and various kinds of delicious ‘pakode’,for which Delhi is famous for. The shopping arcade ,Khan market also catered for the ‘serious up market shoppers’ alike!
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