life through pink colour glasses: Delhi Diary II

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Delhi Diary II

Delhi is a beautiful city. One the most beautiful in the world. It may not be the most liveable city in the world, but this December as I bask in the sunny afternoons and breathe in the cold night air, I can’t help but fall under its spell.

Is it the broad roads under the wide open sky that make me fall in love with it? A sky still relatively unencroached by steel and glass sky scrapers.

Or maybe it’s the beautiful architecture of all those big houses I swoon over on my way back from Lodhi Garden.
Maybe it’s Lodhi Garden itself, that wide open oasis of natural beauty and peace. A place where the clock stopped decades ago and no one remembered to wind it.

Is it the familiarity of my local market? With its flower shops and restaurants and grumpy store keepers who’ve been selling the same thing for years. And with its one shop that changes its tenant every six months because somehow whatever opens there never seems to take off.

Possibly, it’s the loud punju culture that I feel so at home with. That godawful accent that I understand well and pick up easily when I haggle for junk jewellery at Janpath.

Maybe it’s just the holiday mode I’m in that’s filling me with all this warmth. I don’t, after all, have to contend with traffic jams, nosy neighbours, lecherous qualis drivers and other encumbrances of everyday Delhi life.

But I know, as I sit here by the window and look out on the little girl studying for her exams on the terrace, I know that no dose of reality could fully take away the magic that is Delhi. It may have its flaws, but who doesn’t? There’s just something about Delhi…

Posted by that girl in pink | 4:44 pm | 16 comments

16 Comments

at 10:12 pm Spider Girl said...: It's so nice to feel affection for the place you live, isn't it?

You photos are really nice.
at 10:23 pm Vijayeta said...: OK! U helped me make the crucial decision of when to leave this mad city that is Bombay and go back home... I'm so in love with Delhi! Its like if you can only have one great love, then Delhi just may be mine.
No matter how comfortable or familiar i may feel in another city, its Delhi that'll always always always be home! Its the wide open spaces, the laidback culture, the florists on every street corner, the winter fog, and now even the lovely AIIMS flyover and the Metro... Phew!
I guess u get the drift :)
And lovely pictures!
at 10:53 pm Lalit Singh said...: There’s just something about Delhi…
I cdnt agree more...
This city is warm... it doesnt rush u through like Bombay(which BTW is also a great city)... the city of all seasons..
But other than that, why I feel people like us, who have stayed in delhi and now have moved to diff places, miss the city so much is coz of the numerous memories we have that are associated with the city...
Our most cherished part of life , the childhood , had been spent in this city.. now that alone is a reason for loving this place...
India Gate n Shahjahan Road, CP, Chandni Chowk, Embassy Area, Raisina Hill... just some of the things any of the city can never have
The joy of flying kites on 15th Aug
ok I guess it is already long enough to qualify for a post rather than a comment...
and yes Nice pics!!
at 11:45 am Anonymous said...: and another thing. dli gave us the most incredible, permanent and fun friends. friendships we each have taken with us to different cities. and that have become both a bedrock and a benchmark.
lovely blog.
nm
at 2:43 pm Accidental Fame Junkie said...: I haven't been to Delhi in a long while. Your post makes me want to take a trip asap!
at 3:37 pm that girl in pink said...: spidergirl:thanks for dropping by! here's wishing you a delicious x'mas. :-)
vij: he he! word of caution: the lovely winter is followed by the infamous delhi summer!
lalit: yeah, u're right...it's the memories attached. plus if a city has places with names like shahjahan raod & kalu sarai, you know you've got a winner! :)
pyxie: thanks! and welcome to the world of blogging!
nm: hear hear!!
fame junkie: make a trip now! it's awesome...and so cold!!!
at 4:36 pm lemontree said...: hi pink
don't think i can love a city more. even because this is the only place i know like the back of my hand. it has places i discovered (at least i can insist i discovered amongst a small circle) , its the language i know (literally and otherwise), its really who i am
:)

nm: awwwwwww. i soo agree with you.
*smiling nostalgically*
thinking about soaking in the winter sun on the LB roof (with my back towards the sun- face burns)and endlessly discussing things with significant and no apparent value with the girls
at 5:24 pm Obi Wan said...: I'm all senti now... Have been troubling everyone i know in Bombay for the last 1 month that i just have to go back to Delhi to experience the winters, even if it is for just a day! It's been almost 4 years since I left home...

Aaah, the eating moongphalis while basking in the winter sun, the pakoras that mom makes, the hot gajar ka halwa, the thithurna in the rajaai... Gawd, I love my city!
at 5:53 pm Lalit Singh said...: Yes the rich cultural heritage lies scattered on delhi roads... where else wd u find Humayun, Akbar, Aurangzeb, Babar n Peshwa Road, Kautilya marg, chanakya puri, lajpat Nagar, Gandhinagar, mehru place, bhagat singh marg(Gole market)
And the Sarais - Neb, Ber, Laado, Shiekh, Rohilla, Kale khan (this one is fav) and Sarai Peepal Thala
Bombay names also have a rich cultural heritage .. lekin some of the nam,es are quiet amusing... eg. chincholi bandar
BTW heard about 'Teliwada' in Delhi... that used to be a standard reply in school when someasked 'yeh kahan se liya?'
at 10:40 am DiTtY said...: *sigh* Am really missing Delhi now! :( It's been about a year since I've been there!!!!!

And I saw the pics below... the flower shop looks a lot like the one at Def Col Market that i used to frequent many moons ago! :)

Love your blog.. will be back for me! :)
at 6:54 pm that girl in pink said...: lemon: :-)
obi wan: you know what's also nice? the buttered corn in a cup. i know you get that everywhere, but do you get the perfectly complementing cold weathr?
lalit: teliwada?
ditty: well guessed. :-)
at 11:01 pm Anonymous said...: found my way here via pyxie
.
.
.
leaving fingerprints behind - memories of a breathtaking history - that city
at 3:17 pm Anonymous said...: I just came here looking for desperate housewives. Searching for lonely, repressed, depressed, hopeless, helpless but stunningly beautiful women!! And i read this blog...nice blog...i am going to read it often now, when i am not searching for desperate housewives in delhi!!
at 5:58 pm The Wandering Hermit said...: Oh another one who loves Delhi..... I don't know why but Delhi has a unique place in me heart... and I love it so...but there are times when I hate it too... I think this cartoon says it best...
http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/6751/jaan4ms.png

Nice space and pics...
at 10:50 pm Rajesh said...: :) you were just holidaying? Or you work out of Delhi?

Delhi is beautiful, yes, inspite of ceaseless work on the flyovers (mad jams) and with all its quirks, I like it (the feeling of comfort I get here is unmatched)
at 1:11 am Anjuli said...: such an excellent blog entry- you have captured Delhi- I loved your line about the Lodhi Garden:

A place where the clock stopped decades ago and no one remembered to wind it.

So accurate!!