Ever
since we completed Kedarkantha successfully with Indiahikes two years back, I
was after Aashish to do the Himalayan trek again...I wanted to explore Great
Lakes of Kashmir but some how I could not convince Aashish last year....This
year I persuaded, pleaded with him and to my luck our very own Polythene
Baba प्रसन्न हो गये …. we zeroed on Roopkund trek mainly because of the noble cause
taken up by Indiahikes to clean up the Mountains and trails dirtied by huge
influx of trekkers due to the popularity of the place....We managed to convince
two of our fellow trekkers in Sahyadris , namely Chinmay and Sanket...Two
enthusiastic youngsters who would provide the energy to our group..... 
On the day of our train journey by
Garib Rath to Hajarat Nizammuddin, all of us met at Bandra Terminus…There were
lots of calls, messages exchanged on Whats App to communicate as to who is
reaching Bandra how….Finally all came separately but reached in time for train
which started on time but got delayed on Bandra itself due to chain pulling-not
a good omen for a 19 hr journey, we thought.
We made ourselves comfortable and once
TC had checked our tickets, got down to chit chatting… our co-passengers
overheard the conversation and joined us. As it usually happens on a long train
journeys like ours, In India, people ask
you questions otherwise considered
personal and conversations go much deeper than merely exchanging pleasantries…
cricket n politics being the all time national favorite whipping boys so to
say…Many a times if you find a co-passenger having similar interest like yours
then your time flies quickly. Fortunately for us, we were already in group and
anyone joining us was following our theme… We started with UNO and tried hard
to get Aashish involved, who was very reluctant to join, but ended up having joined by a young Sardar
working in Pune and going in UP. He was
a typical Sardar, jovial and frank n open….There was also a person who did not
have reservation and some urgency had forced him to travel without one, who
befriended us in the hope that he will get a place to sleep…Anyways he was good
in Gupshup so we did not mind. After the initial hiccups,our RATH was on course
and speeding its way to SURAT where we
were to be joined by the last of our co-passengers in the compartment…..By the
time we reached Surat we were already listening to songs on Mobiles plus the खजाना (Khajana) of songs shared
by the affable Sardar on his laptop….Our fellow passenger from Surat was a pan
chewing burly man with many rings in both hands ..Sanket mis-understood him to
be in inebriated condition but in reality he was a natural talent with
extensive knowledge liking and flair for
old songs और उसके बाद हमारी जो रंगारंग मेहफिल जम गई उसके क्या केहने ….पुरा का पुरा डिब्बा हमारे गाने ( laptop or our very own besura singing except the
Surat man) सून रहा था ..( वैसे और कोई चारा भी नाही था ,लेकिन किसी ने complaint भी नही कि ..which was proof enough that it was not too bad) The मेहफिल ended with
the finale song “ मेरा कुछ सामान तुम्हारे पास पडा है ” from इजाजत Ijaazat and when
the background of the song was explained to youngsters , they were instantly in
love with the song and Gulzar…..
Aashish had very graciously suggested
that we go to his brother’s place in Lajpat nagar so that we can keep our bags
in safe place and explore Dilli as much as possible till the night train to
Kathgodam. We get down at the station catch a bus which drops us close to
Lajpat Nagar and within half an hour sitting comfortably at his brother’s
place. Sanket, the FOODIE, wanted to taste famous Chole-Kulche for breakfast, so alongwith tea n biscuits n
Thums up we savored our spicy serving.
We were ready to move out on Mission
Dilli. With the help from Aashish’s nephew n Delhi Metro App, I found out all the famous attractions closer to Metro
stations so that we move fast and cover as much as possible.
At the outset let me clarify that I’m
a Mumbai Boy all the way. I love Mumbai even if she is going down the drains
(literally) from bad to worse to worst very very fast in terms of amenities,
public transport , population etc. etc. Still
Lately I have grown fond of Dilli mainly because of this wonder created
by Mr. Sreedharan and his dedicated team of engineers ,called Delhi Metro . It
has changed the way whole Delhi moves.It has changed the mindset of more than
crore people about cleanliness, the way they look up to DMRC and cherish it.
Simply amazing.
Anyway, as per plan we arrived at
nearest Metro station and took a day pass which would allow us unlimited travel
on Metro network at just Rs.100
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We started out with Lotus Temple, a
symbol of International Unity in faith n religion an idea propagated by Bahai faith….inner six
petals of the lotus symbolizing Six continents and outer petals depicting
numerous Faiths n religion in harmony peace and togetherness….Its extremely
peaceful inside in spite of hundreds of
visitors sitting together
Sanket the FOODIE was feeling thirsty
on seeing the freshly cut watermelon, cucumber n papayas so we had a small
break with Aashish opting for local गोटी सोडा lemon…..
Next we got down at Central
Secretariat and had a close up view of Parliament from Parliament street . Said
Hi to our Honorable “ Chiiddu” in North Block,
“ Bye” to PM on Raisina Hills ,South Block ,both identical buildings
flanking Rashtrapati bhavan on
Rajpath where we said नोमोष्कार to Pranabda.
The imposing sights of all four iconic
structures, the Majestic high flying tricolour fills you with a sense of pride
no matter how much you may dislike the current set of people governing INDIA from these buildings. Also the sight of INDIA
GATE from Rajpath is impressive to say the least.
The Sun God had favoured and spared us
in the middle of summer day, so we were able to roam around rather comfortably…
We had big photo session on the deserted road and buildings and then proceeded
towards INDIA GATE…It is quite a walk in
afternoon blazing sun but it served as a rehearsal for our trek…
The sight of INDIA GATE n RajPath summons so many memories, of 15th
August and 26th January, of the movie “Rang De Basanti” and song "Lose control",the sad thing is this memorial paying tribute to our Soldiers and
the AMAR JAWAN JYOTI is off limits for our own people for security reasons….thats
the impact these terrorists have on us as a country… Sad but true…No point
blaming the Security…
It was tiring walk back to Central
Secretariat Metro from India Gate and we were suitably exhausted. Aashish left
us here to spend time with his brother and we proceeded to Chandani Chowk to
explore the area , Lal Quila and Jama Masjid our final destination for the day.
We explored the narrow busy crowded by-lanes
of famous Chandani Chowk , checked the area
with pincode Delhi 6, had some lovey tasty street food (tikki n chai etc).This Dilli is totally different
from the New Dilli we visited earlier.Its crowded, dirty but bustling more like Mohammad Ali road
of Mumbai….
I had visited Lal Quila before and
apart from its historical importance that our Shivaji Maharaj came here to meet
the Emperor Aurangzeb and went out
without saluting him in his own Darbar, I do not have much to say about it…. For
a small time Warrior fighting for SWARAJYA in far away Maharashtra , it was a
huge gutsy thing of not paying his respects to the Emperor of the Largest
Empire ruling India at that time…
We moved on towards the largest Mosque
in India-Jama Masjid- Another of the Iconic structures of Dilli.
The road leading to it went past Meena Bazaar (made famous by the Song “Kajara
Mohabbat Wala”). The path to the Mosque is extremely filthy but the Interiors
of the mosque are remarkably clean. The vastness of the prayer ground where
lakhs come on Fridays and on Id days is unmistakable….
It was evening Namaz time and also
some unknown number was frantically trying to reach me so we came out to check.
As it happened, it was highly worried Aashish wondering where the hell we
were and whether we plan to come back….
His phone was not working so he was using local number…It was almost 1930 hrs and we were quite far from Lajpat Nagar plus
he had some DIFFERENT idea about our next train … And we were quite cool ,
having full faith in Metro…. But hearing a panicked Aashish we hurried up and
reached Lajpat Nagar by 2030 enjoying some beautiful faces in the crowded
Sunday evening Market…. One look at Aashish and I knew we had goofed up majorly….
Actually the Family was waiting for us
to serve Dinner thinking that our train was at 2030 Hrs from Rohilla Sarai…Anyways,
we had a quick bite into the delicious Kadhi Pakode, Rice n Mattur Paneer made
by Aunty ji and saying quick Thank You’s n Goodbyes left for Chandani
Chowk again to board the Ranikhet
Express from Old Dilli railway station to Kathgodam.
We reached peacefully and wel in time
for the train and comfortably boarded our compartment… We were dead tired and
exhausted by the afternoon sojourn with
DILLI plus our berths were a bit
scattered so without wasting much time we
went to bed …The train was supposed to reach Kathgodam Early morning where
the last leg of our looong journey to reach our basecamp Lohajung would begin….but
that will be in next blog….
It was fascinating half day tour of
Dilli made possible by Delhi Metro. In 75 bucks we were able to see so many
things effortlessly….I am sure the Delhietes will have many many grieviences
about the city but my short rendezvous with
this bustling city is making me root for it and say यह दिल्ली है मेरी जान .....सिर्फ आधे दिन के लिए हि सही !!!!
Here is the link of complete album
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