The Diwali BLAST

Date: 14th October 2006 (Saturday)
Place: NMIMS Library
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Mood: Bored!
I was just sitting in the library wondering how the last few days have suddenly become so boring in college. It was almost the first time I ever felt that way since I began my MBA at NM. I figured the reason for this ennui was the holiday mood. People either having already left to their home-towns or preparing to do so. The overall result was a dull college with a strange and unusual din in the library. I was just wondering how I would spend the next 3 days in this environment, as my turn to join the bandwagon in leaving for a vacation was slated only on the 18th (Wednesday). When I was just making plans like cleaning up my flat, reading some books and maybe just getting some rest; Kataria comes up with a suggestion to leave for Delhi that day itself. I thought he was joking and almost laughed to myself. But he did have a point! Many people I knew were leaving to Delhi that day and I could easily join them and go along. Kataria pretty much convinced me into it, but the only problem was, it was nearing 3:00 p.m. and I had to pack up, buy the train ticket and be at the station in under 4 hours. While I was just contemplating this idea, it occurred to me that I have done crazier things before!
So I left college, took an auto, told him to rush home, and half way through I realized I had taking Muni’s bike to college. Damn! Told the auto guy to turn back. Ran to the bike park, picked up the bike and zoomed home. Stopped at the hostel on the way to find out details of the train from Satyam, which was anyway a futile exercise as I ended up not going with them, but with Bhalla and Manik as their train was leaving earlier.
Anyway, I get home, throw some clothes in, took some cash, made some maggi and ate it and was wondering why I wasn’t hungry at all. And it hit me that I had already lunch in college and the Maggi was quite unnecessary. All this short notice running around was really making me absent minded. It hit its peak when I locked our door without putting the latch on while leaving. Thankfully noticed it before running down the stairs and locked it proper. On the way I spoke to Manik letting him know that I was on the way, and also called Bala to tell him about my sudden change of plans. He did not seem very surprised!
By 7:00 p.m. I was at Platform No. 5 in the Dadar railway station with my General class ticket on the Punjab Mail express, waiting for Bhalla and Manik. Shortly, we were chugging along to our beloved capital.

Date: 15th October 2006 (Sunday)
Place: Nizammudin railway station, Delhi
Time: 8:30 p.m.
After an exhausting 25 hours in the train, with the only respite being ‘intellectual’ conversations with the Punjabi duo, I got off at the Nizammudin station in Delhi. Had managed to pay the fine and the differential amount to the TT who allowed me to share the berth with Bhalla, so I managed to catch some sleep and wasn’t that fatigued. But at the station, I realized my phone was off as it was not completely charged when I left and now there was no way for Asha to contact me. Anyway, I called her up from a phone booth and found out directions and the amount it would cost on the auto as the auto drivers in Delhi have meters that never work.
Reached Asha’s place by 10. Received a nice welcome from her new dog Arhaghi. And in a short while, after a refreshing bath and small talk, I was fast asleep.

Date: 16th October 2006 (Monday)
Place: Delhi…
On the very first day of my Delhi trip, I formed an impression; New Delhi is really really new and old Delhi is really really old. New Delhi has the widest roads, the coolest houses, the costliest cars, and the best part of it all, the amazing Metro. And old Delhi has buildings from the colonial era, a public transportation system of mostly cycle rickshaws and buses that are just about being held together. It’s really funny to be traveling in the a/c metro for some part of your journey and then a rickshaw-wala for the next part.The Metro just blew me away; it was more like an amusement park than a public transportation system because you find little kids screeching and hooting like as if it were their first time on a giant wheel or something. The whole place is so neat with escalators every where to you help you move heights and a public announcement system that keeps repeating pertinent information. You would not even have talk to anyone as everything you need to know will either be announced or displayed in the very conspicuous sign-boards. The whole system is so very simple that even a first timer like me would have absolutely no hassles in reaching his destination, and you can do it in record time and come out feeling really good about it too.I had called Shobhit in the morning as he was supposed to be Delhi by this time and I thought I could meet up with him. But just before I dialed his number, I get a call from the man himself! That was pretty coincidental, and the irony following that was even bizarre. He calls me to tell me that he delayed his train and was still in Bombay and wondering if we could catch up. And to think I was planning to tell him the exact same thing in Delhi!
Well, since I wasn’t meeting him, I called the next person on my list, Satyam. Went to his place for lunch and aunty made some really amazing food. Then I had a brief chat with Satyam’s dad before I left his place. After that I met Hitesh and Amit at TGIF and it was like same hang-out, same people, same Kingfisher beer; just a different city.One thing that caught my business acumen was this place I went for dinner. It’s a place called Karims, which is near Jama Masjid at Chandni Chowk. And these guys must be the most profitable restaurant in the country. The whole USP of the place is its connection with the Mughal era. And they have marketed this so well, that the restaurant is actually known all over the world as the only remnants of the Mughal culture. Karims has been featured in numerous newspapers, magazines and TV shows. They have been rated as one of the 10 best restaurants all over India and even been featured in the National Geographic. And how do I know all this? Because of the various cut-outs that have been very conspicuously displayed. And the place really must be famous, because in spite of being located in an area like Jama Masjid, there were almost as many foreigners inside as there were Indians. And Jama Masjid is the kind of place where every second guy would stare at my sister, and every fifth guy would stare at me!But the reason I say that this place is oozing business genius is simply because of the way they run the place. They whole place looks downtrodden, and it has to look so because they have to maintain the image of a place from the very old Mughal times; so this saves them a lot on renovation cost. They don’t even have to clean up the place too often, so there goes the maintenance charges. They don’t need to prepare too many dishes too as the Mughals probably just preferred a few dishes with very fancy names; and reducing the menu size means easier preparation and faster service. Even the food is prepared in a manner that it looks like it didn’t take too much effort. The meat pieces were not cut to normal sizes and were served in really big chunks, and they weren’t even cooked completely, because, once again, the Mughals probably preferred having their food in a slightly more savage manner than we are accustomed to. So by simply using the excuse of the Mughals, they are not only saving a lot of money, but also ensuring huge profits by their method of functioning, their overwhelming advertising and their clearly over priced menu! Now that’s good business.Anyway, coming back to the topic of Delhi, this was just my first day here and I have 6 more to go. Let’s see what else I encounter these next few days.

Date: 17th October 2006 (Tuesday)
Place: Indra Gandhi airport
I went with a very decked up Naheda to receive China at the airport and the dude was totally surprised to see me at there as he wasn’t expecting me in Delhi this early. (even i wasnt expecting myself there that early!)
While we were waiting for his arrival, Naheda and I were chalking out this plan, where before he hugs Naheda, I would appear from my hiding place and cut him off, and also took Nahed's boquet to give it to him from my side. But the ape man sees his Jane and just makes a dash for her. i couldnt get in time to cut him off. just had to make do with hugging him after his amorous session with naheda. anyway, helped him move into a hotel after that and went loafing with both of them, checking out jamia mila college (naheds collg) and other places there.
After leaving them together, I decided to take a walk. I soon found myself on a bench at a park that looked just like the one on which Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant sit on in the movie Notting Hill. It was a really nice place. And I just sat there, cooling my batteries for a bit, before I get moving again.
Later on that day, China and Naheda came over to Asha’a place for dinner and we had a really good time there. Only me and Asha were drinking, but although that woman can drink much more than me, I was the one making a big scene. There’s nothing new about I guess. I get that way everytime I’m inebriated. Don’t remember too much after that. Somewhere in that mayhem, I had gone off to sleep.

Date: 18th October 2006 (Wednesday)
Place: Jaipur
I woke up by 6:30 with barely 4 hours of sleep after having drunk a considerable amount of whisky the previous night, without any hangover whatsoever and feeling very enthusiastic about packing up and going to Jaipur. This is what an MBA has done to me. There was a time when I required at least 8 hours of sleep and there was just no way I could wake up early after a drinking binge. My life style has seemed to have altogether reversed, thanks to NM.
So I got ready and left with Naheda and China who I dropped off on my way to the bus station, which until that point of time I thought was called ‘Sarai Kaleka’ as a person on the road told me the previous day that it would be where I would find my bus to Jaipur. On reaching the bus stop, I find out that the bus stops name was actually ‘Sarai Kake Khan’! Man, no wonder people looked at me weirdly everytime I asked for Sari Kaleka! Anyway, the bus to Jaipur was almost set to leave and I left Delhi at sharp 8:30. We stopped at a place called Satiapur on the way for breakfast and I really badly wanted to have some chai. So I find myself a seat and ask a waiter who seemed a little drunk, and the time was just 11 a.m.! Anyway, I asked for the chai, but he seemed pissed off that all I was asking for was the chai and behaved like he never heard me. Anyway, I decided to go upto the chaiwala directly and ask him for it, and he gives me chai in this really tiny cup and charges me Rs 5 for it. Didn’t know even chai had flexi pricing! There was no way that chai could cost that much, it was just specially priced for me. Anyway, people like me are bound to be taken advantage of in a remote city like this, its how these guys make their living. So I didn’t protest. And anyway, it was just 5 bucks and I really badly wanted the chai.
Well, I got to Jaipur only by 1:30, the bus ride had taken longer than normal time thanks to some crazy stunts the driver pulled on the way by trying to overtake from the left and getting stuck at a police chowki. However, Parwaz was waiting for me as soon as I got off. She had her friends bike which was a real boon, as we went loafing all over Jaipur on that, and managed to do quite a bit of sight-seeing to because of it. We saw the Vidhan Soudha, the cricket stadium which was actually playing a game of the ICC championships that day, and many other important buildings before we went for lunch. All through this journey I was thinking of how every building somehow had a slight tinge of pink to it and also how this whole place seemed so well developed. It was almost a second Chandigarh. I never expected this. I was hoping to see more of the men with huge head gears, women with colourful sari’s and thick jewelry and of course, lots and lots of camels; all of which I had a brief glimpse of just as my bus was nearing Jaipur. But to my dismay, there was none of this in the actual city of Jaipur. And in fact, no trace of desert sand even. Parwaz told me that the nearest desert was 12 hours from Jaipur. Man, Jaipur was everything I never expected it to be. But it was a surprise that was actually quite pleasant. And Parwaz was an excellent host. Not only did she take me all over the place, but also bought me an authentic Rajasthani lunch. It was all I ate for the day, and totally worth it.
After lunch, we loafed around some more. Saw her old school, old college, some other schools and colleges, a really big circle, the most poplar mall of Jaipur and the biggest cinema hall of India. After all this, we finally went to what we all know as the pink city. Yeah, even I was pretty surprised. What I was seeing till now was not the actual pink city, it was just the outskirts of it. The real pink city was only a small portion, which was a walled city, and the original town of Jaipur, where all the building were painted pink to welcome some autocrat of that time. And this area was a real treat. The whole place was done up for Diwali. There were all sorts of fancy lights and miniature models of various monuments like the Taj Mahal and Statue of Liberty. It was really nice, and Parwaz was telling me that Diwali time is the best part of the year to visit Jaipur as the celebrations are really grand then. I was smiling to myself and feeling really happy about having come to Jaipur at this time. It was dream I had ever since a girl I once knew from college raved so much about it, and I finally get to see it now, more than 5 years since I first heard about it.

Date: 19th October 2006 (Thursday)
Place: Taj – Wah!
I had booked a room for myself at Jaipur the previous day, which was a complete waste of money as I barely spent half an hour in it. My initial plan was to spend the night there, that’s why I took the room. But at the 11th hour, I decided to make better use of my time and travel to Agra in the night itself, rather than sleep in Jaipur and travel to Agra the next day morning.
So I buy tickets on the last bus out of Jaipur for that day and before long, I was on my way to Agra. I was so tired after loafing all over Jaipur that I went to sleep even before the bus began moving, and woke up only by 5:30 the next morning when we reached Agra. The moment I got off, I asked the nearest auto guy to take me to the Taj Mahal as I really wanted to see it. Now this was a dream I had since my 3rd std., so you can imagine my anxiety. But the autowala tells me that the Taj opens only by 7. So I thought of using that time to check in to a room and have a nice refreshing bath. I ask the autowala to take me to a decent economical lodge close to Taj and he finds one perfect for my requirements. Only, the lodge owner was more keen on giving me the basement where drivers normally sleep as that was the cheapest option he had. I would have taken it, but for the fact that Naheda and China were joining me in some time and I really can’t ask Naheda to use the bathroom used by drivers in case she needed it. So I took a normal room, freshened up, and by 6:30, I was on my way to see the Taj Mahal.
Took a rickshaw this time and he takes me to a shop saying that there is still time for the Taj Mahal to open and I might as well do some shopping. And going to the bazaar there was a big mistake as they just didn’t let me go till I spent a grand there on things I really barely required. But those guys were good, they don’t sell things to you by forcing you to take it, they instead make you feel really nice and almost like you deserved a part of their splendour!Anyway, I finally just walked out saying I’ve had enough and all I really wanted to do was see the Taj Mahal. So I started towards the Taj Mahal and it begins to rain. Man, everything seemed to be conspiring against me from seeing the Taj Mahal. But I’ve already gone through so much, so I continued to walk in the rain. And when I reached the entrance to the Taj Mahal, I see a big bunch of people crowding there as they were taking cover from the rain. I had to make my way through, felt like I was in a concert, trying to get to the front. And when I finally got past the mob.. there it was in front of me, exactly like I’ve seen it in all the post cards, text books and Aishwarys Rai’s posters.. The Taj Mahal in all its glory.I just stood there and stared at it. My breathing rate slowly coming down to normal. After the brief break there, and the rain finally letting up, I began walking towards the monument. I was the only one walking down that stretch, the Taj Mahal slowly getting closer, and without even realizing, I noticed I was laughing aloud. I was so happy to finally be here. When I finally reach the marbled wonder, I went straight up to it and touched it. Almost sent a shiver down my spine... I was touching the Taj Mahal.Took a walk around it, and when I was on the other side, I saw the river and the words of my 3rd std. teacher resounded in my head... “the Taj Mahal is situated on the banks of the river yamuna” so there it was, the river Yamuna, almost dried up, but still flowing along.After completing my walk around it, I went inside. Noticed the tombs and one of the 4 chandeliers of Akbar hanging on top of the central tomb, the one that held Mumtaz Mahal. And finally, after an hour with the Taj Mahal, I decided to get back. Felt like I was catching a cold. But it was ok, it didn’t bother me... I saw the Taj Mahal, and now I have 6 more to go...

Date: 20th October 2006 (Friday)
Place: PVR Saket
It was time to chill out for a bit today. I’ve been traveling quite a bit for the last 2 days and just wanted to rest my body. So I decide to go online from Asha’s place and I see this mail from the hosts of an ad contest that I participated in with Sachin and Anirudha saying the results were out. I quickly opened it, and found out that we actually got shortlisted for the next round. I was really kicked about it. But I then noticed that the deadline for the submission of the second round of this contest was 23rd. That was just 3 days away and I was in Delhi, far away from my team members and also from any hopes of submitting it in time, as even Diwali was coming up in between this. So I get on the phone with Sachin and we are making plans to work on this, and we realize that we just can’t work sitting in different cities. So the only hope was for us to complete the task when I get back to Bombay on the 23rd. I was to reach on the morning that day, and mummy and Jeethu were supposed to come visit me then. It was going to be tight, but I knew I had to leave this work till then. And for the time being, continue enjoying my hiatus.
I had purchased tickets to the movie Don on Tuesday itself when I had gone to PVR Saket to meet Kataria and the rest at T’zers, so that was the plan for the afternoon. I liked SRK’s style in the movie as Don, but as Vijay, he sucked big time. After the movie, I once again met up with Kataria at T’zers, this time with China and Naheda for company. But they were too busy dancing on the dance floor there with some 5 other wannabes, so Kataria and I got bugged and we decided to leave. The plan was to drop me home, but en route, Kataria decided to just go and pay Amit a visit. And what was supposed to be a minor diversion, ended up being a complete plan for the night!
Once we picked up Amit, he just suggests we go see this mall in which the really happening club Elevate was situated. Once we got to the mall, we decide to just try our luck at the club. We obviously got rejected as we were 3 stags, but the smooth talker Amit is, he manages to convince the bouncers there that we were 3 harmless dudes from Bombay dying to see some good night life in Delhi. So we manage to get our entry in, and then came the big shocker! We were to pay Rs 1500 for our entry. Of course, after all the hard work in getting till there, it was quite pointless to walk out now. So Kataia takes out his card, and soon, we were at the coolest club of Delhi. And the best part was, it was VH1 Hip Hop Hustle night and some of the really famous international DJ’s, people who play alongside Rap Stars like 50 Cent and Eminem, were to be performing that night. And they definitely did not disappoint. The music there was just awesome. It managed to do what the crowd and alcohol failed to. But overall, I was really glad I came here. Got to see a really neat club on a Friday night in Delhi.

Date: 21th October 2006 (Saturday)
Place: Shobhit’s…
I finally catch up with Shobhit today. He picks me up from Asha’s place by 9 in the morning. I barely had any sleep once again. And this time I was really tired with all the dancing I’d done the previous night. Anyway, we go loafing for a bit. I see all the various embassy’s and stuff in Delhi. It looked really nice. We have a capital that we can really be proud of. Then we go to CP to try and grab some breakfast as I was super hungry. But it was too early, and Mac Donalds was the only restaurant just about opening. So we have some burgers there, and soon reached his place which was at the other end of Delhi, nearly 25 kms from Asha’s. Once there, I did a bit of socializing with his parents and then Shobhit taught me to play Teen Patha, which I figured I was pretty bad at. So I decided to get on his laptop and try my hand at Fifa, and managed to lose those games even after Shobhit played the first half of the match giving me a lead. Just wasn’t my day for games, or maybe it was just the lack of sleep. And that I managed to get quite a bit of as a scrumptious lunch combined with a comfortable bed can be quite soporific.
After my brief siesta, it was time to go cracker shopping. Shobhit and I go with one of Shobhits colony friends, Nitin. He was telling me all about the neo-cool Diwali tradition of Delhi. After picking some crackers, we stopped to have some ‘Delhi Chaat’, but sadly, it just wasn’t any good. We couldn’t even finish all the aloo that was put in the aloo chaat.
Anyway, we got back to the colony and it was time for the Puja. This was my first ever Diwali Puja, so I was pretty keen on seeing how it was conducted. Shobhits mom and dad were handling most of the Puja. They gave Shobhit a little bell to play around with. And he would go about shaking it everytime his parents broke into a song. It was a really funny sight. To see Shobhit playing a tiny little bell while his parents are singing a song out of book which seemed to have a complicated looking script, or maybe it was just Hindi! I could never be too sure.
Then each of them took turns to do a particular Puja to all the gods and when Shobhits mom asked me also to do it, I was cursing myself for not having paid attention to the detail with which the others had done this Puja. I did not want to do something wrong and look foolish. But aunty was really sweet and explained exactly how I should do it, and I managed to do a pretty decent job. Or so I would like to assume!
After the Puja, it was cracker bursting time. Shobhit and I go downstairs, team up with Nitin and start bursting the crackers. It was nice, but just not as fun as it was some years back. In fact, we were just seeing all the other kids around having such a jolly time with all the crackers and were thinking of those good old days when we also played around that way. After we were done with the crackers, we take a walk, and it was then some little kids come up to us and say ‘Happy Diwali uncle’. That sort of underlined the way we were feeling then; we were just too old for this.
But it was a nice Diwali all the same. It was my first Diwali in the north, and one of my main reasons for coming here during this time was to see the pomp and show with which the northies celebrate this festival. And though it was grossly underplayed because of all the environmental problems that Delhi has been lately facing, it was still a very nice celebration. And more than the firecrackers, it was the attitude of the people that I found very different from the people of the South during Diwali time. The Northies really know how to celebrate this festival, even if they were compromising on the number of crackers they burst.

Date: 22nd October 2006 (Sunday)
Place: Alvida Delhi
Well, that’s the end of it. My 6 days in Delhi finally came to an end. I had lunch at Nizaams today as Shobhit was talking about it a lot the previous day and I really felt I should try it out. Then I also went on a trip in the Metro. Just went 2 stations up and came down the same way, just to have one last feel of the Metro before I left. And finally, made it to the station barely 5 minutes before my Rajdhani left. This whole trip was JIT (just in time) for me. I managed to do so many things, all in the last minute, thereby making full use of the time I had everywhere. It was a little scary at times. Like I almost missed the train from Agra as I wanted to see the Taj Mahal once more before leaving. I almost missed the bus from Jaipur as I was working on the net and forgot to notice the time. There were so many incidents like this, but somehow I managed to cover everything just in the nick of time, and overall had a total blast in Delhi.
After Goa on New Years, this definitely is the best trip of the year.