"I asked my soul: What is Delhi?"
She replied: The world is the body and Delhi its
life"
- Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib
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| My love |
More often than not, we human beings take everything around
us for granted. Parents, friends, family and most importantly our city! I
started travelling around only once I moved out of Delhi after spending close
to 19 years there. Once in a while i would think about the charm of the city
and the splendour it holds in all the gallies and dhabas, but always wanted to
explore outside. Only this time when I went home for winters, I decided to
relive the beauty that my Delhi is, and boy I missed it!
You Win Some, You “Loo” Some! – Sulabh
International Toilet Museum
Okay so how many of us knew that there is a
toilet museum in Delhi? And that it is among the world’s weirdest museums? And
that it is free?! (Well most amazing things in life are!)
So, well yeah, Sulabh International
maintains a toilet museum in its premises which traces the history of toilets
through human evolution. From double-decker toilets to ones disguised as book
shelves one can find all sorts of potty pots ever used!
Not only is the museum entertaining but
also educational! It was set up primarily to divert the focus of our policy
makers towards the efforts that have been made in the past across civilizations
to ensure hygiene and sanitation and given today’s status of waste management
and environmental sanitation, the organization sure is a stalwart in many
senses!
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| Futuristic toilet from Brazil! With arm rest! |
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| What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! |
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| On the toilet used by King Louis XIV in his court! |
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| Double decker toilet used in america in early 1900s |
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| Toilet disguised as a bookshelf! |
Eat. Burp. Eat. Repeat. : Dilli Ke Pakwaan
Just as if having mouth watering roadside
snacks on every galli and corner wasn’t enough, the Delhi Tourism Ministry also
organizes an annual event which goes by the name Dilli ke Pakwaan and as it
suggests one can find the most amazing of all foods found in Delhi! From
Kashmiri Kehva, some 60 types of Kulfi (they had stuff like paan flavoured and
black current kulfi), Daulat ki Chaat (50grams of heaven and milk and cream),
biryanis, kebabs, nihari and naan and I cannot go on anymore without salivating
like a dog sitting here in Bangalore! Usually held in the last week of every
December, must visit for every foodie, hell no, every human being!
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| God bless Delhi Tourism! |
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| Life is always better with some music, specially on a rustic gramophone! |
HoHo Merry Dilli!
During my childhood, my parents did a
pretty decent job of what the HoHo services does now, except they didn’t quite
allow me to get out of the car and wander around Old Delhi at my whims and
fancies. But guess what now you can! With two distinct routes (Red caters to
historical / cultural sites and Green to mostly shopping sites), the Hop On Hop
Off bus services is one of the most amazing, intriguing, charming, educational
ways of discovering the secrets that the city beholds. Also a very good
refresher to everything that you may have missed while you snored away in those
middle school history lessons!
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| Red Fort and Delhi fog |
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| Too much grandeur for my camera lens! |
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| Chaddar bazar |
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| Jama Masjid |
Dilli 6
Period. One doesn’t even need to go beyond
that description. Just saying Dilli 6 conjures up the most mystifying vision of
food, parathas, noise, nondescript alleys, moong dal ka halwa, jalebis, Karims,
Jama Masjid and haggling. Writing more about Chandni Chowk won’t do any
justice. One has got to meander through the lanes to get enthralled by the
splendour.
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| At paranthe wali galli |
Going back to Delhi makes you realise how much you missed
the wide roads lined with trees, steaming momos which can totally give the ones
in Gangtok a run for their money, street shopping to one’s heart’s delight,
Delhi Metro and its most entertaining set of commuters, winters and chai,
couple of drinks at Hauz Khas Village and a stroll around the lake.
Makes you remember how the city is so much more than front
page criminal headlines.
The city has a charm and history than can be shrouded by
none.
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