Thursday, July 16, 2020

Dilwalon Ki Dilli!

The very first day I set my foot on this soil, I knew this that something was different about the air that goes around here, the wind that blows and even the busy people who seems to be robotic in their movements. I never appreciated a metro city life and my encounter with Delhi made my fear for busy and systematic life much bigger.  But there was something that still held me close to this land.

When I started my post-graduation college life in Punjab, Delhi was the first and most picky choice for a weekend relaxation! Delhi was just 6 hrs away from Bathinda, given that we had direct ‘Punjab Mail’ train service from Bathinda to Delhi and Vice versa for easy and cashless transportation (let me admit my sin, actually we never took tickets for this train journey). It was like making plans and packing our bags at the very last moment, calling a rikshaw and reaching the station when the train was just minutes away from leaving it, rushing towards the platform and chasing the train just like another Shahrukh Khan movie scene. 6 hrs of travelling, you can’t actually call it travelling, each journey from Bathinda to Delhi via Punjab mail that too in a General Compartment was never less than an adventure, sometimes we have to stand for hours without getting a seat, can’t close our eyes due to the fear of thieves and not to mention those devilish eyes falling upon us because we were girls! 

But once we reach Delhi, it is another level of refreshment in itself. You will totally forget the amount of pain you took to travel all the way; I must say Delhi worth it all!

The city seems to tell you a lot of stories; stories of love, sorrows, battles, protests, and moreover struggles. The most attractive thing about Delhi is that the city never sleeps, with all its streets that often come to life after sunsets. Wandering along those streets is the most exciting thing I have ever done. Those constant calling and screaming by street vendors, the hectic crowd in which you will float away like a leaf over a river, the smell of food and cloths mixed with joy, the flashy lights that snatch away your sleep; in shot the markets of Delhi are pure bundle of happiness if you aren’t a fan of brands, privacy and posh life! Can’t argue that those pictures we seen on the outskirts of the city are the best or even anywhere near pleasant, but they are arguably the real India!



                                         Pic Credits: Dheera Sasidharan (@itscheerachi)

I could never explain why this land feels so special, being just another planned city, the National Capital of India. Maybe it is that excitement I had as a child, that one day I will visit this city, with all its monuments which stands high reflecting the brilliance of Mughal Architecture. The same monuments which I have only studied and seen in books and television. To roam around in the same gardens in front of those forts and palaces where someday back in history some Emperor may have roamed, to feel those forts which would have seen a number of battles back then, to imagine being one of those soldiers who died protecting this land, to feel life in past tense!


The streets and metros of Delhi isn’t different from those of Kochi, Chennai, and Kolkata, but the feel it gives is undoubtfully different from others.

In short, Delhi excites me for no accurate reason but still a thousand reasons at the same time.

#Cheerachi


2 comments:

Miserable as it is!

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