Sat, 14 Jan. Indigo 6E-194 from BOM to DEL. |
My favourite view out of an airplane window is the one where we are flying over a flock of birds. My next favourite view - flying over another airplane. |
Delhi Metro is one of the best metros I've experienced (and I've seen 7-8 of them). It makes the city so much more enjoyable. |
Ravish Tiwari picked me up in Central Delhi. But an auto-wala banged into his car before he could do that. Ustaad, yeh Dilli hai. |
Woah, look at those fighter jets taking off behind me. |
I accompanied Tiwari to 12 Janpath (Ram Vilas Paswan's residence) for a Sankranti special lunch. |
Bihar themed lunch - chooda, dahi, alu matar ki sabzi, achaar, mirchi - spread out under the winter sun. |
Ram Vilas Paswan and the bite. |
Lalu Prasad Yadav walked in. And you know who became the center of attraction. |
Experience the colonial era bungalows of Lutyens' Delhi. Check. |
The affable Pujya and Ravish. |
One with the future Prime Minister of India. |
In the evening, Tiwari took me to the congress office. Met Lalu and Digvijay Singh on the same day (I think now I have seen it all). |
Given the current day's flavor, Digvijay Singh declared that the Baba Ramdev ink controversy was a "RSS shaazish". |
Evening stroll in Khan Market with Pujya. |
Bahri Sons. |
Raghavendra Singh Rathore. |
Kakori kabab at Khan Chacha. This hole-in-the-wall eatery is now two floors. The kababs are still good. |
Quick stop at Route 04 followed by some evil Lemon Tart and Strawberry Mousse at a patisserie below (no pictures, I was busy eating). |
The fun and fashionable Nitin and Yosha (watching Pyar Ka Punchnama with you guys was fun). |
This paan-wala in Noida made the paans with so much tender love that I was confused if I should be eating it. |
Sun, 15 Jan. Tiwari wore his woollen hat and snuggled under a blanket .. |
.. while Pujya toiled in the kitchen making Gobi ke Paranthe. Steaming hot paranthe with butter on a winter morning - sinful. |
Sunday was exceptionally bright and sunny. A great winter day. |
Coffee with Farooq Adam. |
Connaught Place. Old businesses make space for new. |
But CP never goes out of style. |
My personal discovery of the trip was Amrita SherGil's work at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA). While I had heard her name several times and saw a few paintings, this was first time I saw a sizeable body of her work. Amrita SherGil died at 28. The other Great Moderns - Husain, Raza, Souza, Akbar Padamsee, Tyeb Mehta - were also present at the NGMA. |
The Metro makes the Delhi - Gurgaon commute a breeze. It also provides you a new view to the city's skyline. Tombs rising out of abandoned ruins and parks. Hanuman and Shiva statues. The farm houses of Chhattarpur and Sultanpur. |
Anoushka, Facebook's most famous girl. |
Sumit and Anoushka. |
Rahul Harkisanka. |
The Mind Cafe in Gurgaon is a unique concept where you play a board game with your meal. We played the Ticket to Ride that turned out to be a lot of fun. |
Mon, 16 Jan. Monday was mostly spent on the road as we traveled from Gurgaon to Delhi to Pilani. |
Large statues of deities fascinate me. |
The plains give way to slightly hilly terrain as you cross the border from Haryana to Rajasthan. |
The road between Delhi and Pilani was lined with sarson ke khet at this time of the year. |
On a roadtrip, it is the simple silly views like this that make your day. |
A peacock. |
Tue, 17 Jan. Tuesday was particularly cold. We started from Pilani for Delhi at 6:30 am in dense fog with visibility less than 40m. |
Another view of yesterday's sarson ke khet. |
Hemanth, my partner in crime. |
Layers for the day. None of them held up against the north Indian winter breeze. |
Hot parathas right out of the tandoor on a cold morning in a rustic dhaba. Priceless. |
All the badass stuff that make paranthas good. |
Harpreet Grover. His office has a room called with whiteboards for walls and is called the 'Idea Room'. When asked why it was closed, the peon replied "No idea, sirjee." |
Airports are a great place to watch fashion. Especially Delhi airport in winters. This gent looked fab in his carefully coordinated brown outfit (special points for tan shoes) that went extremely well with his brown hair. |
Indigo 6E-189 from DEL to BOM. |