Delhi-Agra Trip. Day 2: Friday

Guppy turns out to be right after all. It is slightly cold in the morning. Brr.

Ma has a meeting. Trust her to come up with work to do. Guppy and Divya leave for office. Divya supposedly has a meeting at 9. By the time they both leave, it's 9.45.

Show some professionalism, guys! :)

Ma and I drive to someplace called Vasant Vihar. Mean looking auto driver giving me looks from his auto. Snap! I take his picture. He looks even more disgruntled now. Luckily, the car begins to move, before he can think of anything erm...violent to do.

Ma goes off for her meeting. My stomach is rumbling. I buy a packet of Lays' American Style, and munch on the chips. Magic Masala not available. Waah! Me want Magic Masala. Aah well. I take a short walk around the neighbourhood. There are some shops. People try to lure me in to buy salwar kameezes that look like they're made of sequins! I mean- where's fashion taste when you need it?

I get lost for five minutes. It's a nice feeling. The area's a pretty good one. I find my way back to the car. Who was it who said I had no sense of direction? In your face! Ha!

And now it's time to go meet Guppy's colleague and bosses for lunch. We go to this great little place called Ego-Thai. Not too big, not too small- not too swanky, not too casual. Just right, as Goldilocks would have said. I have the most amazing mocktail ever. It's made of mixed fruit juice. We order red curry, green curry and rice for lunch. They had more fancy names, obviously- but they've slipped my mind now.

Tito-da and Vikash-da are very nice. They're Guppy's bosses. Vikash-da says I'm even prettier in person than I look in photographs. Ahem. He also says I'd do pretty well as a copywriter in O&M should I ever want to join. A job opening available- *whoops with glee*.

Gora is adorable. He and Guppy look like brothers. Lunch is a very enjoyable affair.

Then everyone pushes off to their respective places, and Ma and I set out for Indira Gandhi Memorial. The place is thick with history. If you've been there, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, well- do go. It's worth seeing. We see the fragments of Rajiv Gandhi's clothes, and Indira Gandhi's sari. If you squint a bit, you can actually see the bullet holes where she was shot. The compound is really big. And then we see the place where she was shot. Unbelievable.
We buy a few key chains with this really nice line: "I don't understand how anyone can be Indian and not be proud." Courtesy Mrs. Gandhi.
The place really wakes me up. There's so much to be done for the country. I come back to the guest house all patriotic and inspired.
I don't want to become stagnant. I want to learn as much as I can, do as much as I can, and experience as much I can. Some of us have such great opportunities and exposure. We need to make good use of it.

And next on the list is Red Fort.

Old Delhi is amazing. The people are so unbelievably different. Red Fort itself is HUGE. Buying the tickets and putting my bag into the locker takes quite a while- but oh, it's SO worth it. There's a little market inside, selling all kinds of knick-knacks, bags, and many other things. We see Diwani-Am and Diwani-Khas. What beautiful architecture. How did people come up with such amazing things?

Then it's back to the guest house- Guppy orders a pizza at night. From Slice of Italy. It's really yummy. The cover is just too creative for words. It's of an Italian newspaper, with a 3-D effect of a slice of pizza coming out from it. Guppy's boss has made it.

Slice of Italy, you've simply GOT to open an outlet in Calcutta! Yeah, I know I said that about Nirula's too, but I feel the same way!

Ma looks at Divya's legs and says, "Sexy!" Divya is slightly scandalized. A bit scared too, judging by her expression.

I'm too full for dinner. Time to go to bed. Long day tomorrow.

Delhi-Agra Trip. Day 1: Thursday

Things have really moved fast. Booked the tickets on Wednesday morning, packed in the afternoon, confirmed everything in the evening- and next morning, we are on our way to the capital. Great idea! Good that Ma doesn't have work for the next few days.

Flight is pretty much uneventful. I get the window seat. Woohoo!

Air hostess announces that its 29 degrees outside. Guppy, you idiot, you said it was 10-15 degrees, that it was cold, and I should carry sweatshirts!

We land in IGI Airport, claim luggage, and then go outside to look for a chaffeur holding up a placard that says "Mala Dasgupta". Instead we find Guppy holding up a poster he made himself, with our pictures on it, saying roughly something like this: "Welcome- have a good time!" Ma is beside herself with laughter. I giggle quite a lot myself. We unload suitases into the car, drive to guest house, dump stuff, and then go out again. Guest house isn't too fancy, but it isn't bad either. It'll do.

We hit Nirula's. I've never been there before. But heard loads about it. And now I speak from knowledge when I say their Big Boy Cheese Burger is yummy! Of course, the Chocolate Fudge Sundae is an experience in itself.

Nirula's- PLEASE, open an outlet in Calcutta!

Feeling stuffed to the brim, we drop Guppy off at work, and set out for Indira Gandhi Memorial. We reach just as it closes, so it's India Gate next on the list for us.

See quite a lot of stuff on the way. We see the MP quarters, where a scene of Rang De Basanti was shot- impressive! We see North Block and South Block- where the MPs and other politicians sit. We see Rashtrapati Bhawan, and Parliament House.

And then- we see India Gate in the distance.

It's lovely. I feel small and insignificant. The writing on the top is very moving indeed. There is a guard standing stiff and straight, a la the Buckingham Palace guards.

We strike up a friendship with a mehendi-girl. I take a picture of her, and she asks to see it. She's not too happy with it though, thinks she could have looked better.

It's getting dark now. We get into the car again, and drive to Connaught Place. Divya meets us there, and takes us to Janpath. It's pretty ordinary. Nothing there that isn't here in Calcutta. I like a pair of harems, but I don't buy it. Who knows if it'll look good on me?

Speaking so much Hindi is beginning to take its toll on me. I'm not used to it. Divya wants to give the driver directions, asks to speak to him, I tell him, "Aap phone pe baat kijiye. Divya aapko bulati hain."

Needless to say, driver gives me a strange look.

Dammit- MUST learn Hindi!

Go to Guppy's place in the evening. He lives like a slob. He defends himself by saying it's only a temporary arrangement. So what? I know I'd like my things neat and tidy, even if it was only a temporary arrangement. Ma throws herself into the landlady's arms, greets her like she's her long-long sister. Divya stuffs her face into the packet of chips and runs out of the house to laugh in peace outside.

Ma, Ma- WHY are you so funny???

Then it's back to the guest house. It's been a great day.

Point to be noted- what's up with my hair? It's being smooth and silky, and very manageable. Not behaving like itself at all. Time to ponder on the point.

The last time I was in Delhi, it was only a stopover- couldn't see any of it. This time, I shall get to. Yaay!

Am tired to the bone. I hit the sack. Day 1 is over.

Wait.

Hang in there.
My next blog post on the Delhi-Agra trip is under construction.

Random thoughts on the 1 and 1/2 year anniversary.

A drunk man in the middle of the road. Getting excited while in tuition. Text messages that say a lot while saying nothing at all. Wrong spellings. The 10th and the 11th. A little locked room. The pink ribbon. A torn shirt pocket. The crystal oyster. A black and a red rose. Numity wumity. Whispered conversations in the middle of the night. Morphed pictures. Napkin-ball throwing at Cafe Coffee Day. Malpoa and icecream. Batch Night. Grey T-shirts. Crazy cab rides. 22nd April 2006. Heart shaped balloons outside KFC. Fish earrings. 19 presents on my 19th birthday. Dhoom 2. Conference calls. Bundles of letters. 25th September 2007. "Top of the World". Inbox flooding. LMG back staircase. A breath of fresh air. Gnum. A toy lizard. Raindrops. The side of the road. The bottlebrush. Marble cake.

"I've finally found the love of a lifetime. A love to last my whole life through." - Firehouse.

The absence of blog posts.

I know! I know!

I haven't blogged in a while. It's just that nothing is inspiring me at the moment.

And I really don't want to write something sub-standard just for the heck of it, just because I haven't written anything in weeks.

When I write, I want to put my whole heart into it.

That's what writing is about.

So, in the words of Alex DeLarge from 'A Clockwork Orange', "Appy polly logies!"

But, NOT "Ubbddy ubddy ubbdy- That's all, folks!"- in the words of Porky Pig!