Dilliwala!

The other day I was thinking about this city and one fact struck me, and that is till date I haven't come across anyone from Delhi Delhi. That means someone whose past generations have been in Delhi for forevet.
I am not talking about going back to 6th BC or anything but even a century will suffice.
Khushwant Singh's father must be the earliest settler I know. From what I remember he had some role in construction of Lutyen's Delhi. That must be somewhere in 1930s.
All the people I know have come here from some where else. Punjabis forming a major chunk and almost everyone's forefathers were from Pakistan. The way they say it is as if it's some kind of an achievement or something to boast about. Trust a Delhite to turn the most inane of things into something to brag about.
Seeing how many times the city has been pillaged, ransacked and it's whole male population decimated the chances are that the oldest specimen would be some poor muslim in the by lanes of Old Delhi. Most probably around Jama Masjid or related to it somehow.
Muslim cause they have ruled in some form for around 6 centuries over Delhi.
Poor cause during partition most of the rich families left for Pakistan.
Jama Masjid is a safe bet cause at least after Shah Jahan's realm it has been a functional mosque so it would be a constant source of survival.
I imagine a stooped, dark, withered, old man with a shabby white beard sweeping the humongous courtyard of Jama Masjid, totally oblivious to the fact that he has a lineage going back to the mughals or even Tughlaq and is the winner of my earliest inhabitant of Delhi contest!

How to of Delhi

Things I learnt on an auto ride in Delhi:
- How to fleece the travelers and how much to charge from people at different times.
And how to make all those passengers thank you for various reasons at the end of the ride.
- How Railway stations are ruled by Taxi drivers and they lay down the rules.
And how and where to get back at them
- How foreigners used to be golden hens
but now are sharper and savorier.
So how to tackle them. Trick is to learn a few key words of english
- How autos in Delhi have to be driven by the owners themselves. They used to be for 6.2 lakhs before!
- How to smuggle auto chassis from NOIDA and sell it in black market in Delhi.
An auto costs 1.6 lakhs plus 10 grands for interiors.
- How to get humongous tips for getting passengers to the hotel of your choice
- How to spot couples making out in autos and what advice to give them.
- How to make special deliveries for romancing pairs where the guy will pay him in advance for dropping the girl home.
- How to have a fair idea of which train comes when. For a busy station like New Delhi that is a bit impressive.
- How all traffic police in Delhi are corrupt to the core and how to handle them
- And the BEST :
How you can get an auto to go anywhere, at any time in Delhi by saying these golden words : I need to book a hotel in _______ area.

P.S.: all this gyaan in just a 25 min ride!

Eternal constancy of the Indian landscape

Traveling by train in India makes you realise how constant the landscape seems to be everywhere you go.
Maybe around 80-90% seems to be the same. Whether it's near Hapur or Hubli.
Kind of reassuring. Something homely, something familiar, something you have been seeing since forever. Like the moon.
Sun changes it's characteristics with weather. Moon is moon, half quarter or full.
Travelling by train is almost like a homecoming of sorts by now for me. I travel that much.
Have to write something about this love of the railroads someday.

Spring Special

Spring in the plains are a short affair. Maybe a couple of weeks or 10 days max, before the full onslaught of harsh, cruel summers.
This time for once we have prolonged spring after a phase of prolonged winters where temperatures touched an all time low.
Creepers are bursting with flowers and you even have tiny yellow ones blooming in hordes on the road side. I had seen this sight only on the mountain roads before.
Temperatures are down, the breeze is blowing, flowers are at their best and birds are chirping like never before.
Aah! Spring.......

P.S.: Have to get bird seeds for the sparrows today.

Chinta ta ta Chita Chita......

There's school right across the window of my chamber where they play this number almost every morning nowadays. And it usually it plays on "repeat" so it must be pretty popular with the kids.
I was a bit mystified at first about the fact that who was playing this song on full blast on their speaker system.
Then I spotted kids in full school uniform dancing on it in the school courtyard. Must be some kind of a new age exercise regime.
Jo bhi hai, I love it!
Nothing like a good Chinta ta ta Chita Chita to pep you up early in the morning :-D

Furgie kicks ass!!!

So here I am walking Suzana outside just a few minutes back. And the two cats, Furgie and Soxie come along for company.
As we reach our place there's this big white dog, around 3-4 years old, standing outside our gate.
I shoo the dog, Suzana gives a mock charge, and then from nowhere there's a buzz of fur zips pass me and then Suzana.........
It's not a plane, it's not a shooting star..................it's Furgie to the rescue!
In one single motion she leaps on dog's back and bites it!
I am stunned
Suzana is zapped
And the poor dog runs 100 meters at top pace yelping for it's life.
So now I have a dog that only barks
And a cat that just bites!
"Killer Kombo"

Ven & Van

Both deliver on the same day, i.e. today, 12th of March.
Ven, her son, second child after a daughter.
Van, twins, a son & daughter.
Seemed like Dwd re-visited to me.
Tamil eelam forever!

Side by side it's also Afshan & Auntys b'day today. This should be taken as the biggest proof of how bogus astrology truly is.

12th of March.
Huh! What a date.

White Magic, Dark Death

It was a warm day, the first one after months of cold and a spell of rain. Sunny, bright and a bit dusty. 4th of March, Chotti's b'day.
As I rode up to Shaheed path it was surprisingly empty. I was on Thunder Bird, oblivious to the events unfolding just minutes ahead.
I reach the straight long stretch near Ansal's Golf City and there's just me on the road at that time of around 3:20.
Far in the distance on my side of the road I see a white Tata Magic carrier standing on the side of the road at the left curb.
A man is underneath it. I assume repairing some fault in the machine.
As I move closer I see that both the doors of the carrier are open.
By now I am pretty intrigued by the whole thing. A bit uneasy. A bit apprehensive.
And then I get close to the Magic.
I see a bicycle underneath it, right between the fron and back wheels.
And then there is the poor guy. Old. Dark. In white.
Dead...
Lying all alone, the occupants of the Magic on a run and his blood just starting to seep from his ruptured skull into the black tarmac.

P.S.: I call 100 to report. They put the ball in my court and instead ask me about the jurisdiction!