[Written November 2006]
Coming to Delhi after 19 years, I was reasonably excited – especially as I might get the opportunity to visit some of the old haunts. I was expecting to be picked up by Bhupinder Singh whose cell phone I called as I was exiting the departure lounge. Right then I saw a name board that was inviting Mr. Suresh traveling by IT 204 from Mumbai, held by a Sardarji. I said to myself, if I discount the error on where I was traveling from, there is a 75% match – my name is correct, the flight number matches and the Sardarji could very well be Bhupinder Singh. As soon as I came to this realization (which was in a fraction of a second), I disconnected my call to Bhupinder. My Sardarji driver vigorously nodded in affirmative to the tentative question I had for him – "Bhupinder Singh from Akbar travels…?" picked up my bag and we started walking towards the car. It was then I got a call from"Bhupinder" (thanks to missed call technology), which wasn't from the quiet Sardarji leading me to the car! I told the person on the phone that I'd been picked up by "him" already. When I accosted my Sardarji driver with the new found information, he grinned sheepishly and said that his name is not Bhupinder, but Kulvinder Singh and that Bhupinder had been dispatched on a different driving assignment.
I was wondering what else this Sardarji of small build (which itself is a rare occurrence, as the readers would agree) had in store for me. Sure enough, Kulvinder, undeterred by his small build, showed enough chutzpa to wade through Delhi traffic. In any round about (and Delhi is littered with millions of those traffic contraptions) he was promptly enforcing his right of way when he was in the inside (and hence to the right of other drivers); but more importantly, he was coolly demanding the right of way even when he was entering a round about, thus being on the left of other drivers to whom he ought to have yielded the right of way. In another instance he proved to me categorically that he is not be considered small in any way; confronted with a bus blocking his way, he resorted to the sound horn technique and didn't stop for about 60 seconds which was when the bus got out of his way. 60 seconds might seem small; but it could be indefinitely long when some one is continuously sounding the car horn.Clearly, any situation has a silver lining; in this instance, the other car drivers who were also blocked by the bus decided to let Kulvinder take matter in his hands and waited for an amicable settlement rather than each resorting to sounding the horn.
Traveling through Shanti Path, Jan Path, Teen Murti Marg and crossing Aurangazeb Road, Akbar Road and a host of other roads named after freedom fighters and Muslim invaders, I reached my hotel. Shanti Path was littered with embassies. Uniformly, each embassy, had multiple large iron gates, each promptly shut and guarded by several security personnel. Funny how the world has become a smaller place yet unwelcoming to each other. Delhi roads were in great condition, most of them 4 lanes wide with large dividers and lane markings. Kulvinder and most drivers, however, wanted to enjoy seeing the lane markings devoured by their car as they drove their vehicles with the wheels straddling the markings. I saw several types of dividers in the roads;some with trees interspersed every few meters; others with 3 feet iron railings; still others with 3+ feet concrete dividers. However, none of them were successful in deterring jay walkers trying to get to the other side of the road. It was amusing to see people run across to the concrete dividers (with suitcases and bags), propel themselves on top and sit while waiting for a lull in the traffic to scoot across. I guess we need 6 ft high concrete dividers to stop most jay walkers (we will then only have to deal with jay walking pole vaulters)
I had to be satisfied with a solitary walk down Barakhamba Road to Connaught Place (CP) instead of a real walk down the memory lane. I set out on a mission to find a good chole bhature (CB) joint in CP, having already downed a drink of Cragganmore in the hotel bar. Ignoring the call of Dosai from the authentic south Indian vegetarian restaurant "The Banana Leaf" (people who know me would understand the self discipline I had to exercise here) and making several inquiries as to where one could find authentic and good CB, I went to Kwality Restaurant. Couple of bites into the dish, I realized the chef knows how to make good, oily Channa. It was almost as good as the lunch time roadside CB I remembered eating in 1987 in CP. After shamelessly repeating the order, I started walking back to the hotel. When I chanced upon the Barakhamba Road Delhi Metro Station, I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did, for it was top class – clean, neat, and spacious rivaling the underground transportation of Europe. I was surprised by the lack of crowd, but that could have been because of waning hours of the day (or should it be night?)
You must've noticed I didn't bother to tell the name of the hotel where I stayed. Hans Plaza was a decent 4* property where my secretary secured a reservation after much effort while most of the popular 5* hotels had been fully booked for Nov 2nd. I had been wondering what in the world had come to Delhi. Today's TOI reported that there were more than 10,000 "shaadis" performed yesterday in Delhi. I know you have all attended weddings, Tam Brahm style. But North Indian Shaadis are a whole different ball game –with Mehendi parties, shopping parties and receptions, these events choreographed by Shaadi Planners can easily make our weddings look archaic. As it turned out, after Nov 2, the next suitable day to get hitched happens to be Jan 23rd – I am sure along wait for the impatient. On top of it, Nov 2nd was an extra special auspicious day – according to the pundits, the devas were going to remove any "reservations" on whom they will bless if people tied the knot on Nov 2nd! Yes sir… your horoscopes needn't match, your stars needn't be aligned, but you could still get the divine blessings had you tied the knot on Nov 2nd 2006! Wouldn't it be cool if our politicians took a leaf from the pages of the devas and do away with college "reservations" for one year? That would be something, wouldn't it? Wonder if the Tam Brahms did a "wedding run" on Nov 2nd… No matter, with 10,000+ shaadis, there was a run on the hotel bookings in Delhi and I was relegated to Hans Plaza whose saving grace was the availability of Double Matured Special Edition Single Malt Cragganmore in the bar.
Feeling sorry for the rest of the country who have to fork out almost Rs. 10 more for a liter of petrol, I reached the airport on Nov 3rd morning in time to catch my flight back to Bengalooru (or should I spell Bengaluru?). Kulvinder was prompt and had lost none of his assertive driving capabilities over the night. Talking of changing city names, I wonder how long before we will consider changing the last bastion of the metros to Indraprastha… that would be capital! Maybe, we ought to change the country's name to Hindustan as well. Hmm…can a secular country afford to do that?
Coming to Delhi after 19 years, I was reasonably excited – especially as I might get the opportunity to visit some of the old haunts. I was expecting to be picked up by Bhupinder Singh whose cell phone I called as I was exiting the departure lounge. Right then I saw a name board that was inviting Mr. Suresh traveling by IT 204 from Mumbai, held by a Sardarji. I said to myself, if I discount the error on where I was traveling from, there is a 75% match – my name is correct, the flight number matches and the Sardarji could very well be Bhupinder Singh. As soon as I came to this realization (which was in a fraction of a second), I disconnected my call to Bhupinder. My Sardarji driver vigorously nodded in affirmative to the tentative question I had for him – "Bhupinder Singh from Akbar travels…?" picked up my bag and we started walking towards the car. It was then I got a call from"Bhupinder" (thanks to missed call technology), which wasn't from the quiet Sardarji leading me to the car! I told the person on the phone that I'd been picked up by "him" already. When I accosted my Sardarji driver with the new found information, he grinned sheepishly and said that his name is not Bhupinder, but Kulvinder Singh and that Bhupinder had been dispatched on a different driving assignment.
I was wondering what else this Sardarji of small build (which itself is a rare occurrence, as the readers would agree) had in store for me. Sure enough, Kulvinder, undeterred by his small build, showed enough chutzpa to wade through Delhi traffic. In any round about (and Delhi is littered with millions of those traffic contraptions) he was promptly enforcing his right of way when he was in the inside (and hence to the right of other drivers); but more importantly, he was coolly demanding the right of way even when he was entering a round about, thus being on the left of other drivers to whom he ought to have yielded the right of way. In another instance he proved to me categorically that he is not be considered small in any way; confronted with a bus blocking his way, he resorted to the sound horn technique and didn't stop for about 60 seconds which was when the bus got out of his way. 60 seconds might seem small; but it could be indefinitely long when some one is continuously sounding the car horn.Clearly, any situation has a silver lining; in this instance, the other car drivers who were also blocked by the bus decided to let Kulvinder take matter in his hands and waited for an amicable settlement rather than each resorting to sounding the horn.
Traveling through Shanti Path, Jan Path, Teen Murti Marg and crossing Aurangazeb Road, Akbar Road and a host of other roads named after freedom fighters and Muslim invaders, I reached my hotel. Shanti Path was littered with embassies. Uniformly, each embassy, had multiple large iron gates, each promptly shut and guarded by several security personnel. Funny how the world has become a smaller place yet unwelcoming to each other. Delhi roads were in great condition, most of them 4 lanes wide with large dividers and lane markings. Kulvinder and most drivers, however, wanted to enjoy seeing the lane markings devoured by their car as they drove their vehicles with the wheels straddling the markings. I saw several types of dividers in the roads;some with trees interspersed every few meters; others with 3 feet iron railings; still others with 3+ feet concrete dividers. However, none of them were successful in deterring jay walkers trying to get to the other side of the road. It was amusing to see people run across to the concrete dividers (with suitcases and bags), propel themselves on top and sit while waiting for a lull in the traffic to scoot across. I guess we need 6 ft high concrete dividers to stop most jay walkers (we will then only have to deal with jay walking pole vaulters)
I had to be satisfied with a solitary walk down Barakhamba Road to Connaught Place (CP) instead of a real walk down the memory lane. I set out on a mission to find a good chole bhature (CB) joint in CP, having already downed a drink of Cragganmore in the hotel bar. Ignoring the call of Dosai from the authentic south Indian vegetarian restaurant "The Banana Leaf" (people who know me would understand the self discipline I had to exercise here) and making several inquiries as to where one could find authentic and good CB, I went to Kwality Restaurant. Couple of bites into the dish, I realized the chef knows how to make good, oily Channa. It was almost as good as the lunch time roadside CB I remembered eating in 1987 in CP. After shamelessly repeating the order, I started walking back to the hotel. When I chanced upon the Barakhamba Road Delhi Metro Station, I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did, for it was top class – clean, neat, and spacious rivaling the underground transportation of Europe. I was surprised by the lack of crowd, but that could have been because of waning hours of the day (or should it be night?)
You must've noticed I didn't bother to tell the name of the hotel where I stayed. Hans Plaza was a decent 4* property where my secretary secured a reservation after much effort while most of the popular 5* hotels had been fully booked for Nov 2nd. I had been wondering what in the world had come to Delhi. Today's TOI reported that there were more than 10,000 "shaadis" performed yesterday in Delhi. I know you have all attended weddings, Tam Brahm style. But North Indian Shaadis are a whole different ball game –with Mehendi parties, shopping parties and receptions, these events choreographed by Shaadi Planners can easily make our weddings look archaic. As it turned out, after Nov 2, the next suitable day to get hitched happens to be Jan 23rd – I am sure along wait for the impatient. On top of it, Nov 2nd was an extra special auspicious day – according to the pundits, the devas were going to remove any "reservations" on whom they will bless if people tied the knot on Nov 2nd! Yes sir… your horoscopes needn't match, your stars needn't be aligned, but you could still get the divine blessings had you tied the knot on Nov 2nd 2006! Wouldn't it be cool if our politicians took a leaf from the pages of the devas and do away with college "reservations" for one year? That would be something, wouldn't it? Wonder if the Tam Brahms did a "wedding run" on Nov 2nd… No matter, with 10,000+ shaadis, there was a run on the hotel bookings in Delhi and I was relegated to Hans Plaza whose saving grace was the availability of Double Matured Special Edition Single Malt Cragganmore in the bar.
Feeling sorry for the rest of the country who have to fork out almost Rs. 10 more for a liter of petrol, I reached the airport on Nov 3rd morning in time to catch my flight back to Bengalooru (or should I spell Bengaluru?). Kulvinder was prompt and had lost none of his assertive driving capabilities over the night. Talking of changing city names, I wonder how long before we will consider changing the last bastion of the metros to Indraprastha… that would be capital! Maybe, we ought to change the country's name to Hindustan as well. Hmm…can a secular country afford to do that?
