We get a gift from the nature in Delhi...
Second day started a bit late n lazy in the train. We got up at about 9, and i thanked god that i did so. The morning essentials took very less time as there was not much queue there. One of my trip mate has a nasty habit of getting up early (before 6AM-everything gets classified early); he got caught up in the queue that time...
The problem with travel in the train is, the night travel passes quickly. And the day travel creeps, as if to compensate the accelerated time of night travel. On top of it, we didnt have any means of timepass in ourselves. Finally one of us brilliant minds got down at a station and got a deck of cards. This at lease made the time passable in day travel.
Well.. Finally the train journey ended. We had thought that we will keep our luggage in Cloak room and roam around in the city. When we reached the cloak room, we learned from the guy sitting there that we need to put locks on each of our bags. So, two of us went to buy locks, and 4 remained behind to fill the form. We had just 15 mins window, as the cloak room was gonna close down from 5 to 6 for tea break. Again owing to Murphy's law; the guys who had gone hunting for locks didnt come back withing 15 mins. So there we were, with 6 new locks, filled form thinking whether to wait for an hour. Obviously everyone was against it, so we went out and found a guest house to put our bags.
After keeping bags there and locking it, we went to nearest Metro station-Indraprastha. At Rajiv chowk (another metro station), we changed the line from Yello to Blue, and got down at Chandani chowk. From there we went on foot to Lal Killa. Nice place to view, specially during evening, in the orangish hue of the sunrays... Due to lack of the time, we left from there after just a visit in the outer garden of killa.
From there we went to Jamia masjid, but as most of us were wearing shorts, thanks to weather of delhi; we couldnt enter the masjid. But from outside also, it looked magnificent! Visibly similar to the lal killa, stone structure..Made from similar red stone, this one also looked even better in the evening rays.
With little time left to spare, we had to leave for the next place in line. This time we got an auto to India Gate. Problem: had to take 2 auto. Even bigger problem, driver of the auto in which i was sitting seemed a li'l pissed off. Honking and hailing he took us to the India gate. We got down, only to find the other auto going ahead of us. When asked about it, our driver said this side entrance is closer. Our local guide was in other auto, so we had no other choice but to trust him and start walking.
After a few steps, got a glimpse of this structure. Bathing in the halogen lights, this one stood tall, demanding for attention. All three of us took out whatever camera we had with us (phone/camera) and clicked it. A funny thing happened, just as my friend was clicking with phone, he got call from other guys, and he couldnt take the capture.. :D
By this time, we had started thinking, thank gods that we wore shorts. It was really hot, even at about 8PM. Hearing this thought, he decided to play trick on us, and rain poured down... There was a huge uproar in the crowd near India gate. Being a mumbaikar, my first reaction was to take cover. After taking cover, i noticed that the uproar in the public was a collective sigh of joy from everyone. And unlike me, almost all delhites were running towards the rain.
After few calls back and forth, we finally caught up with the other group. We neared the India gate and noticed one other thing. Rain on our side of gate was much less than on the other side. Believe me, it wasnt 'Grass is greener on other side' thing. Much of the rain was bouncing off the gate. That was the time when 'size' of India gate dawned on me. Felt tiny in front of it!
Second day started a bit late n lazy in the train. We got up at about 9, and i thanked god that i did so. The morning essentials took very less time as there was not much queue there. One of my trip mate has a nasty habit of getting up early (before 6AM-everything gets classified early); he got caught up in the queue that time...
The problem with travel in the train is, the night travel passes quickly. And the day travel creeps, as if to compensate the accelerated time of night travel. On top of it, we didnt have any means of timepass in ourselves. Finally one of us brilliant minds got down at a station and got a deck of cards. This at lease made the time passable in day travel.
Well.. Finally the train journey ended. We had thought that we will keep our luggage in Cloak room and roam around in the city. When we reached the cloak room, we learned from the guy sitting there that we need to put locks on each of our bags. So, two of us went to buy locks, and 4 remained behind to fill the form. We had just 15 mins window, as the cloak room was gonna close down from 5 to 6 for tea break. Again owing to Murphy's law; the guys who had gone hunting for locks didnt come back withing 15 mins. So there we were, with 6 new locks, filled form thinking whether to wait for an hour. Obviously everyone was against it, so we went out and found a guest house to put our bags.
After keeping bags there and locking it, we went to nearest Metro station-Indraprastha. At Rajiv chowk (another metro station), we changed the line from Yello to Blue, and got down at Chandani chowk. From there we went on foot to Lal Killa. Nice place to view, specially during evening, in the orangish hue of the sunrays... Due to lack of the time, we left from there after just a visit in the outer garden of killa.
From there we went to Jamia masjid, but as most of us were wearing shorts, thanks to weather of delhi; we couldnt enter the masjid. But from outside also, it looked magnificent! Visibly similar to the lal killa, stone structure..Made from similar red stone, this one also looked even better in the evening rays.
With little time left to spare, we had to leave for the next place in line. This time we got an auto to India Gate. Problem: had to take 2 auto. Even bigger problem, driver of the auto in which i was sitting seemed a li'l pissed off. Honking and hailing he took us to the India gate. We got down, only to find the other auto going ahead of us. When asked about it, our driver said this side entrance is closer. Our local guide was in other auto, so we had no other choice but to trust him and start walking.
After a few steps, got a glimpse of this structure. Bathing in the halogen lights, this one stood tall, demanding for attention. All three of us took out whatever camera we had with us (phone/camera) and clicked it. A funny thing happened, just as my friend was clicking with phone, he got call from other guys, and he couldnt take the capture.. :D
By this time, we had started thinking, thank gods that we wore shorts. It was really hot, even at about 8PM. Hearing this thought, he decided to play trick on us, and rain poured down... There was a huge uproar in the crowd near India gate. Being a mumbaikar, my first reaction was to take cover. After taking cover, i noticed that the uproar in the public was a collective sigh of joy from everyone. And unlike me, almost all delhites were running towards the rain.
After few calls back and forth, we finally caught up with the other group. We neared the India gate and noticed one other thing. Rain on our side of gate was much less than on the other side. Believe me, it wasnt 'Grass is greener on other side' thing. Much of the rain was bouncing off the gate. That was the time when 'size' of India gate dawned on me. Felt tiny in front of it!
One of my friend, Gaurav, mentioned about this (obviously on fb) "Roaming around in the sweaty by-lanes of Old Delhi, you wish the climate should have been better. And then when you reach India Gate, it starts to rain. The ambience kicks up your mood and then the anticipation of what's coming up sets in. You can't possibly wish for more Gaurav."
The rains didnt show any intentions of stopping or even slowing down. We put every electronic item in a plastic bag and started back for our guest house. Back at guest house, got freshen up, and got out for dinner. Statuary warning: If you are worried about hygiene, never ever go to eat in hotel near Nizamuddin railway station. Well, if you dont give a damn about the hygiene, you are welcome to eat anywhere. So, praying to strengthen my digestive system, i finished the dinner, and went out to book a cab to go to airport. Our flight was at 5AM, so we decided that instead of staying in the guest house, we will stake out the night at airport itself. So we booked the cab and went back to the guest to pack bags.
Unlike yesterday, second day went on pretty smoothly. Or rather we were getting used to accept whatever he throws at us. Still thinking what remaining 10 days will bring to us, we packed the bags...
Unlike yesterday, second day went on pretty smoothly. Or rather we were getting used to accept whatever he throws at us. Still thinking what remaining 10 days will bring to us, we packed the bags...
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