3 Men and a girl

Tis funny how one helmet can screw up your day. How often one uses a cellphone just because it snugly lies in one's pocket. How Swapnil's suggestions can lead to unbearbale situations, and some good ones too. August 3rd left me drained of all energy and full of kissas, which I'll capture here ASAP (As Short As Possible).

Quick Facts - Surya came over to Delhi for a day. Swapnil and I skipped work for the same day. Vatsala joined us around 1pm and stayed till dinner. What you don't know is that we spent a majority of the day in 2 groups. Surya and I traversed Chandni Chowk and the rest of Delhi, hopping buses,rickety rickshaws and handling the scorching sun. The other two spent the day at JNU (I think), travelling through the beautiful lanes of Delhi on a scooter. MY SCOOTER! Tis funny how the lack of a helmet can screw up your day..

August 3rd began with a healthy breakfast at Holistic Food Centre in IIT Delhi(yes, you can laugh at the name). 3 people. 1 helmet. Hence, I drove to IIT-D. They came by bus. After spending an hour in the campus, Swapnil drove back to his place. We followed in an auto.
Sandwich cost - 7 x 3 rupees
Travel cost - 12 rupees (auto) + 8 rupees (bus) + petrol cost.

Time passed quickly at Swapnil's residence and soon it was 1p.m. Vatsala joined us around then, and was lucky to witness ace decision making by 3 archi's. Shahi Paneer or Matar Paneer..Butter or no Butter Roti...We finally got the dishes right and ordered from Swapnil's favourite "Punjabi Dhaba" - only 17 rupees lunch. Food was good, and worth's its price.

The afternoon events were quite enervating. A string of bus journeys commencing at Yusuf Sarai and ending at Dilli Haat - some meetings, some shopping, some arguments, some shady deals. The four of us met at round 8p.m at Dilli Haat. For all the driving that had taken place, the scooter had apparently been refilled with petrol worth just 20 bucks. But you know how efficient vehicles are nowadays. And with the dirt-cheap petrol prices, who cares about money!

Dilli Haat shopping was fun - exacerbated by Surya's indecisiveness and Swapnil's sarcasm. Vatsala gave excellent "girl" suggestions. I nodded with perfect timing. I'll recommend the place to anyone who adores "Indian" goods and is unaware that the same is available at Sarojini Nagar and Lajpat Nagar market at half the price. Shopping over, we headed back to Yusuf Sarai for dinner.

As we walked through the nostalgic lanes of the market, images of yesteryear flashed in front of Swapnil's eyes - his escapades, his friends, his favourite dining spots. Surya and I were new to all this. We had been repeatedly brainwashed about "City Inn" and its 15 rupees sabzi and 2.5 rupees roti. Some of us were (possibly) excited about having a sasta-dinner. The rest just walked along...

After reaching "City-Inn", we climbed 5 floors non-stop, surveying the one-room dwellers as they did the same. My architect eyes and brains couldn't help being appalled at the ventillation, light, harmony etc...Maybe the restaurant would compensate for all that. We huffed and puffed and reached the roof-top...Lets just say that it was so shabby, that it would have repulsed even the most ardent Cheddi's fans...I vacillated - Maybe the food would expiate the lack of asthetics, seating space and lights. Swapnil hopefully enquired, "kya milega abhi ?". The obese chef/owner replied, "aaj ka special - aalu-parmal sabzi".. . . s i l e n c e.

I ran down the stairs, just in case the scorned waiters decided to stuff some 'parmal' sabzi down my throat. We couldn't eat that, even for enviable archi camaraderie. We instead went to "Punjab Restaurant" - a normal place, with normal waiters, and good tandoori chicken.

The next few hours involved a few more trips on the scooter, which I wasn't a part of. At around 2a.m, we made decisions for the next morning. Plan A was that I would drop Surya (sans extra helmet) at the station en route, and head back home. The safer Plan B was that he would board an auto, and I would drive alongside (tension free)...Instead, what really materialized was Plan C. And as usual, it involved a punctured tyre, discovered at 6:30am...We both hired an auto for the station and left the scooter in Swapnil's custody....

I slept sporadically in the office that day. The boss's presence would perk me for a few minutes. The body ache reminded me of all the events of the previous day. The ordeal ended in the evening, when I took a bus to Yusuf Sarai and drove back home on the repaired scooter. Dilli traffic gifted the last sting by fabricating a traffic jam....just for me. It took me an hour to cover 6 km.

A synopsis :
Sites recommended in Delhi - Chandi Chowk, Indian Habitat Centre, SPA...
Sites to avoid - CITY INN, Dilli Haat...
Buses we used - 502,503,26,335...
Should Swapnil's recommendations be trashed - ?

Photo's will be uploaded soon...