WE JUST LOVE DELHI :)

You know you are from Delhi when..

Living in the most posh colonies, you get to hear, "Aloo, Bhindi Pyaaz, Tamatar le loo"... And you hear women asking the vegetable vendor "Bhaiyaa dhaniya hari mirchi nahi diya!" [Even with Half a kilo Carrot]

You have seen your relative or family member bribing a policeman at-least once.

In the 90's you have been to India Gate at children's park

Mocha, CCD, Barista, Hookah, 24x7 are like your favorite hangouts.

You speak or hear the word "setting" or "jugad" at-least once a day.

Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Lotus Temple are just for tourist. You havent been to more than two of these.

Young or Old, You have played street football and street cricket in the rains and have ended up breaking some glass. :P

Library is virtually non-existent unless you go to British council or Max Mueller Bhavan.

Deepavali means every house is illuminated to such an extent that you wonder if its a competition of illumination and cracker bursting is so continuous that it is difficult to imagine one moment of silence on Diwali.

You've had a ride on the cycle rickshaw - have haggled over the price but pity the rickshaw wallas' condition.

You glare at people who call Gol-Guppa's- Pani Puri!
And you always ask the vendor "Bhaiya yeh Gol-Guppe Aate ki hai ya Sooji ke?"

You've had school cancelled due to cold, summer vacations postponed due to heat

You've hit 120 kmph at Nelson Mandela Marg.
And after crossing it, you might end up saying FEEL AA GAYE". OR, You have raced up the DND and taken the U turn back.

You have been to a wedding in a Mehrauli farmhouse

You have taken the 10 rupee Call Center cab/ Qualis from anywhere to Gurgaon/Noida.

Almost every Delhiite understands Punjabi to an extent. May he belong to any region? PUNJABI unites everyone :P

You call the waiter in the restaurant "boss" & tack on "yaar"/ "bhai" to almost every sentence.

Bape Da Dhaba or Kake Da hotel has got better butter chicken than Taj. :P You've at least tried it once! And you just might see a BMW, a Porsche OR a Peugeot parked outside it!

You use the word and have described practically every other person on the planet as "Vella".

You often see Middle Aged Aunties wearing Gucci shades and holding LV bags having Gol-Gappas in GK (Near Prince Pan) or Bhelpuri in South Ex along with Diet Coke !

You have been to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib

When everyone from the Auto Driver, Vegetable Vendor, Grocery Store guy, Watch-man, Salesperson to just any 'guy' is referred to here as 'Bhaiya'

You refer to East Delhi as Jamuna ke Us Paar.

You refer to AIIMS as Medical.

You dont buy tickets for a music concert or cricket match, but try to take the help of your friend's Dad, who happens to be the PA to the under secretary of the deputy secretary of the chief secretary of the Minister of State for Khadi.

You overtake everyone from the wrong side and stare into his/her eyes while doing so.

Most of you have at least two cars;

You know that a farmhouse has nothing to do with cattle or farming.

You used "contacts" (jugad) for everything, from getting movie tickets to restaurant bookings to playschool admissions.

You have had Anda parantha outside Vikram hotel and Bun Omelet at Dhaula Kuan at least once!

When Aunties go to drop their kids to the Bus-Stop in a Night Gown with a Duppatta.

When you think EVERY South Indian comes from 'Madras'. No Offense.

You feel, If I indicate which way I am going to turn my vehicle, it is an information security leak.

When the only time you went to the Chidiya Ghar (Zoo) was on a school picnic.

One of your favorite yummiest ice-creams was "ORANGE - BAR"

You have been stuck in 'Nariana' due to the traffic for over 4 hours! 'Phew!

When you feel lucky enough to have around 10 LOCAL FM STATIONS! Woho.!

When DESPITE all the goods and bads.
You still Love Delhi. =]


And you want more.

lifes good :)

Its amazing how people change, circumstances change but whats beautiful is that some things between these very people never change.

After having splurged at a milion lunch /dinners [ post my friends' marital status changing to MARRRIIIEEEDDDD], the all girls lunch @ dilli haat in delhi's june heat still remains worth a zillion bucks. It just brings you back to life, the fatigue is lost.
Its so comforting that this lunch hour feels exactly the same like it felt in 1st yr of college. We just never seem to loose out on the excitement. Its fab. My college girlies just keep getting cuter by the year.

Okie I have to stop embarrasing myself, but nevertheless, I heard yaaron 10 times today. You guys give me the most amazing brainless-alcohol-free-high. Thanks for being born around the same time except of course our saadey solaa saal ki bachcheee!!!!!!!!

BTW, if you dont wanna read between the lines:

Dilli Haat is famous for:
Saabuddaana khichdee @ the MAHRASHTRA STALL
Momo's and fruit beer @ any North eastern state's stall.
Junky Hippie stuff
Arty Souveneirs

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a snapshot of dilli

Those sure were the best days of life. The boulevards of DU show it all, not a single tree to be left. You become what you really want to become, even if you were not quite sure about it. You can turn into the coy girl from the tomboy that you used to be. You can turn into the well read pseudo intellectual from the loser you used to be, wooing ten thousand girls in the University Special. College makes you grow up.

Those love stories, the bhel-puri at patel chest (still not quite sure what they teach there :P), the beautiful firangs at arts faculty – who come to India to experience/ study the culture. It is unbelievable. I sure want at least one of my kids to go to north campus- can see you guys and the kids hating me already. But this is what DU has got into me; I just want it the Delhi way.

Delhi University-> Delhi -> India…

A recent visit to our Old Delhi aka puraani dilli aka sheher. Me and a bi-product of my 5 years at DU aka toni woke up that day at 6:00 AM. Toni as usual does’nt let me put kaajal coz she sucks. She does not understand that I will not even get one orkut/ facebook pic right if I don’t do that. Anyways am not putting any of my pics here eithere, COZ I LOOK DEAD IN THAT. A banana each for breakfast and there it begins, the trip to the metro station at CP (ouch Rajiv chowk). We board our pyaaree DMRC and head to Jaama Masjid station. There we are- our first stop for today’s heritage walk (spent all my life in Delhi though!!!).

We jumped out of the metro and climbed the stairs to get to the lane that lead to jama masjid. A thousand male eyes staring at us as if we had done something wrong. They did not approve of 2 bold (err) ladies – walking down this road, toni was being vouched as the firang (Phew! That was irritating). It was a lane that must have been beautiful (which it still is in its own right), the kinds sanjay leela bansali tried to create in well yes I saw it – saawariya. The lane is full of electric towers and tangled cables which is barely providing electricity to the lane itself. Just before we landed at jama masjid we saw another spectacular – Hotel Jama Masjid. Must have been a biggie sometime. Another left turn and there we were standing there next to the stairs that lead to the largest mosque in India. Major accomplishment this one, phew. It was huge, the dome, the square. There was a notice board outside the mosque that said “No Muslim visitors allowed inside the mosque before 8 AM”, so we waited and waited. At 8 AM, we got in with just one camera, thanks to toni we were being charged Rs 200 for this instead of Rs 20, and there she started in her Allahbadi hindi. The guard was impressed and he said “Aap jaa sakte hain 20 Rs mein, maine socha aap angrez hain ” . It was beautiful, you can see red fort from the opposite side of the entry gate. We wanted to go up the minaret from where you can see all of Old Delhi but it was to open at 10:30. So after taking a zillion pics of the place with pigeons flying in front of the dome, we headed to our next stop.

Red Fort- I was just wondering , why is it that the players in the Mughal era did not accept change easily- that has lead to bringing them from being rulers to beggars. We have to accept that the only thing we can count on is change. Even though it runs in my kayastha blood- accepting change and moving on, it is still tough. Diwan-e aam, Diwan-e –khaas, rang mahal, nadir shah and the peacock throne, the courtyard- it was amazing. And there was this mysterious building which I have always wondered about, Victorian architecture in a restricted area of red fort. I so want to know what is it all about. I remember seeing it from the ring road near shanti sthal in my everyday 30 Km travel during college days. It sure is beautiful. And to our surprise, there was a restaurant Daawat Khana out there, open only till 6 PM. Nice place. Its impossible to take bad pictures at red fort. The Mughal era came to life after our visit to the museum inside red fort.

Just 250 meters from Red Fort, is the mighty Sheesh Ganj gurudwara. I think the grandeur of Sikhism cannot be taken away by anybody. This gurudwara is washed with milk every morning at 3 AM. Sikhs wearing a tom of gold cleaning the steps of the gurudwara with their own hands. Toni said she felt slightly ashamed because she was so inferior in terms of belief when compared to these people. She did not want to step on the stairs. Wanted to sit there all day, but had to leave with my all time favorite statement “How can people leave India and go to another land forever, how can people hate India”. Its beautiful, there is so much to be explored. She has never conquered any country in all these years of her existence. I am so proud to be born here.

We said good-bye to sheher after having my grandma’s favorite matar samosas and jalebis from the jalebi vaala at the corner.

Next post on humayun’s tomb…cya there