Alone -Delhi- 05
Masakali Masakali
playing at my back I landed Delhi, my first drive on one yellow-black cab with
an extremely arrogant driver who hardly spoke was my first Delhi experience. I
opened the window, felt the wind pass by and danced a lil to the Masakali music, my driver gave me looks
and I couldn’t do anything but smile. I saw Delhi, the historic city I
familiarised myself with my late night internet browsing, St Stephens’ dreams,
Kannappy’s city tour and M Mukundan’s novels.I’m a stranger to the land, a total stranger and I love it.
Making the unfamiliar Delhi familiar was threatening, I grew into another
alienated creature in the land who had a bun tied on top of her head like one
Gandahra Buddha, who spoke fragmented Hindi and gave a naïve face when they
responded in their classic Urdu, who tasted the Mughal khana from Old Delhi, sitting opposite Jama Masjid and lost herself
in the taste that she almost forgot she’s being watched by people.
Sitting in one old cycle
riksha, watching Chawdi Bazaar
pass by, I went back to the aged and faded India, those 7th standard
text books where you first read of Akbar and his trading policies and I got the
feeling, yes, this is my country, loud, messy and full of colours. Delhi is
still so strange to me, people find it so easy to crack a conversation here,
they can talk to you anything from their age old grandma’s childhood favourite
dog to Chandini Chowk’s glass
bangles. Hot and tasty Jalebi next
lane was one hell of an experience, I stuffed myself with a whole lot of
different stuff from malasal chai to
dilli special chaats. Metro ride
every morning, stuffed with the rest of Delhi, some pinning their ears to those
old Hindi songs, some with their nose buried right into some newspaper, some
staring at you and smiling and some absorbed in their chicken soup novel and
some lost in another world of their own. I can recognize faces now, a gentle smile
of my usual characters on my ride and the exact places they occupy on the metro
is something familiar now. Getting back from my institute and making Friday
evening plans with my roomie has become my favourite part of the weekend. I
walked through the lanes people hardly walked, I made friends, collected
postcards and jewellery, I ate the street food with the rest of Delhi and
smiled at myself that I’m actually getting a different taste of Delhi. And all
my long time wishes I guess are getting fulfilled, from a dull silver chain to
the hippie lulu with a shell at its bum, aah I’m falling in love with my
remarkable city.I went Khan Market to find a perfectly stitched suit myself, I
went in search of Bandhini dupatta from Chadini Chowk to Sarojini market, I ate
Old Delhi yummy dates that they sold on the road, I took a 181 bus to Humayun’s
tomb and saw the blue tiled tomb, I went Karol Bagh Monday market and bargained
some good stuff and got my Caravan,I roamed around CP and collected post cards
and send some to my hooligans. But when I leave Delhi,I want to go back home
with a hand full of golden daffodils like I told Beena : )
Delhi is all about Nizaamuddin Dargah’s Qwaali music that
Rahman made me so curious to explore to the meaninglessness I stumbled upon
like my Billy Biswas. I don’t know why I still complicate my thoughts, I wander
along the narrow lanes, the claustrophobic crowd and stare through my window that
opens right into the city and temple bells at the distance and the chain of
metro lights like a garland to the night at the distance makes me think. Sometimes
wonder why I am sitting in the midst of some peculiar people who doesn’t even
talk my language and connect to what I think. Maybe I’m lil infuriated with
life but I guess I’m liking it here, like this, alone! Delhi, I’m assembling a
lot of memories, beading myself into a different person, stranger with my
thoughts and independent with my decisions. Now I know on top of earth there
are different places I connect to and would like to call a second home and
Delhi is indeed getting into one of those addresses of mine.
PS: Thanks a lot Preet for never saying no to all my madness :)