Delhi

On Monday, 8th October, 2012, I went to Delhi. This was my second trip. I had first been to Delhi for JCK Exhibitions in July 2007. Like all my official trips, these two trips to Delhi have also been very hectic and unorganized. I just didn’t get any time for relaxation. But somehow this trip has a lot of happy memories.

In July 2007, during my stint as a senior writer with JCK INDIA magazine, the only things I remember about the trip is that around ten of us went to Delhi on 5th July by August Kranti express which got delayed by ten hours. So instead of reaching Delhi in the morning of 6th July, we all reached in the night. And the only things we did were interview the exhibitors and work for the daily newsletter; we were back in two-three days time. I think I was back on 8th July. No photographs, no shopping, nothing. We stayed at a hotel called Hans Plaza which was close to Infomedia office and away from Pragati Maidan, the exhibition venue.

But this time I travelled by Indigo airlines and was all alone. I was put up at Almondz Hotel which is situated some 500 metres from Patel Nagar Metro station; though I didn’t have to travel by the metro. This hotel is at East Patel Nagar, a 3-star, with a very cozy room for me and only me.

The venue for the Awards Function was the state-of-the-art Manekshaw Centre, quite a distance from the hotel. Since it was somewhere in the cantonment area, I couldn’t manage to see that many human souls and just caught glimpses of the army schools and hospitals located there. I remember reading names of places like Subroto Park, Dhuan Kuan, etc. which didn’t make much sense to me.

Though Delhi is the second most populous metropolis of India after Mumbai, it failed to impress me. But I am not surprised. The problem with me is that I am so much used to living in Mumbai that any other place has stopped exciting me. Thanks to all my official travels, I have visited places like Kolkata once, Delhi twice, Jaipur once, Hyderabad twice, Bangalore twice and Surat once. But all these places have not impressed me at all. Even though these one-day trips manage to rejuvenate me, somehow the places fail to wow me. But like I said, they act as feel good factors for me and honestly, I wait for these short trips, as they enable to bring for me the much-needed change in my otherwise mundane daily schedule.

Though I was constantly on the go, I clicked some random photographs of Delhi which I have already posted on Facebook. For some, they might be very stupid looking pics, but for me, these are all the memories I have of my second trip to Delhi. Since I don’t have any remembrances of my first trip, I made sure that I click few on this trip. So all the pics that one can see are taken from a moving car – distorted pics of Delhi auto-rickshaw, airport, runway, bus-stop, etc. People will find them stupid but for me they are memories. I just don’t care what people think.

Surprisingly, though I had my initial apprehensions about Delhi, I must say that it was an overall good experience. Right from the word go, I mean Indigo, everything about the trip has been memorable. It was the first time I was travelling by Indigo and I need to state the fact that it’s a damn good airline to travel on. I was quite impressed by their punctuality, so much like me, and both the flights have been pretty impressive. They departed bang on time (1:35 pm) and arrived at the destination (3:15 pm) much before the given schedule and I like them for this. Even while coming back, they took off punctually at 9:30 am and we landed at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji terminal at 11:15 am, much before the scheduled time.

Another good thing about this trip is Almondz Hotel. Like I wrote earlier, I had a cozy room for me and what has left a lasting memory of this hotel is that they serve good coffee. I was bowled over at the coffee. I have had coffee in many five star hotels but some of these have only managed to leave a bitter taste in my mouth. But the coffee served to me in the morning was of just the right blend. Just the way I like it. The wrong blend is a big put off for me. So, Almondz Hotel gets full marks from me for serving me the right kind of coffee for breakfast. This makes my Delhi trip extra special.

So, overall, quite a memorable trip. There were no negative happenings and I am so very happy about it.