Going to Delhi always excites me as it happens to be my home town, my house at Mayur Vihar, my school at Tagore Garden and my College, Hindu College in Delhi University always bring fond memories of my time spent there. I always use to tell my husband, Mukund and daughter Tanyaa who are true blue Mumbaikars and did not have the opportunity to visit Delhi with me in last so many years, what Delhi was like.
I could read the expression of slight disbelief on their faces going by the media reports in the recent past about what Delhi has to offer now then what it was like to be in Delhi in eighties. Now when the opportunity came in the form of marriage of my nephew on April 21, I wasted no time in turning it into Delhi’s sightseeing trip, of course not without our share of enjoyment of marriage in Bhiwadi.
The excitement was palpable; I was taking my family to my home town (transformed into home town for Metros) for the first time, after nearly 20 years of marriage…Tanyaa was very excited to visit the places where her mother had spent her childhood.
The bookings were done in Rajdhani Express and journey was itself an experience for them. Train reached almost in time, and without wasting any time, we set out for shopping sojourn to Sarojini Nagar market. My daughter was delighted to see the stuff being sold there (all teenagers love Sarojini Nagar market) and was quite aghast at the fashionable chics there. She lambasted me and my mother for instructing her to dress conservatively while she is in Delhi, so, you can imagine her pain at not been able to match the pace with fashionable Delhiites.
An evening spent at Dilli Haat
After shopping in Sarojini Nagar to her heart’s content, we moved to Delhi Haat situated opposite INA market which is home to all State Handicrafts interspersed with street plays, mehnediwalis, hairbraiders, food court, coffee cafe’s what not. To top it all, weather was very pleasing, cloudy and windy. After having great time there we moved on to Connaught Place – Rajiv Gandhi Chowk (honour of hosting biggest Indian flag at the centre point of Connaught Place). Tanyaa loved the lighting, the landscaping, the food, the shops…everything about Connaught Place. I did not want to miss the opportunity of visiting the swankiest Khadi Gramodyog Bhawan which was part of college days shopping, Tanyaa loved the Khadi collection there, though she is a self-confessed fan of Colaba Causeway, Linking road and street –shopping in Bangkok. I loved the fact that my daughter has great regards for cultural heritage of our country.
A visit to Qutub Minar
The day ended with our visit to famous Hanuman Temple in Connaught place which I use to visit very often as a child, as an adult.
A visit to Bahai temple in New Delhi
It was my long – cherished dream to visit the temple, in particular with my family, the wish was granted what if after long 19 years of wait.
– Bienu Verma Vaghela
Travel-Knots 