Dekhe jazbey kai yahan patthar bante huey ( Have seen many upsurges turn to stone)
Kai vaqt se pehle ( Some before their time)
Sab aaj tu keh le ( So say it all today)
Avaara hai naam ( Vagabond the name)
Bhatakana apna vidhan hai (And wandering our constitution)
Fursat hai kaam ( Whiling away our work)
Kuchh dhundhla sa apna nishan hai ( Our symbol a little fuzzy)
Aur main hun ( And there I)
Tu hai aur hai Dilli bas ( You and Delhi just)
Yes, this is Dilli as we know it, Delhi and New Delhi, a very big part of our lives, my life. So it really does not matter why we went back there on a June weekend, to attend to a wedding of a very close friend of mine, to visit my brother, or just to be there for a second time, to check things out. Well all the three reasons were there, but it is really difficult to define the primary one.
We started off on the wee hours of a Thursday morning (24th June), but our flight go delayed by almost an hour. We were sitting in the aircraft itself waiting for the craft to take off. The time we were airborne were more peaceful than we had expected. Debarghya was all through very much excited, and kept on chanting' "plane, plane" and "flying, flying".
We reached a much cleaner and bigger and obviously better Airport at Delhi than what we had left, (sad to say, Kolkata airport had deteriorated in the same time in leaps and bounds). The luggage was irritatingly delayed by more than a quarter of an hour - bad, but the prepaid taxi system, starting from the no queue, to the exact location of the taxi (we got parking slot number 4) - good. The exit from the airport was excellent, with the Gurgaon highway fully operational, which offloaded the traffic snarl outside the airport - good. But what awaited us at the ring road was a devastation of some sorts, as it took almost an hour and a half to reach CR Park - horrible.
Tulai (my brother's pet name, otherwise officially known as Debanik) was there 'home-alone' waiting for us. He left for office after we hust settled down in his well decorated, cute and neat home, which somehow creating a huge amount of nostalgia in me, the reason for which was not clear to me straight away.
We had a sumptuous lunch prepared by Tulai and Tukai (pet name for Pragati, my brother's wife) and a a much needed afternoon nap. Tulai had booked the car for the evening, and after a comedy of error of some sort, which I dont want to narrate here, we were ready for the wedding. we reached there at Club E-1, Sector 26 in Noida around 8 in the evening, and the first sight of it said that we were way too early. It seemed only a handful of close relatives were there at the moment. With no other options let, we had to wait. The ready supply of fruit juices of different kinds helped us in that cause.
After a while we managed to meet Ashwini, still confined in the rooms due to some customs, in her dazzling Kasmiri attire. She was overjoyed to see us. And the even was more significant in a way as she met Sushree and Debarghya for the first time. It made me feel good as well, as the type of efforts she had taken for us, this was the minimum that I could have done in return.
As the starters commenced, so did the firecrackers signaling the arrival of the 'Baarat', or the 'Bor Jatree', as we say in Bengal. As the starters in our plates finished, and we got a glance of Mr Mahesh Sinalkar (who looked pretty cute according to Sushree, to which I fully agree) entering the place with all the grandeur and splendor surround him, we started our way back to CR Park, unable to meet a few other friends, like Shubha who were supposed to arrive there.
When we reached back, Mr and Mrs Chaudhuri junior were back from office and having their dinner. A brief period of time elapsed in catching up with each other, and the World Cup, and we were ready to sleep. The first day at Delhi was over, and I was not able to solve the feeling of deja vu in me.
Next morning, we woke up earlier than Tulai and Tukai did (quite obviously, did anyone had any suspicion in that?). We arranged for milk, tea and breakfast (Sandwiches with boiled eggs, which we had in the morning and Tulai and Tukai toook to office as Brunch). We had the day off on Friday, as the plan for a one day trip to Agra was cancelled considering the weather - too hot to travel! As a secondary back up plan, we had agreed to visit, the AFA, or the Action for Autism in Jasola Vihar. But, we got the confirmation that it was closed for Summer vacation over the phone. So in effect we had the whole day to doze off, which we did! This later created an unnecessary feeling of guilt in Tulai, that he had not been able to devote enough time for us, but actually we were on vacation, and we did not want to come back to Kolkata dead tired. So in reality it was a great day for us, as at present we (Sushree and me) look for days in our life where do not have to run after a fixed routine.
It was late in the morning Sushree helped me in solving the
deja vu effect in me. As were stood in the front balcony, overlooking into the main road of CR Park, she suddenly uttered, "It seems that mashi may anytime appear from the kitchen asking for Debarghya"! Yes, thats it! This was actually the feeling I had, the deja vu effect, the feeling of 'been there done that'! It was actully a similarity in the floor plan of any typical CR Park appartment that created it. Though, G-1226, and K-2090 had many things that dont match, yet it had the same feel. And, it made me feel back in my old home again!
We went out in the afternoon, and went down memory lane in an Auto Rickshaw to our dear old Kali Mandir. Debarghya played in the park, and we spent some time in the temple. Then walked around the shops in Market - 4 near the Mandir. Then we walked our way to the Market-1, bought a few things and got and Air conditioned bus to get to Market-2, and back home(!!).
Tulai and Tukai got back home pretty early as per their standards. And though we had plans to go out to eat, I insisted we get it home delivered, which we did finally, and another day rolled out towards its end.
Saturday came. and we were up at our normal times. The Chaudhuris from Kolkata at around 7:30, while the ones from Delhi at 10:30. In the three hours without the Delhi Chaudhuris, the Kolkata ones ventured into Market-2, got some meat and vegetables, planned some cooking, had breakfast and then waited. After Tulai and Tukai got up, we made plans to move out and have lunch and do some shopping, rather Tulai and Tukai arranged to get some gifts for us. Although after recieving the small itsy bitsy things that we got them from Kolkata, Tulai was pretty much annoyed (!?), and even retorted by mentioning that we were not arriving from the UKs or USs to distribute gifts like that.
The taxi arrived at 12:45, and we left for the newest malls in Delhi at Saket. And the first glance of it made me make a wow from inside. It was huge, it was splendid and wWe were hungry. So we were led straight to the Food Court, where we had starters from Nizams, Main courses from Kareem's and Nirula, followed by desserts from Nathu's. Oops!
Then we were led straght to a Toy shop and Debarghya got his Noddy Helicopter, and then a Hot
Wheels T-Shirt! I got a T-Shirt from USI(I later googled, and found out a bit about USI, which is Uni Style Image). There was a lot of drama that preceded the buy, I tried to act the Big brother, but it seemd that Tulai was no longer a kid, he has grown up, though he still remains my little brother!!
We trudged along in the "Triple" mall for some time more, and then moved out. First we dropped Tulai to office, and then went to GK-I N Block Market to a newly opened shop named Cotton, where after a lot of deliberations, Sushree and Pragati selected a top each, and coincidentally, they had the same print, with the design being different by a bit.
We came back to G-1226, and had a rest. Debarghya did not had the energy to stay awake beyond 8pm, so he had his early dinner. As we waited for Tulai to arrive, Pragati scrolled through the downloaded movies archive in my laptop and was watching a old Byomkesh Bakshi serial.
After Tulai arrived, we had dinner and then as our last thing for the day, we watched a vintage, the first episode of the 'Johny Soko and his Flying Robot'! It was the first time that we watched this in colour, as when it happened in Doordarshan , we had the blank and white Uptron Televison!
Next Morning, we had Radhabllavi for breakfast, and followed by Pizza for lunch!. And before we knew it it was ready to leave Delhi. Tulai and Tukai even
accompanied us to the Airport, they had reasoned (!) that they need to go shopping for some colleague's farewell! Getting down from the taxi, bidding farewell to Tulai and Tukai and looking back at the 40 hours of stay at Delhi, I had a very mixed feeling. Sad to leave Delhi, yet it had a relief , which was due to the fact that i was also getting away from all the memories it was associated with. Happy memories, but painful as well. Would I come back to Delhi again to settle down? Yes, but only if needed.
PS We had to spend a few extra hours at Delhi, at the airport, as our flight got delayed by almost three hours, but that is again a different story!
Kai vaqt se pehle ( Some before their time)
Sab aaj tu keh le ( So say it all today)
Avaara hai naam ( Vagabond the name)
Bhatakana apna vidhan hai (And wandering our constitution)
Fursat hai kaam ( Whiling away our work)
Kuchh dhundhla sa apna nishan hai ( Our symbol a little fuzzy)
Aur main hun ( And there I)
Tu hai aur hai Dilli bas ( You and Delhi just)
Yes, this is Dilli as we know it, Delhi and New Delhi, a very big part of our lives, my life. So it really does not matter why we went back there on a June weekend, to attend to a wedding of a very close friend of mine, to visit my brother, or just to be there for a second time, to check things out. Well all the three reasons were there, but it is really difficult to define the primary one.
We started off on the wee hours of a Thursday morning (24th June), but our flight go delayed by almost an hour. We were sitting in the aircraft itself waiting for the craft to take off. The time we were airborne were more peaceful than we had expected. Debarghya was all through very much excited, and kept on chanting' "plane, plane" and "flying, flying".
We reached a much cleaner and bigger and obviously better Airport at Delhi than what we had left, (sad to say, Kolkata airport had deteriorated in the same time in leaps and bounds). The luggage was irritatingly delayed by more than a quarter of an hour - bad, but the prepaid taxi system, starting from the no queue, to the exact location of the taxi (we got parking slot number 4) - good. The exit from the airport was excellent, with the Gurgaon highway fully operational, which offloaded the traffic snarl outside the airport - good. But what awaited us at the ring road was a devastation of some sorts, as it took almost an hour and a half to reach CR Park - horrible.
Tulai (my brother's pet name, otherwise officially known as Debanik) was there 'home-alone' waiting for us. He left for office after we hust settled down in his well decorated, cute and neat home, which somehow creating a huge amount of nostalgia in me, the reason for which was not clear to me straight away.
We had a sumptuous lunch prepared by Tulai and Tukai (pet name for Pragati, my brother's wife) and a a much needed afternoon nap. Tulai had booked the car for the evening, and after a comedy of error of some sort, which I dont want to narrate here, we were ready for the wedding. we reached there at Club E-1, Sector 26 in Noida around 8 in the evening, and the first sight of it said that we were way too early. It seemed only a handful of close relatives were there at the moment. With no other options let, we had to wait. The ready supply of fruit juices of different kinds helped us in that cause.
After a while we managed to meet Ashwini, still confined in the rooms due to some customs, in her dazzling Kasmiri attire. She was overjoyed to see us. And the even was more significant in a way as she met Sushree and Debarghya for the first time. It made me feel good as well, as the type of efforts she had taken for us, this was the minimum that I could have done in return.
As the starters commenced, so did the firecrackers signaling the arrival of the 'Baarat', or the 'Bor Jatree', as we say in Bengal. As the starters in our plates finished, and we got a glance of Mr Mahesh Sinalkar (who looked pretty cute according to Sushree, to which I fully agree) entering the place with all the grandeur and splendor surround him, we started our way back to CR Park, unable to meet a few other friends, like Shubha who were supposed to arrive there.
When we reached back, Mr and Mrs Chaudhuri junior were back from office and having their dinner. A brief period of time elapsed in catching up with each other, and the World Cup, and we were ready to sleep. The first day at Delhi was over, and I was not able to solve the feeling of deja vu in me.
Next morning, we woke up earlier than Tulai and Tukai did (quite obviously, did anyone had any suspicion in that?). We arranged for milk, tea and breakfast (Sandwiches with boiled eggs, which we had in the morning and Tulai and Tukai toook to office as Brunch). We had the day off on Friday, as the plan for a one day trip to Agra was cancelled considering the weather - too hot to travel! As a secondary back up plan, we had agreed to visit, the AFA, or the Action for Autism in Jasola Vihar. But, we got the confirmation that it was closed for Summer vacation over the phone. So in effect we had the whole day to doze off, which we did! This later created an unnecessary feeling of guilt in Tulai, that he had not been able to devote enough time for us, but actually we were on vacation, and we did not want to come back to Kolkata dead tired. So in reality it was a great day for us, as at present we (Sushree and me) look for days in our life where do not have to run after a fixed routine.
It was late in the morning Sushree helped me in solving the
deja vu effect in me. As were stood in the front balcony, overlooking into the main road of CR Park, she suddenly uttered, "It seems that mashi may anytime appear from the kitchen asking for Debarghya"! Yes, thats it! This was actually the feeling I had, the deja vu effect, the feeling of 'been there done that'! It was actully a similarity in the floor plan of any typical CR Park appartment that created it. Though, G-1226, and K-2090 had many things that dont match, yet it had the same feel. And, it made me feel back in my old home again!We went out in the afternoon, and went down memory lane in an Auto Rickshaw to our dear old Kali Mandir. Debarghya played in the park, and we spent some time in the temple. Then walked around the shops in Market - 4 near the Mandir. Then we walked our way to the Market-1, bought a few things and got and Air conditioned bus to get to Market-2, and back home(!!).
Tulai and Tukai got back home pretty early as per their standards. And though we had plans to go out to eat, I insisted we get it home delivered, which we did finally, and another day rolled out towards its end.
Saturday came. and we were up at our normal times. The Chaudhuris from Kolkata at around 7:30, while the ones from Delhi at 10:30. In the three hours without the Delhi Chaudhuris, the Kolkata ones ventured into Market-2, got some meat and vegetables, planned some cooking, had breakfast and then waited. After Tulai and Tukai got up, we made plans to move out and have lunch and do some shopping, rather Tulai and Tukai arranged to get some gifts for us. Although after recieving the small itsy bitsy things that we got them from Kolkata, Tulai was pretty much annoyed (!?), and even retorted by mentioning that we were not arriving from the UKs or USs to distribute gifts like that.
The taxi arrived at 12:45, and we left for the newest malls in Delhi at Saket. And the first glance of it made me make a wow from inside. It was huge, it was splendid and wWe were hungry. So we were led straight to the Food Court, where we had starters from Nizams, Main courses from Kareem's and Nirula, followed by desserts from Nathu's. Oops!
Then we were led straght to a Toy shop and Debarghya got his Noddy Helicopter, and then a Hot
Wheels T-Shirt! I got a T-Shirt from USI(I later googled, and found out a bit about USI, which is Uni Style Image). There was a lot of drama that preceded the buy, I tried to act the Big brother, but it seemd that Tulai was no longer a kid, he has grown up, though he still remains my little brother!!We trudged along in the "Triple" mall for some time more, and then moved out. First we dropped Tulai to office, and then went to GK-I N Block Market to a newly opened shop named Cotton, where after a lot of deliberations, Sushree and Pragati selected a top each, and coincidentally, they had the same print, with the design being different by a bit.
We came back to G-1226, and had a rest. Debarghya did not had the energy to stay awake beyond 8pm, so he had his early dinner. As we waited for Tulai to arrive, Pragati scrolled through the downloaded movies archive in my laptop and was watching a old Byomkesh Bakshi serial.
After Tulai arrived, we had dinner and then as our last thing for the day, we watched a vintage, the first episode of the 'Johny Soko and his Flying Robot'! It was the first time that we watched this in colour, as when it happened in Doordarshan , we had the blank and white Uptron Televison!
Next Morning, we had Radhabllavi for breakfast, and followed by Pizza for lunch!. And before we knew it it was ready to leave Delhi. Tulai and Tukai even
accompanied us to the Airport, they had reasoned (!) that they need to go shopping for some colleague's farewell! Getting down from the taxi, bidding farewell to Tulai and Tukai and looking back at the 40 hours of stay at Delhi, I had a very mixed feeling. Sad to leave Delhi, yet it had a relief , which was due to the fact that i was also getting away from all the memories it was associated with. Happy memories, but painful as well. Would I come back to Delhi again to settle down? Yes, but only if needed.PS We had to spend a few extra hours at Delhi, at the airport, as our flight got delayed by almost three hours, but that is again a different story!
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