DilliMeriJaan

She insisted that the best dosas in town were in Karol Bagh! She insisted all good things were in Karol Bagh and I spent many evenings walking through Ajmal Khan market with her, grumbling through the chaos. She showed me how the place was not just full of Punjabis who came in post-partition but also south Indians and Bengalis. One of her friends worked in the LIC building so I also often went with them to Depaul’s and sipped a rather insipid ( of course she didn’t agree) cold coffee, while her friend and she walked up and down the Janpath flea market, buying nothing. We were such regulars that the Depaul’s man simply hands over a hazelnut coffee without asking, even today, whenever I go. As a result, I never get to try any other – but wouldn’t dream of hurting him – she would have been appalled if I did. We also went to lots of dargahs. She was deeply interested in Mughal India and that was her thesis topic during her Masters in Delhi University. I was literally dragge...

Group Captain PM Velankar was valiantly fighting. The enemies were adamant and gaining strength from the indifference of neighbours. But he fought and saved the Neem tree. Read more about his battles, on and off field  here This year I kept my eyes open for those who took things in their hands and I was blinded by the number. So I am only sharing some that I saw closely, mostly during our 'DelhibyMetro' walks: 1.        New Delhi Nature Society – The founder was tired of taking permissions to make Delhi greener and cleaner. So he became a guerilla tree planter and helped people love trees. He is not afraid to make noise (literally, he has a microphone!) to stop green crimes and has successfully, made many enemies. Check him out here 2.        Hill Stream Cottage- This cottage in Dharamshala owned by a Delhi couple, is not just a guest house, but more a means of livelihood for locals Joginder and his wife N...

When you go for a walk, without headphones, you hear many beautiful sounds. You may hear a woodpecker tap tap tapping and then turn to see it ravenously eating worms off a tree. You will surely hear the incessant call of the large green barbet and the agitated squawks of rose-ringed parakeets. This time of the year, you may hear the rapid fire call of a Rufous Treepie- she is a large bird and you will be able to spot her long tail, in large leafy trees. When you go for a walk, without headphones, you also see better. This is Butterfly Season and if you keep your senses open, you will see streaks of colours whizzing around you. The common Mormon loves citrus plants and curry leaves. The blue and common tigers are less choosey and you will see them all over parks. Stop to watch them busily flitting from plant to plant, till they find the one they like. Then they sit there for seconds at an end – with wings spread out in the sun. Don’t get me wrong, I love headphones. ...

The male hornbill eats the toxic Bish tendu fruit. Then spews out vomit to feed the female hornbill, who is kept hidden in the nest! Geeta from BNHS (bnhs.org) told us this and many interesting things about birds, butterflies, trees, on a walk arranged by NDNS (https://www.facebook.com/newdelhinaturesociety/?fref=ts) in Sanjay Van. This forest is part of the Southern Ridge, which is part of the oldest mountain range in the world – the Aravallis. We learnt about the importance of indigenous trees and collected seeds to help proliferate them. We understood the difference between Desi and Vilayati Kikar and that the former, is the real deal, while the latter does no good – not even serve as a home for birds/butterflies. We also realised that most ailments could be cured by fruits/barks/leaves of trees – so the forests heal us, in more ways than one. Walls of the original red fort of Delhi, Lal Kot, still exist in this forest. Originally built by the Tomars in 8 th century A...

There is a math to this. The rate at which the number of cars in CR Park increase, as the days approaching Puja decreases, is fascinating. That’s all that fascinates me about the ‘grand festival’. As the clock strikes ‘Navratra’, my pulse starts quickening – with sheer frustration. At the inane consumer habit of travelling far and wide to buy ‘things’ ( have they not heard of the internet?), the further lack of logic of blocking entire streets to conduct ‘bhandaras’.  As the 6 th day approaches, it is now very trendy to make a beeline for CR Park to see the enormously wasteful Pandals – replete with plastic and asbestos, dust and dirt. The sudden interest in Bong Culture is very overwhelming! I welcome the last day with joy, as the crazy melee ends and I can start getting out of my house again, and utter despair at the ecological damage that the immersion and the burning of Ravana cause. If you want to really destroy evil and bring good, please do it with less toxic pollutants...

Other than the fact that the walkers have to take a metro to participate, not much else is sacrosanct about a #DelhibyMetro Walk. Ofcourse it’s not completely random. We do start with an objective and destination. We do a decent amount of research. We have a planned itinerary, till the walk begins! At which point, we tend to go where the road takes us... This time we set out to watch fruit-bats on Janpath Road. They roost on gigantic Arjun trees and seem to be wide awake in the day. We started walking from Central Secretariat Metro Station, just so that we could walk down Rajpath and allow ourselves, to wander off here and there. There is a metro station ( Udyog Bhawan) right next to the Fruit bat trees but where’s the fun of starting exactly where the destination is. So we sighed at the magnificent Rashtrapati Bhawan and oohed at the India Gate for the millionth time, on our way. Then we came upon the Archaeological Survey of India ( ASI ) Office and it’s bookstore. This is ...

It was my birthday and I wanted to spend it doing my favourite things – looking at trees, birds and historic monuments. So we tried hard to plan a weekend break in a place which would allow all this – in the same place. When the realization dawned, it was blinding. We had to plan the break in Delhi – where we live!! Lutyen’s Bungalow is about half a km from Safdarjung’s Tomb and the Amrita Shergill Marg entry of Lodi Garden. It is 2 kms from Humayun’s Tomb and Dilli Haat – which is a single station metro ride. The Jor Bagh metro station is also a short walk away. If you want culture, then India Habitat Center is again about a kilometre long walk along tree-lined roads. Once you are done with rushing from one historic beauty to another and taken in your fill of cultural events, you can spend many lazy hours in the garden. The bird feeders are contested territory between parakeets and squirrels. We watched their coexistence and occasional spats, with amusement. There are a numbe...

As I watch a school principal deliver an impassioned speech, on ‘doing our bit for India and taking India to highest of loftiest heights’, to her rather bewildered students, I only have one question – How?? I like Guidelines and things like ’10 easy steps to…’ articles.  So in an attempt to create a ‘Guide to be a Patriot’, I gathered data. India is too big so I reflected on how people around me, are doing their bit - to get Delhi freedom from it’s biggest threat – pollution/ecological damage.  And I categorised these under the following: 1.        Patriotic Activity Type 1 : Public Transport/Cycling. Because there is no fun polluting the air that you are breathing, all intelligent people use the Metro or cycle or at least, car pool. I know those who go to great lengths (literally) to use the metro – change trains, take e-autos to the station, and end up paying as much as fuel would have cost. The super cool ones cycle.   2...

On a Saturday, four kids and I went to spend the day “immersing in Nature” with New Delhi Nature Society. The youngest kid’s idea of a “farm” is really a house with a large garden, where white gloved staff serves you organic food, as she swings on a hammock and makes an occasional trip to the kitchen garden! Here, one had to make one’s own tea after setting up a chulhah. The older kids were thrilled because they got to dig two large holes and then ‘shake hands’ through a tunnel under it.  Young and old, all kids were very pleased about climbing a Banyan Tree. Climbing a tree looks much easier than it is and the NDNS facilitator had to almost physically hoist us up, while shouting words of encouragement like ‘Yes you can’ – I am sure he felt like a commander in war. There were three musical instruments and the most fun was a gas cylinder turned into a drum, which sounded like a santoor! Or xylophone. So obviously all the kids wanted to play it, a LOT, till a ‘Silent hour’ was ...

The Rose Garden Walking Club, as the name suggests, walks everyday in Rose Garden. On Sundays, they also eat lots of food – samosa, bread pakora, milk cake, biscuits and hot tea – for which they have a commercial size canter. Weight-loss does not seem to be purpose of the group, clearly, but they are healthier than anyone with perfect BMIs. The day we met them, we were out for our #DelhibyMetro walk, with jamun and mango seeds to plant. In our typical unplanned style, we got caught in the rain, without umbrellas and with bags full of seeds. The club members welcomed us into their little circle, with steaming cups of tea. We hesitated, only fleetingly, and then jumped right in. They invited us for their ‘Celebration Ceremony’.  They were celebrating the rain, the forest and a member’s birthday. But we realised that they didn’t need a particular reason to celebrate. They were just happy to be.  As I watched our group member vigorously plough the earth to drop the seed...

Every world earth / environment day, people arrive in droves, to plant trees. It is a picnic. Photos are clicked - selfies with saplings are a rage. The saplings of course, die of thirst, the very next day. Also sometimes, ‘wrong’ trees get planted – which do not belong to the region and do a range of environment damaging things – from dying themselves to killing plants around.   So this World Environment Day – June 5, follow these ‘Easy Steps to Planting Trees- which do not die or kill you’. 1.        Select a spot close to home/place of work. That way you can water the sapling and see it grow (a most satisfying experience). 2.        Find an indigenous tree. You can go to a government nursery and ask the gardeners there to help you. They are very happy to chat if you catch them in the slim windows between their morning, afternoon and evening breaks. But they know trees. 3.     ...

“No, I will not”, again mama and I were fighting the night before the walk. She said that I should come. But I did not want to wake up early in the morning and walk. But I had no choice! I was simply angry. Next day before we reached the metro station, I started feeling excited. The streets were empty. It was not sunny nor was it hot. Although no one seemed up, the birds were up and were making a dinfull racket. When everybody reached, we did a round of introductions. Then we started walking. We were almost the only people so could walk freely. There was no traffic. First we went to ‘Chor Minar’ where we heard the squeaking of bats. And there was a puppy who I went and patted. Then we took a picture with everybody holding their necks! (1) Then we started walking again. This time we saw a hornbill, who was extremely shy and did not like being photographed. We then went to the ( I forgot the name)(2) where we stood on stairs and took pictures and there were two puppies. And fi...

Usually, there is way too much beauty around and they mask the occasional ugliness – so I pass them by. But sometimes, even I, shudder.  Like when someone carelessly breaks a leaf, while walking in a park. Or drops a wrapper. When people scribble on fresh paper, only to throw them in the bin. Or take print-outs of things without stopping to think – railways, movie theatres, airlines – all accept e-tickets on phone!  When people pour glassfuls of water for themselves, others, take a sip and throw the rest. I shudder and watch open-mouthed, gallons of water being wasted during Holi, millions of pollutants being released during Diwali or when India wins a Cricket match. I am amazed that such a wanton show of idiocy is considered ‘celebration’. I shudder most when I see no one raising a voice. Not because they don’t realise the adverse affects of such acts. But because they don’t want to be ‘unpopular’. This #Earthday2016, let’s get unpopular. Let’s shout,...

It was Earth Day. She was rushing to the metro station to catch the metro. To lead her ‘Earth Day’ walk – where Delhi-ites were going to appreciate trees and talk about things they would do to be green. She took her eco-warrior role very seriously. That it was insanely cheesy to make people stand in a circle, under a tree, and take a pledge to turn ‘green’, was something she did not get. So she was driving really fast – the metro station was not at a walking distance from her home. It was early morning and there was no traffic. Which is why she did not see the SUV that she banged into.  It emerged from a corner at a speed much slower than her car. Her tiny car just about reached its monstrous tires but yes, there was a perceptible scratch and a very loud screeching stop. She waited for the arrogant, eco-insensitive, gelled hair, pot-bellied individual to emerge and maybe shoot her. It was Delhi and this was an SUV. Obviously she would be shot. When the befuddled, scrawny, bes...

You have to fall in love with something, to want to take care of it. Eco-consciousness came naturally to me, when I saw the Arabian Sea in Goa, as a child. You had to protect something so beautiful. Over the years, I have seen the way Goa has turned over a new and clean, green leaf. More importantly, I have seen how tourists have changed their behaviour to preserve it. Sign-boards urging people not to litter the beaches, are not necessary. When you see miles of gorgeous white sand, with nothing but crabs, sand plovers and an occasional gull, you know you have to keep that candy wrapper in your pocket, till you find a dust-bin. The inconvenience of carrying a plastic water bottle, along with the obvious damaging effects of using plastic at all, had turned me into a ‘local juice’ drinker, long time back. In Goa, drink tender coconut water. It’s good for you, it’s good for the beach and it’s good for the local economy. In central and northern parts of India, you will find sugarcane ...

The Bombax  (silk cotton) trees have large, fleshy red/orange flowers. If you park your car under one, it will be smeared with gooey flower pulp – which I think makes my car look like a wedding carriage. My neighbor finds it very annoying and grumbles about Spring and it’s sticky flower menace. I love Spring. Delhi has more than 100 varieties of indigenous trees and a lot of them flower during Spring. The pink version of Bombax – the Silk Floss trees, remind one of Cherry Blossom. Unlike Cherry Blossom,  one doesn’t have to wait for many years for Silk Floss to blossom – they do so, every year, in March, in Delhi. Jacaranda is an indigenous tree which has glossy green leaves, which remain during the flowering season. So do the leaves of the Yellow Trumpetbush. One of my nature lover friends, pointed out that we are getting “tree blind”. So we don’t notice trees and don’t miss them when they are cut. This #EarthHour2016, let’s start a new habit. Let’s see trees. ...

In Delhi, there are people who start businesses regularly. As stereotyped, and rightly so, they are hot-headed. They fight with bosses. Then they suddenly just start their own business. A shocking number of them succeed. Here are my thoughts, on why. Delhi-ites are garrulous people. They talk to the person swinging next to them in the metro. They talk to the aunty walking in the park. They talk. This is a good thing for entrepreneurships. Imagine, a diffident,  tamilian, standing in a corner in a metro and avoiding everyone’s eyes, in contrast. The Delhi-ite wins because she can simply start a conversation and dexterously steer it to her business. She is shameless, like that. Delhi-ites are affectionate. They genuinely feel “happy to meet you” and believe in the hug that they just smothered you with. They really want you to have the enormous mounds of rajma-chawal that they served and feel hurt if you don’t. This is a good thing because all this rajma-chawal laden love make...