DilliMeriJaan

This year, the walks matured as we focussed on the truly wise citizens of our city – the below 15 year olds. While adults are welcome, as our target group needs chaperons (just joking, we love adults too), #DelhibyMetro tried to get more and more young children to come out and observe. Here are some things I learnt, from our young walkers, as they truly explored the city they call home. 1.        Safdarjung Tomb walk- There is always a tree to climb. Whichever historic monument we ever went to, the young walkers found a tree and made their way to the top of it. There is only so much about old kings and queens that you can listen to. 2.        Chor Minar walk- Macabre stories of gore and graves, are very welcome. All kids were thrilled with the idea of gutted heads on spikes. We were also able to partially hold their attention when graves- male vs female, were discussed. 3.      ...

August is a super busy month. In honour of Independence Day [and my birthday, I think], the month is full of Sales. People run all over, buying things. And then they gift them and that starts another bout of running around – to return/ re gift things. A lot of fuel/internet time is spent and great fun is had by all. In August, I also run around. Stealing saplings from Delhi’s many parks, that start sprouting just after rains, taking cuttings from friends/relatives- all of who are avid gardeners, and picking up free plants from Government Nurseries. Then I get to see them grow, flower, fruit and give me lots of oxygen and happiness.  Also for free, I get birds (check out my ‘birds’ album – all of those are clicked from my balcony), butterflies and very pretty bees. And I like to believe that the increased oxygen, fresh herbs are doing my skin wonders!! (HEY, I haven’t used a cosmetic product ever so hold back those comments…) A eureka moment happened very recently wh...

The romance began when I was working in an organisation in Qutub Institutional Area. And to put it mildly, the boss of the place, and my boss, is possibly the worst person [not just boss] in the world. So post one of those irrational screaming bouts, I simply ran out into this forest. And just ran and ran till I finally slowed down. Then I stopped. And sat. Sanjay van and I became friends for life.  I have seen different seasons in this forest. There is a lane where the amaltas falls down in a golden shower, every summer. In rains, the forest croaks and little peepal saplings sprout all over the place. In winters, many migratory birds come and flock around the water body. I have also gone there on a full-moon night. It is scary and fascinating. The water bodies glimmer and there is thick hatch of bamboo next to one of them, which casts the most gorgeous shadows. There are many mazhars inside and my favourite one is next to the 11 th centure Lal Kot walls. These...

(typed by the little girl, without any grammar checks!) Walking is a good thing, but waking up at 6am on a Sunday morning and walking is not one of my favorite things to do. But, that does not seem to stop my mother. Every Sunday she takes me for a walk early in the morning. Usually these walks are planned, have specific starting point locations and a guide. My mother sometimes (as her hobby) conducts walks too. And many a time, I quite enjoy myself too. One Sunday as usual, I was woken up for a walk which was to start at 7am. While I was getting ready, I realized that the clock in our house is not showing the correct time. So, I went and checked the time on the phone, and to my dismay I saw that the time was already 6:30am! Immediately all the peace in the house was shattered as everybody started running around as frantic as possible. Anyhow we all tumbled into the car at 6:45am. When we finally reached the location we were utterly surprised to find absolutely nobody...

It is World Environment Day and lots of people will be planting trees. Which is a good thing when done thoughtfully – indigenous variety, at a place where you can water them. ‘Thoughtfully’ is the operative word. We realized that a lot can be achieved if we just pause to think. Some super simple thoughts, that could help make our world, and therefore our life, better: 1.        Do I need this? – world’s resources are mindlessly wasted in producing things that we don’t need. Get more exercise and good food to look better – not more clothes or a bigger car! 2.        Am I going to eat/drink this?- thankfully, a lot of places now penalize you for wasting food. If we all stopped piling our plates with things we won’t eat, or fill our glasses with water we won’t drink, no one would go hungry or thirsty in the world. Also the unnecessary resources used to produce that food, would be saved. So take small amounts, share a d...

Earth Day celebrated on April 22, across the world, started in 1970 to create awareness about damage caused to our earth. Over the years, it’s become a day to talk about key environmental issues. Ok. That’s all. Rest you may read on internet. I only want to talk to you about the awesome things you can do in Delhi, on April 22, which is conveniently a Saturday.  Here are some things happening in your city, in April: 1.        Deciduous trees now have new leaves. From translucent green to spectacular red to blushing pink, the new leaves come in quite a range of colour. My favourite place to see some stunningly red trees (Khirk) is Rose Garden Forest, opposite IIT Delhi. 2.        Bougainvillea are crazy with colour right now. And butterflies, especially the Common Mormon ( you will find them on citrus shrubs and curry leaves) are bustling around busily. At any park near you. 3.     ...

It is Spring in Delhi. And it is so much more than parks filled with flowers. The parks are filled with flowers though – my favourites are the bright red poppies. And silk cotton flowers, all glossy and red, on trees lining most roads in Delhi. Maybe I just like red!! Spring is also about butterflies, birds and bees. You will see the common grass yellow, common tiger, white pierrot and on curry / citrus-y leaves, the common Mormon, which is very grand. You will also see lots of birds, primarily because a lot of them are visitors to the city in winter and stay on till Spring – but who wants to go out in the Delhi winter to see birds (or anything) brrrr!! Another reason you will see them more now is because a lot of indigenous trees shed leaves in Spring. So it’s easy to spot a bird on a bare branch. And there are bees humming on flowers and creating more plants. Bees don’t appear to be as choosy as butterflies. I see them being as attentive to my minute basil f...

Safdarjung Tomb was built in memory of a Minister in the Mughal court, who also became the King of Awadh. You can open Wikipedia and read more about Safdarjung. You will also quickly learn that this is the last of the three gems of Mughal architectural style seen first in the Humayun’s tomb. The middle monument is the most famous – Taj Mahal, and this, the third, is really a poor imitation – as it was built at a time when the rule was fading and coffers were dry.  But these are not the reason for making it one of my favourite spots. It is peaceful, less crowded, and has these two bent trees, on top of which, I have spent hours, staring at the monument. These trees have bent branches, so you can either sit or recline. If you recline, you can stare at the other larger trees all around – which have birds and fruits and flowers. And because there aren’t endless walkers and their dogs, the birds prefer sitting/reclining on these trees rather than on those in its more f...

‘Happy Republic Day’ messages have been replaced by ‘Proud to be Indian’, I note. Over the years, the jingoistic ‘me’ has been keenly observing a positive trend. More recognition of Indian achievers (beyond cricketers), more commitment to making a difference. But sometimes, even the most zealous of us get deflated because of some stuff we see. Mostly, this stuff is being done by SUV driving punks, saying nonsensical things like ‘my bad, bro’ and pining to be outside the country. This is fine and I pray every day that they get out really really soon. But sometimes, dumb stuff is also being done by the ‘Proud to be Indian’ message senders, which is confounding. So I thought. Maybe they just don’t know. Maybe once they become aware, they will stop. So I propose the ‘GLARE’. Here’s how it works: 1.        Plastic bags: Disposable plastics have been banned in NCR by the Department of Environment. I read the notice – it sounded very legal. But customers...

While we are very aware that the market is 500 years old, with history etched into every corner, we really just went to buy silver jewellery. We walked down Dariba Kalan, the road famous for silver jewellery – one of the primary items being sold in this grand bazaar, since it started. We recommend Jaina & sons, right at the end of the lane – for its happy customer friendly owner and very reasonably priced products. There is a ‘very old’ (the board says so) Jalebi and Samosa wala right at the beginning of the lane- you can smell and taste the ghee and believe the owner, when he tells you that his ancestors made samosas for Akbar! You should ignore the fact that Chandni Chowk was set up after his reign was over… We didn’t enter the historic Central Baptist Church- one of the oldest in North India, just across the street. But we couldn’t not stop to pay homage to the 9 th sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur, who was beheaded for his beliefs, at what is now Gurudwara Si...

We did the ‘Lodi Art District’ walk almost the same time last year. Most of the artwork was still ‘Work in Progress’ then and we got to meet the artists, precariously poised on top of cranes.  Over the year, the art district has added new installations and our walker group has grown. 21 of us walked last Sunday, interpreting the art pieces and then listening to our Walk Leader, Mayank Jain’s well-researched views on them. Just like the multi-cultural collaboration which has made this art district so vibrant, we had a multi-cultural walk group this time. It was interesting to see how most of us had similar interpretations – except the ones which had deep Indian context – like Amitabh Kumar’s Dead Dahlias or Rakesh Memrot’s Gond art. While all of it was fascinating, Daku’s ( credited to have popularised street art in India) sun dial and the collaborative mural called We Love Dilli, were my favourites. There is heaps of stuff on the net, about each artwork and th...