During daily travel

During my travel to and from to work, I pass a Parsee Tower of Silence. Maybe that's the only Tower of Silence for the entire city of Bengaluru. While the gate is always closed whenever I have observed, there is a board outside which says that entry is permitted for only Parsees. I don't know if a Fire Temple also has similar board outside it.

When I see the board at the Tower of Silence, the thought that instantly comes to my mind is that Parsees are conservative. I find any place of worship or any place identified with a particular religion which bars entry to others a little disconcerting. That is close-minded to me, but yes, the Tower of Silence is not a place of worship per say. I have read of cases where Parsee women married outside the community have to fight for their place within their society. That said, conservatism is prevalent in other religions as well. I have seen Hindu temples which indicates that only Hindus are allowed entry. But, i wonder how they regulate, unless one bears the marks of a caste/religion, or enters details into a register.

Yesterday when i was waiting, most of the voices around me were speaking Bengali. It has been some time since i have heard this many. I was in C. R. Park and i shouldn't expect to hear any other language. Hindi is also heard but Bengali drowns it.

I was walking by Market 2 after a month or so. There was a small traffic jam there. The way of entrance was by the fish stalls, and i covered my nose. I did smell the inevitable whiff. I headed to a store to buy something, where the person in-charge spoke to me in Bengali. I didn't bother telling him i was not one. I saw people sitting, buying fried savouries and sweets from a Bengali sweet shop. A friend and i used to visit this place every weekend in the evenings. We ate, drank and talked. One thing that surprised and disappointed me about that place is that tea sold in the tea stall is not very good.

This is something i miss. I miss spending time in C. R. Park. I still can go to there but, i would be alone and that's no fun at all. The markets in Delhi are very attractive in the evenings. Alaknanda Market too. There's nothing fancy. That said, the crowd and more importantly, the atmosphere there is really appealing.

There is this road which opens into another perpendicular to the former. Similar to majority of the roads constructed everywhere. I sometimes use this road to go to a nearby market or to buy fruits from one of these handcarts. There is a handcart amongst some others which dot this road. In the evenings, this is generally manned by a boy about ten years old. I address him as 'chotu', after observing that adults generally address young boys by this word.

Though he is just another young boy, i tend to think that this boy is endearing. I walk to him, unknowingly point at bitter gourds, ask him the price of cucumbers. He then corrects me and asks me if i want bitter gourds. I tell him 'No, i want cucumbers, how much is one kg?' He quotes a price and looks at me. The eyes are lined with kohl, a shining face, the shine added by some perspiration and some oil that has seeped in from his shock of dishevelled oiled hair.

I say nothing and i start walking away. He calls behind me 'Didi, come here'. He lowers the price and waits to see if i turn around and head back to the cart and buy it from him. What exuded from him was pure childhood innocence. Maybe, the thought of exchanging a few words with him made me go near his cart, even though i didn't want to buy anything from him. Maybe.

I walk down Lodhi Road from the Indian Habitat Centre (where i sometimes work) to the nearest metro station in the evening. When the Sun has already set or still borders the horizon, hence making the sky appear in orange and crimson and a myriad of other shades in between. Across the road are the Lodhi Gardens and the residences of some of India's politicians and other people of that class of our society.

In the corners of the road, are the traffic lights (red light or lal batti as they called in Delhi) to guide automobiles to stream one after another in various directions. As i stand in one such corner, near one such traffic signal waiting for it to turn green so that i can cross the road, i turn around to see if something else catches my eye. I do see.

I see a man in his late forties, squatting in front of a raised platform. This man is dressed in a shirt and a dhoti which was once white, both hugging his thin frame. He is one of the million nondescript laborers that keeps a huge city like Delhi on its feet. A small piece of aluminum foil glitters in the semi-dark environment. Some small cuts of paper and a powdered substance lies on the foil. He rolls some of the substance into the paper and lifts the new roll to his lips.

Turning to look at the traffic signal, i see that it is green and i cross the road. No, i didn't look back at the man smoking a drug, maybe ganja or smack.

I sit on one of the million terraces in Delhi, bend my head backwards to see planes fly by. Guess the airspace above the area I stay is the route which most flights take when flying in or out of Delhi.

I can hear two-three cars honking. As I type, the number it vehicles just increased. It will continue until the jam there is resolved. People love honking here.

The terrace is surrounded by trees, thankfully. As vehicles drive on the road two storeys down, that part of the road, rather that part of the foliage lights up minimally. 

These days i wouldn't prefer not going to malls to hang out. The food there is expensive, yes, and the malls in Delhi (my observation) are 'uber-materialistic' (maybe this is a little exaggerated, but you do get me, right?). One can see a lot of fancy stuff there, and if you have money to spend and want to buy things, these are the ideal locations. I would go on to say that Delhi being what it is, is aping the West than Bangalore.

That said, malls are sheltered and air-conditioned which is pretty much the reason why i would want to hang-out with my friends there.

Coming back to the Delhi and its association with fancy things - one of the things that i, personally don't appreciate (i really can' figure out the right word to use here) is the fact that people as in women make up their faces even when they stay at home. To have your lips coloured is a very normal thing is Delhi. I have seen women from different social strata (this is only my observation, and is not a generalization) doing it. Still haven't figured out a reason why.

This was something to me. I remember having told my parents that we wear clothes and other things to shield ourselves from the external environment and clothes, shoes, jewellery, body-care all evolved from there.

P.S. I am not a saint. I like to buy things too. I bought silver jewellery last week.
P.P.S. It's been eight years on this blog!

So much for the lets-do-something-on-the-weekend plan. Shopped at Chandini Chowk yesterday. Spent the day at home. Have to go out now to do some grocery shopping.

I was just wondering how open and frank i should be on my blog. I think i can go some distance.  When i came here, i thought i will find myself a guy and get hooked up and live some years in Delhi, before i move back to Bangalore. But considering the totally different lifestyles here, adapting to them and the distance away from home, i don't know.

And here i haven't seen half of Delhi's highlights and i haven't gone anywhere outside Delhi yet.

Delhi can use some common sense and manners. Seriously. Whenever somebody asks me about how i feel about Delhi, i start rambling on how people and the place should actually be. Half of the people don't have traffic sense here, they just want to put their vehicle in the minimum space available and put everybody else in a spot. So much that there is no space for a single person to walk out of the jam.
The traffic there is just stuck.

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Last week i went to the World Book Fair held in Delhi. I enjoyed children singing and browsing through books. Pragati Maidan being a huge place, i couldn't visit all the halls that were part of the fair. Also, brought a few books, to kick start reading again.

An aunt told me that i wouldn't like Old Delhi at all. And that i wouldn't step in there even with my feet fully protected in shoes.

But it's not all that bad. I go to Chikpete, Nagarathpete and Raja Market often when in Bengaluru. The surroundings there is not much different than Chandni Chowk. Narrow gullies, small shops with their merchandise pouring into the roads/paths, jostling, people bargaining, colour riots everywhere (i tend to think that we see more bright and neon shades of colours in North India than i would see in the South). I saw more of food on carts, holes-in-a wall, make-shift structures that i would see in Chikpete. And yes, more jewellery that is typical in the North which also is making roads into the southern urban spaces as well.

No, i didn't buy anything from there. Now that i think of it i should have bought something. It's far from the place where i stay, and i have to again make a trip to buy.

It's revolting to see people spit on the road in Indian cities. With the time i have spent here, i think that people in Delhi spit more than in Bengaluru. And the stains are coloured in red, as people eat pan a lot here (i don't know is this is actually true, but this is my observation).

I expected Connaught Place to be free from this, considering it's central location and it being a tourist attraction. Fat chance, really. At the bottom of those majestic-looking white pillars, we see splashes of red.

When people here ask me if this is my first visit to Delhi, i tell, 'No'. Then i go on to say that i was here about fifteen years ago. I don't know how to say this exactly, but the impressions of that visit does not hold true anymore since Delhi's changed much over the last few years. Almost everybody i've talked to here is of that opinion. That said, it's not that i don't remember anything of that visit. I remember the Bahai House, where i first tasted Mountain Dew. I have faint memories of Chandni Chowk and Karol Bagh where we shopped. Coming to think of it, i do recollect more than i assumed i could, which is quite good, as i had thought they had faded into forgotten memories.

Nice.

I was surprised to see the CRPF at the Delhi Metro stations. All the bags have to go through X-Ray machines. Germany does not have this and I don't know if Bangalore has it. It takes time. But I guess with the kind of security issues we in India face, these are kinda necessary. But I don't know.

I sense that something is moving on the backside of my palm. I assume it's an ant and look at my hand. It is an ant, one belonging to category of the brick coloured ones. A whiff of air and the ant is removed to some place. Maybe the red floor of my room. It is not red, it's darker than the colour of terracotta.

When i travel to different cities alone, my parents ask me to be careful. I understand that all parents would be concerned if their daughters travel alone, anywhere, moreso in a country like ours. We are advised not to be gullible, not to trust strangers or anybody for that matter. I agree with most of it. But, this question occurs to me quite often and i don't have any answer for it. Who else can i trust apart from 'my people'? The man/woman i meet on the train is from my place. Talking about regions, that's a different thing. Have we lost all credibility as people, even from the same country within the geographical boundaries of the same region?

Incredible, isn't it?!

As i ponder on it, i tend to lean more towards the theory that societal rules and religion was created by man to prevent him from doing wrong. Here is an example.

I would say that live-in relationships are fine, totally. After all, we, as evolved people seek loyalty, faith from the other person. If it exists in a live-in relationship, why not? To the question of one not being faithful, well, it can happen irrespective of whether one is married or not. That's really not the point. The crux lies in one being true to another. A marriage stresses or imposes (for want of a better word) this on the man and wife, and hence 'sanctifies' the bond between them.

On visiting Kolkota after about ten years, i wasn't happy with the city. There wasn't much improvement. I guess the city is not easy to manage, the buildings are darkened due to the heavy rains, the huge population is difficult to manage, the people who come to the city from the surrounding areas have no sufficient means of livelihood.

When i saw a few hand-drawn rickshaws, i was reminded of the film 'Do Bigha Zameen'. Sad. Very. Do see the film if you get an opportunity.

I read Chowringhee by Sankar over the last few weeks. This was the book that i read to the end after having read a little of the others that i intended to read. It is quite a nice book, will keep one occupied throughout. The first book that i read exclusively on a hotel, it's staff, it's clients, it's operations.

As time passes and as i see more of the world around me and try comprehending it, the one conclusion that i have reached is that bravery is required of us, irrespective of whether we like it or not or rather, if we prepare ourselves with it or not.

Moreover, being a woman and facing things requires much more of that courage. And many times, we are unable to do them because we are women. I don't know if i'm speaking pro-women. But i've felt this given some circumstances. It's so easy for a man at times.

I have always wanted to listen to an orchestra performed by the defense forces. It would be splendid, i was told.

I did enjoy the one performed by the Indian Air Force the other day. The locale was perfect and the occasion too. As it was announced, the area allotted to them could not accommodate all their musical instruments. Maybe, that was the reason why it did not sound as good as i expected it to sound. Some of the bits were really nice.

Hope i get to experience another such performance.

Seriously, when compared to the other cities in India, Bengaluru is simply super. This is in terms of everything. Maybe, the other metropolitan cities score one major point over us, in having the metro or intra-city trains.

Maybe, this is the reason why most want to come and lead the rest of their lives in Bengaluru. That might be the case, but other cities in the state should also be focused, like mentioned in an earlier post.