Drivers Diary -A treasure trove of Interesting tales from across the country and beyond

A driver always has something interesting to share,having traveled across the length and breath of the country on account of their work.On my trip to Agra from Delhi, I happened to meet one such interesting driver and his travel diary had a plethora of interesting stories, which I am delighted to share them with you all

Road Trip to Pakistan
I never thought an Indian vehicle could drive through Lahore and Karachi and small villages in the middle. But driverji tells us its very much possible, he has driven through Pakistan over 3 times with tourists and has completely enjoyed being in that country.
You need to take your visa from Delhi, and then your car and driver gets a green card, which entitles him to drive through the country. You enter Pakistan via the Attari border near Amristar.The time for such exits is between 10- 11 in the morning. There are 3 customs checks that happen, and then you drive in and reach Lahore, The country side is beautiful. There are similar kind of hotels lik India. Scotters, bikes and cycles are not allowed in Pakistan. It’s a dictorial country, women have the worst leaving conditions. He narrates many instances where women ask people like him and other drivers to take them to Delhi the bijli ka shehar.
He said that the country is pretty much safe, there is no reason too worry about being attacked by anyone, but as every country has good and bad people, if you happen to meet one bad cop or bad person, who happens to harras you, you would consider it as a bad country. He says hiring a innova from a reputed company for 7 days would be enough to cover Pakistan. The damages would be approx 25,000( only travel)


Road Trips
Driverji has been working for over 20 years and has traveled to almost all parts of India, and the neighboring countries, including Nepal, Pakistan and China

Three places you must never visit on a roadtrip( by Driverji)

Kashmir: He said that in Kashmir people are extremely violent. He has had many instances of leaving tourists at the houseboat and when he would return to pick them up, he would be told that they have already gone. Days later, it would be known that the tourist was murdered and his body would be found floating on the water. The house boat owners, or tourists just want to make instant money

Nepal:Nepal is quite a notorious country. The minute they see an Indian number plate on the car, they will break the headlights, damage the car, and if the tourists are inside, would try to steal their goods, or even threaten them or hurt them with weapons

Negro village in Gujarat : Interestingly, I have never heard of this place although I have been to Gir. This is in Sasan Gir, a village full of Negros. Legend has it that the Nawab of Junagarh, brought them as slaves to work for them, another story says that they descended from the earlier times, when the Arab traders brought Abbisynian slaves many many generations ago. However this guys speak gujarati, eat the local food, etc but they look like negros, Africans.
This guys are extremely violent, and because of their poor living conditions can steal anything from you including your clothes


Kokila Van
On the highway , you would pass through an exit for Kokila Van. The driverji smiled and asked me, if I knew what this place was. I smiled replied, is it a village made by Ambani brothers for their mother.
Kokila van is basically a shani vanish place. Basically the story goes that the wife of shani was talking to him, and he didn’t pay attention, so she told him, that whatever you will look at, will get destroyed, that’s why they say ke shani ka graha ho to bhari hota hai.

So if you want to get away from this shani graha, u need to visit the place with your mothers brother on a Saturday, or if u come alone u have to come 7 times. Interesting. Lot of people come here every Friday night



Incentive programs for Drivers by Hotels
Growing up in the cites, we have heard about the various marketing schemes by companies to entice customers to buy their products or even incentive program by companies for their employees, but I had never heard of incentive programs for tourist drivers. Interestingly every hotel ranging from a roadside Dhabba to a five star hotel on the Delhi Agra highway has an incentive program for the driver. They are in various forms

Food commission on Dhabhas- We happened to stop by at a nice Dhabha for lunch. The parathas were scrumptious, and as a gesture to thank my driver for bringing me to this nice place, I insisted he shared the table with me, he was reluctant but i insisted. He had some normal sabji and couple of rotis and I was happy with my one paratha. When the bill came I was shocked to see Rs 300, this was ridiculous, coz even if I went to a udupi restaurant in Mumbai,I would end up paying maximum 150- 200 bucks. I felt cheated, so although I went to the counter and paid the money, I told the owner, that I knew he was cheating me by over charging me. When we sat back in the car, my honest driver returned me some money. I enquired and he said, that he charged you a tourist tariff, and in such cases they give money to the driver, as an incentive to bring tourists to his dhabba. That’s how the stories of this incentive program came out. Whenever drivers stop by at a dhabba, the driver is given free food, or money, and sometimes both. Then he clearly pointed out, the reason he didn’t want to share the table with me, coz anyways his food would have been taken care off. The dhabba owners address the drivers as Ustadji.


Prizes on the number of visits with tourists at the hotel
Some of the more high profile hotels, give the driver free food, regardless of the fact that the travelers dine or not at the hotel. They make an entry of the car no and the driver in their register. So once the car has come 4 times its get a x gift, its come 6 times it gets an x gift. They also distribute free blankets or bags during diwali


Commission on inhouse guests
Most of the good hotels including the Taj, oberoi etc in Agra, give the driver a 300rs allowance on bringing a guest to their hotel, they also give him free food and accommodation

Free accommodation and nominal family accommodation charges for driver
Some of the good hotels like Jaypee palace, if informed earlier, give the driver a room for him and his family at a nominal rate of 200 bucks. He says that the room is as good as the 7000 rupee room we stay in, without the amenities like AC and fridge etc. They also give free food and accommodation for all the drivers who have guests at the hotel.

Anokhi ke Paratha the Indian pizza in Agra
This was the best thing that Driverji introduced me to. Anokhi a small stall, has the best the parathas in the world. He makes them in desi ghee, and they are so well made in texture, better then a thin crust pizza also. Apparently this guy owns all the land in the surrounding, it is located next to ITC in Agra. He has a small stall, but all the drivers from the hotels come to take parcels for their guests. It was the best paratha I have ever eaten, thousands times better than Partha gali in chandini Chowk

This article would be incomplete without thanking Bhuj, from whom I have inherited the wonderful quality of talking to the locals to find out about the local customs and traditions. If it hadn’t been for her, we all would have been

Short stories- 10 William House

For a long time i have been contemplating about writing a book of short stories, and after reading a post To Blog or not to Blog by my aunt, i realised that in our daily lives itself, there are so many premises we come across, that we can take them and build stories around them.10 William House is my first short story.It is completely fictional,however the seed for the story comes from a rickshaw driver i meet in Allahbad.


10 William House


Abdul lived in the old civil lines area of Allahabad.He was in his late 40`s but his profession as a cycle rickshaw driver had taken a toll on him. His face was full of wrinkles, so were his legs and he looked nothing less than 50 in age.Abdul lived alone in a small slum in a tiny lane in Civil lines. No one knew about the existence of his family. His house was a small room, with hardly any belongings apart from a small transistor radio, an old wooden cupboard, a few vessels and a stove. He liked to begin work early; he would wake up just before dawn, bath and cycle to the railway station.

It was just another day for Abdul; business had not been too good the previous day, so he drove to the railway station on the brink of dawn hoping to get some customers.A lot of trains going to Mughal Sarai and Lucknow stopped at Allahabad station every morning. Allahabad was not really a tourist destination but more of a student’s city.

Abdul reached the station and took a spot at the rickshaw stand. There were just about 2-3 cycle rickshawalas and autorickshaw drivers waiting at the stand. Abdul lived alone, so whenever he meet people he would love to talk. He chatted with Mohan the auto rickshaw driver about the auto rickshaw business, who was proudly telling him how he got fares in the night by ferrying prostitutes to their respective clients or making deals for them.Abdul was a very straight guy,he didn’t like this kind of talk, so he moved away from Mohan and sat on the cycle rickshaw wondering about the ways of this world.

The train arrived and there was spur of passengers coming out. Among all the passengers a girl walked out.She was alone, and she had no luggage accept a big bag hanging over her shoulders.She was looking at some transport she haggled with the autorickshaw guy but he was not willing to come down on the price so she walked further looking for another mood of transport.

Abdul got up from his seat and went and asked the girl
"Bitiya tum Kaha jayogi, University le jayoo"
The Girl replied
"Nahi chacha, muje triveni sangam jana hai, aap kitne paise lenge"
"Bees rupee de dena bitya"
The girl was so charmed by his mannerism of talking that she instantly agreed to the ride without haggling on the price

The girl was a backpacker and she had come to see the Triveni Sangam and after that look around the city and board the bus to her next stop Lucknow.

As Abdul drove her through the tiny streets of Allahabad, she asked him about the specialty of Allahabad and house of Amitabh Bacchan. Abdul was more than delighted to tell her about Allahabad.She was thrilled to see those beautiful old British bungalows. He told her how life was different then, how the Britishers moved around in horse buggies.Infact his father worked for a very famous British judge Sir Frank Williams who owned a big mansion on Civil lines. His father was the main buggy driver. They lived in the huge servant quarters of the mansion. Even after independence Sir Frank Williams continued to live in Allahabad, but the horse buggy was soon gone. Abdul and his father continued to live with Sir Frank Williams and help around the house and do all his odd jobs.Abdul`s mother died when he was just about 2 years old, so he grew up with his father.

As they passed through William House,Abdul pointed it out to her. When she enquired, if he still lived there, Abdul’s pleasant smile shrunk and he said no. The curious girl obviously asked him about the reason, and he said ‘ Bitiya, Maf karma hum uske bareme bata nahi sakte’.

The triveni sangam ghat arrived and Abdul told the girl ‘ Bitiya dhyan rakhne, yeah nav vale ko 40 rupee se jyada maat dena, aur dhyan rakhne, who kumbh mele ke ghat pe koi pujari miljayega to aapko paiso ka sankalp karvayega”

The girl took the boat ride and wondered about the reason for Abdul leaving that house.After that blissful ride of the Triveni sangam, the girl decided to walk through the city. One of the things she noticed were this shops selling guns, revolvers.Curious as always she entered one of the shops and enquired how much it would cost for a normal revolver.She also asked the uncle to direct her to the house of Girdharisham. Girdharisham was a very old friend of the girls grandfather, since the house was nearby the girl decided to at least go and give a flying visit to the uncle.

Girdharisham lived in a palatial bungalow. He was a retired lawyer of the High court. As they chatted over chai and the crisp butter biscuit, the girl casually enquired if he knew Sir Frank Williams.Girdharisham told her that Sir Frank Williams was a very good friend of his father,who was also a judge.The girl got even more curious, so she enquired about him. Girdharisham`s face turned grim, he said Sir Frank Williams was murdered 5 years ago.

Sir Frank Williams lived in one of the biggest mansions of Allahabad, with the advent of urbanization one of the biggest builders from Noida wanted to construct a huge mall on that same property. He was willing to pay a hefty amount for the same plot of land. However Sir Williams was quite happy with his lifestyle and house and did not want any additional money. His son who lived in London was visiting him at that time. His son had tried his hands on various businesses using his fathers money and had been quite a failure. He had come to beg for some more money from Sir Williams.When he learnt about the astounding sum of money the builder was ready to offer his father,he realized the only thing to do was to kill his father.

One evening he went into the adjoining terrace of his father room, the lights had gone, but he noticed a human figure, and aimed at it. He fired two more shots and just as he was turning away the lights came up and he saw his father in front of him. Considering it as a illusion after killing his father he decided to walk off, but he had not gone far, when his father tried to hit his head with a big vase. A fist fight began between the duo and the son succeeded in killing the father with a pocket knife which he removed from his pocket.

The entire episode was witnessed by the servant’s son,Abdul.It was very brave of Abdul to stand up and play witness to the murder. However as you are aware money power pumps the delay in judicial system.The police have though recorded Abdul`s statement, William`s son has cleverly obtained a bail and lives in London, whereas the builder has decided to opt out of the deal,as they are wary of the house being dragged into any judicial custody.

The Quest for a Bride...

902 days…17520 hours...a gamut of emotions...
A hole of 1.5 lakh rupees in the pocket, using trains, bullock carts, buses to travel over 115000 km across the country, Meeting over 1000 people and 180 prospective brides to be. Lots of drama, action, and complete entertainment.

This is not a preview to, a new reality show on television, but this is a real story of a acquaintance from work. He hails from an educated gujrati family, who has settled in Bombay for many years, thus their connection with their caste members who stay in Gujarat is limited due to the distance. He had just began to work, and his parents thought it was a good time for him to settle down, he too readily agreed, and decided to actively participate in the pursuit of a good wife. So, every Friday night after work, he would take the train to Ahmedabad, get off in the morning and freshen up at his aunt’s house and then spend the day visiting various homes where the prospective brides and their family would meet him.

On an average every weekend he would meet at least about 4-5 girls and then take the train back to Mumbai on Sunday Night.This practice continued for more than a year, but something never seemed to have worked, either the parents were to afraid to send their daughters to Mumbai or they were just passing time,or the girl was not educated enough to lead a normal life in Bombay.

Frustration meter was going up, and suddenly his caste members decided to copy the successful formula of the Samuha Milan This is a very interesting concept, I was just baffled when I heard about it.

Samuha Milan is basically something where 80 girls( number can vary) and their families along with 80 boys and their families come together at this event. Each of the girls and boys are registered in the book along with their profiles and there is a unique number assigned to each of them.
The program begins with a talkative host, who gives an intro on the event and then the session begins.There is a little stage constructed, and the boy candidates and their families sit on one side, and the girl candidates and their families sit on the other side. It begins with candidate 1 going on stage and introducing himself

“Maru Name --- che, ooh Amdavad thi chu, ooh mechanical engineer chu, ane mara ----- shoak che ---, ohu ishu chu ke mari bahiri ek house wife hoi”
(My name, is -----, am from amdavad, and am a mechanical engineer, my interests are --- and I would like my wife to be a house wife)
Host will ask more questions, like which sub caste you are from and what your parents do etc
After his intro the boy gets off the stage, and the host tells the crowd, those interested in candidate A, can tick in the book provided and can meet him after the introduction. As soon as the candidate steps down from the stage, sometime eager parents would go and even approach them immediately.
In a similar fashion girl candidates arrive on the stage, and give their introduction and list down their expectations, for e.g. they want an Engineer husband etc

After this ramp walk is over, the parents of the potential brides and grooms aggressively set out to meet the candidates they have listed out. To me its sounds so awkward

The father of a potential bride goes to potential groom and says
"Amne tamara sathe vaat karvama interest che, amari chokri tya bethi che, so tamne yogya lage to agal vaat kariye, ane profile page ---- per che"
(We are interested in you, my daughter is sitting over there, pointing at the daughter, you can look at her profile on page- and if you are interested we can talk further)

Anyways our friend attended over 5- 6 Samuh milans, but nothing seemed to have materialized. It was almost more than 2.5 years now, and he was frustrated considering the dedication and hard work he had showcased in finding a bride. Finally what seemed like the last trip for him to Ahmedabad, he meet his wife, who was dressed in the most homely attire, to provoke the candidate to reject her, however the tables turned when they meet, and destiny brought them together.

To conclude,he said that the journey was although frustrating but, looking back it was indeed a learning experience for him, coz he got to meet different kind of people, learn about different kinds of human behaviour, and also got to visit places and people in the distant villages of his community, which he otherwise would never have got a chance.

The Wedding Weavers

A ground in Shivaji Park is getting ready to weave another Wedding, just like a studio getting ready for another shoot. A zillion men and women would have weaved their lives with each other in matrimony on this very soil.The atmosphere at the ground is calm, devoid of the burden of anchoring the zillion marriages it has witnessed so far.

Its about 1am in the morning, but it seems like a normal working day, for the workers at the ground. Some of them are busy unloading the carpets from the little tempo (referred as baccha) in their terminology, others are trying to sort the bamboos and tie them up in the prescribed manner basis the design which their absent minded supervisor seems to have told them. The supervisor Ismail is new, and is particularly known for giving filmsy excuses.

The owner of the decorator company,arrives to take a stock of things, and to ensure that the work on the site is executed in the right manner,he immediately notices the missing pillar at the gate which was part of the design and remarks

“Ismail, Gate pe pillar nahi lagaya, design maih tha na”
Absent minded Ismail, tries his antics with the boss
“Pillar to laga hai na, dekho na sahab”
The Seth is quite patient and calmly asks Ismail, how come he cant see the missing pillar,trying to fumble again for excuses, he says he didn’t see the design or forgot, in no mood to argue, the Seth tell him to refer the design and ensure the pillar is constructed.
“Chandni aagayi kya”, the Seth remarks.Relax Chandni is not the Chandni from the Chandni bar, instead Chandni is what is referred to the colourful or design cloth which is used around the tent.

Kailash is a worker from UP, he is busy setting up the frame of pipe for the tent. He lives in one of the slums in Lalbaugh. He has been suffering from Hernia, but refuses to get himself operated, as he thinks getting him self operated will harm him. Probably unaware or simply ignorant of the danger he is living in by breeding a disease in his body,he continues to work relentlessly to feed his family.It is people like Kailash, who make me realize, that lack of health awareness is such a big problem in our country.Thousands of people in our country die because they are unaware of the disease they are suffering with or they hold some pre-conceived notions related to surgery.The cities today are full of people like Kailash who leave their villages and families behind to earn as little as Rs 125 a day and an inch of place in some crowded slum for shelter. But since the wedding business is a seasonal affair, a lot of these labourers go back to the villages during the monsoon for farming, to get whatever they can make from their land. Sometimes I really wonder what will happen to our cities, with so many laborers, I guess it is time to urbanise the villages.

Its only a couple of hours for the morning, the section for the wedding ceremony is almost ready,the chandni (cloth) is put up around the vidhi section.The hustle-bustle at the site also increases, as more bachas (small tempos), tempos and more workers arrive with furniture and godhris (carpets) after winding up another reception site, the previous night. The bride and groom who would be tying the knot the next morning, would probably be taking their last nap as bachelors, unaware of those dozen hands who would have worked meticulously the entire night towards making it a picture perfect wedding for them.

Malishwalas of Bombay

They appear usually at the brink of dusk and squeeze out the tensions and worries of the tired souls. They aren’t any Counselors or Angels but they are the Malishwalas of Bombay.You will usually find them seated on the banks of popular sea shores, whether its Chowpatty, Juhu beach and ofcourse Carter Road.Some of them will be walking around with a tray of oil boxes and chattais, and if they think you are a potential customer they will approach you and tell you about the various types of Malish that they can offer you. Obviously their main clientele is only men, however,women too have started taking some of their services, just like I got a foot massage from one of them at Carter road the other day.


The Malishwala connection

Malishwalas are people,who I had heard about all my life.Infact the Malishwalas of Chowpatty are also an integral part of my Birth story.

It was a dark winter night 21 Jan 1982 to be precise ,Pa was already tired and frustrated with the fact that I wasn’t coming out, He had made Ma,walk for more than an hour in the balcony of the hospital( I was to be born) facing the Queens Necklace,without any success. Having given up on getting any result that day, Pa walked down to the Ideal Corner restaurant, grabbed a beer and decided to unwind by getting his favourite Malish on the beach. As the masseur massaged his tired legs and head he starred at the stars and wondered in amazement how his first child would be.He wished it would be a girl,a girl who he could design exquisite dresses for, a girl who he could weave all his dreams into.Pa had always wanted his first child to be a daughter for some reason. At the end of that relaxing malish session,it was almost quarter past midnight and Pa thought it was a good idea to just drop by at the hospital before he went home just incase there was some development. Indeed Ma, had got her labour pains, and Pa was standing right next to her, the reluctant fool, I was I just wasn’t willing to come out, finally I did and when the doctor announced it was a girl, Pa just could not help but jump up in excitement,while my Nani (Mom`s Mother) who still subscribed to the old school thought in the 80`s, was quite grim with the addition of another granddaughter in her family.

Obviously, the Malishwalas had earned themselves a role in my birth story, but Pa, who himself was connoisseur of Champi Malish,ensured that I was introduced to the craft, as he would always Malish my head with oil.When I was younger I hated it, coz I hated putting oil in my hair, but when I was in college I liked it, it seemed so nice as it calmed my tired nerves, and then when I longed for it, my Malishwala, Pa was not there anymore and the magic of his champi fingers will remain only as beautiful memory in time


My Malishwala Encounter

One evening, after dinner me along with my friends were sitting at Carter road. My friends, who I suspect having some connection to the vampirish bahus of the sas bhi bahu soap operas who are always conspiring something against the other bahu, kept pestering me to get a malish done from one of the malishwalas walking across the promenade. With my tired feet, I was quite tempted, but part of me did not want to agree to the conspiring bahus and also a conservative part of me thought it wasn’t such a good idea to get your foot massaged in the middle of the road.

But finally my tired feet gave up, and we called one of the malishwalas. The foot massage was ok but what I really liked, is the vati malish, where they spread oil on the palm of your feet and rub the vati on it. It’s the most relaxing massage for 30 bucks. So next time you are on Carter road, and if you want to get your feet relaxed get the vati malish for 30 bucks. The Malishwala told me he was from Agra, and they usually sleep during the day and come here only in the evenings for their business.

Delhi Ki Diwali

The wide roads like welcoming hands, the striking monuments that stand as landmarks of our glorious past,the variety of scrumptious cuisines that innovate their style in the form of Delhi`s own cusine, the old city charm outlined with the fading ancient architecture,the chaotic Delhi traffic where everyone from the buswala, to the cycle rickshawdriver fight even for one inch of space on the road, to the completely lost and hostile attitude of delhiwalas( especially when u ask for directions).Delhi as a city has always fascinated me for the sheer character that it brings with it, giving me an opportunity to discover something new on every single trip I have made to Delhi. Here is memoir on my Delhi ki Diwali.

Since most of my family was going to be in Delhi for Diwali, I too joined the bandwagon and took the first train out what with the soaring air ticket prices. Getting a train ticket also needed some Jugad with the travel agent.

Public Transport in Gurgaon

If you do not have your transport in Gurgaon traveling around could be a problem.Local Public transportation in Gurgaon is restricted to cycle rickshaws,the motor rickshaw and some buses.
The Motor rickshaw is a 6 seater rickshaw, where usually more than 10 people pile up to take a ride for a nominal fare of Rs 5.Stuck without a driver, I too took a ride on one of these rickshaws, the rickshaw driver was so astonished, that he starred at me for a minute till he allowed me to sit in his rickshaw.

Street food in Gurgaon

I never realized that street food in Gurgaon would be so interesting.Neatly layed out in small laris as they call it parked outside all the big malls,the smell of kulchas, samosas, kachoris being fried, amidst the light evening winter breeze will definitely stir your appetite for quick grub. The street food stalls will offer you, Kulcha paratha, Chole bathuras, Samosa chat and variety of other chats, golgappas,Kachoris, Chowmein, Kathi rolls and Mumbai ka famous burger. I decided to dip my appetite with Mumbai ka famous burger.
I chatted with the stall owner, and asked him how he discovered this burger since living in Bombay all my life I haven’t ever seen it. He smiles shyly and tells me "Madam yeah to pata, nahi lekin yeah burger variety to Bombay saih hai na isliye nam de diya".
The burger is made of small potato patty a slice of potato which he deep fries in besan,. The burger bread is a small tiny bun, he puts the potato patty, onion and big piece of freshly cut panner er then just dips the bun in hot oil frying pan . For 5 bucks its good value for money but it has not connection with Bombay, the only Bombay connection that I could get is a friend of mine who would have loved this burger simply coz of the Paneer

Tentwalas of Haryana

We decided to bring in our New year by inviting cousins, aunts and uncles over for the typical Gujrati jammanvar at home. A jammanvar is usually a sit-down lunch, where long tables are layed out and food is served to you on the table. My aunt has a big dinning room, but in order to fit 35 people for a sit down lunch, we definitely needed to hire tables and chairs. So one lazy morning, myself and Mukesh the driver went around Gurgaon`s chaotic market Chakarpur to look for the tentwalas. As we walk towards the tentwala shop, I have this wonderful imagery of meeting some interesting tentwala like Dubeyji from Monsoon wedding.
On our first stop we are greeted by a hostile owner who seems least interested in renting out his chairs or tables. After asking him about 3 times the guy says,
"Bhej denge, address likh do".I enquire about the kind of chairs, and table cloth he would send us. After much coaxing he replies and says we have white only, nothing else. I tell him we need some colorful table cloths and bows for the chairs. I finally give up on this guy, and tell Mukesh we should look for someone else since this fellow is list bothered. The second tentwala we visit, has his shop with his house, and I guess we wake him from his slumber when we knock the door. Even before we enquire further, he says he is on holiday till Diwali, so he will not be doing any business. Have you ever heard of a tentwala who decides to sleep during peak business season. I hope my friend, who runs a decorators business in Mumbai, doesn’t get inspired by this lazy tentwala
Mukesh tells me that this small time businessmen in Gurgaon are least interested in doing any business, they have already made crores of money by selling their land to the builders, they are involved in this business merely for time pass so customer service, business growth are concepts alien to them. Since we cant find anything in Chakarpur, we go further to Sikanderpur market, where after passing through some dingy shops we reach a very dirty looking shop called Shagun Tentawala. The people in the shop are busy watching a movie over a tilted TV placed on a tilted shelf. Finally we get the owners attention out from the movie, juggling between 2 phone calls, with the least interes, the guy takes my order. Obviously 8am in the morning is something the tentwala has never heard in his life, so I tell him to send me the chairs and tables the previous night itself and I hope that the dude delivers the chairs and tables on time.

Killer Blue line Bus

After visiting my cousins at Vasant Kunj, I decided to go to Chandni Chowk Via 605 blueline bus from Vasant Kunj. The bus was surprisingly empty and compared to our BEST buses; it was quite dirty and dimly lit, more like our bad ST buses. It was only six in the evening, but with winter set in it has already become dark. As the bus moved ahead I realized I was the only women sitting in that bus and all the men traveling by it were the typical worker class. The conversations in the background were spiced with gallis, and I hoped to learn some new, but they were using the same old ones. A part of me was a little scared, but the other part of me said that even if I was traveling by a rickshaw, I would have been equally safe or unsafe, and the bus was definitely a better option with more people. A very casually dressed mavali sort of dude dressed in jhatak tracks and t-shirts came towards me to sell the bus ticket. I had always imagined bus conductors to be dressed in uniforms,but blue line conductors don’t seem to have a dress code. Couple of stops later, the bus is over crowded; luckily I am sitting right in the front so I don’t have to worry about getting off. The striking feature of the Blue Line Bus ride, is that anyone can sell bus tickets on the bus. Another fellow who was sitting in front of me, suddenly got up, chatted with the mavali in track pants, took the bundle of tickets from him and started selling the tickets.The bus journey futher is quite entertaining, with a fighting couple in tamil, an arguing old man, although I am itching to get off this bus. So I get off at the Central Secretiat Metro station to board to my train to Chandni Chowk

Metros of Delhi

The Metro rail is probably one of the best things to have happened to Delhi, making traveling so easy. I have used the Metro rail earlier also, but they have never been too crowded, coz a lot of people are still reluctant to use it.Surprisingly this time I saw a lot more people using the metros, than I had before. Also the good part is that the Delhi Metro`s have been able to maintain the cleanliness levels in the trains and the stations which is definitely worth applauding.

Chandni Chowk

Chandni Chowk has always fascinated me, and no trip to Delhi is complete for me without a visit to Chandni Chowk. I love the energy and character this place has. Chandni Chowk or that road which leads to Red fort is one of the most diverse streets I have seen. It has a Gurudwara, a Church, a Mosque and even a famous temple. Its choti diwali and the atmosphere in the evening is celebratory, cars parked outside filling up their boots with last minute Diwali shopping. Cycle rickshaws ferrying people, the lights, smell of pure ghee, and jalebis and samosas being fried.I walk through one of my favourite lanes the kinaari bazaar where you can pick up fancy laces, lovely material, artifacts etc. I love walking through these tiny lanes, which are so alive and lit up with the small kandils and decorations across. After making my stop at Paratha gali, I find myself buying some really fancy gifting bags and decorative pots, and gifting cloth. This place will definitely give your Tresories and Bombay stores a run for their money, both in terms of pricing and variety

Gujarati cuisine in Delhi

Some years ago, when my cousins from the north came down to Bombay they would love to eat the khandivs, patras and dhoklas, coz they could never buy them from the local mart and making it at home would be a huge production for their mothers. So when I heard we were having the jamanavar at home, I never realized that we would only have Gujarati food. A shop called Farsan in gurgaon caters to gujrati cusine, they churned out some really good khandvis, dhoklas and undhiya for us .Well every place brings in its own flavour to the cusine, so I could say that the khandvis and Dhoklas were more or less at power with the Bombay shops, but the undhiya was slightly different, less oily and not typically sweet like the gujrati undhiyu, so I quite liked it. So next time you want to eat guju food in Delhi head to Farsan

A decade...

It was a normal hectic Monday morning and my phone beeped,A sms from a very dear friend of mine all the way from Australia, congratulating me on completing a decade of friendship which began exactly 10 years ago at 11:30a.m when we entered the first RCMC General Body meeting in college. This made me nostalgic, and I said maybe this is a good time to walk back in time and reflect on the last decade of my life.

The last decade of my life has probably been the most eventful, flooded with lots of twists and turns.Apart from growing in age and probably by a couple of pounds I have also grown as an individual. I think I have become much calmer as a person then, what I used to be ten years ago, when I had just set my foot out of school, filled with illusions of the real world, but lots of dreams and aspirations


I do remember getting my passport renewed at the passport office along with Pa and my agent,who insisted that I should take the ten years passport instead of the twenty years, as I would definitely be married within the next ten years and I would anyway need to get the name changed. I wish he had allowed me to take the twenty years passport at least it would have saved me the current hassle I am facing to get my passport renewed at least for another decade.


Joining Rotaract
This was a real turning point in my life. Infact most of the friends I ever made in college were from Rotaract It was exactly today, 27 Aug 1997 at 11:30a.m that myself and Veena entered the first ever general body meeting of RCMC.We were both apprehensive about Rotaract, and honestly when we entered the meeting room, I just thought I was at the wrong place, everything seemed so different from my school world,where I was so used to being at the forefront of all the limelight because of the activities I participated in.
Making marketing proposals, Editing Bulletins,roaming around for sponsorships, getting closer to the college principal,Rupa Shah( what with the countless hours we would spend in her cabin to get her signature),attending other Rotaract projects as far as Neral, Ulhasnagar, Churchgate( thanks to Rotaract my Bombay geography is solid),dealing with all kinds of people from the south Bombay snob clubs to the pile on eastern suburbs clubs were just few of things that Rotaract taught me. But the icing on the cake was getting my first ever summer job with a PR consultant in Bandra. Most importantly because of Rotaract I made some really good friends,who have always stood by me in my moments of joy and sorrow till today.


NSS
Joining NSS was not something I had planned to do, but it just happened by chance, I think because of a pestering professor of mine Prof Rawal who was persistent that I join NSS and do some good work. This was quite interesting coz we did a couple of social service projects( I cant even remember what) but the turning point was when, I was given the opportunity to represent the NSS junior wing of Mumbai University at the National conference in Nanded, Nagpur along with other girls from other colleges and a Prof from our college.I think this was my real tryst with reality. We were staying at this accommodation which was nothing but a dingy classroom of a municipal school,where we did have all sorts of rats and creeps for company, there were no real toilets and I remember I was so desperate to go to even an Indian style toilet then I actually went to a house in the village close by and requested them to allow me to use the toilet and thankfully made a arrangement to use it till I was staying there.This was a real all India meet,where I meet girls and boys from across the country all doing great work but couldn’t speak English at all. Going back was a real terror,in spite of having reservations there was a mob of sardars who just blocked the entry into the compartment and we girls some how managed to get in. After that I never meet those girls again.I think the only advantage that NSS gave me was that being a college supported organization, it really brought me in the limelight in front of my professors and this was probably the reason I was awarded as the Best Student- Arts junior college.

Mountaineering society/ Drama club
Mountaineering society was something I just joined for fun, I just went for a couple of treks to Karnala and Kanheri caves and then never bothered too much about it. Drama Club was something, I was really very interested in, since our team was very strong, infact I had auditioned and had been selected so many times but I think I was not dedicated to rehearsals as I was too busy doing Rotaract or NSS work and I would drop out giving some excuse or the other.I have attended a couple of college festivals like Malhar and MoodI, Brouhaha to participate in some faltu contest or other, but never really won anything.


Moving from Bandra
This was one of the most heartbreaking event of my life.When we moved from Bandra to godforsaken Kandivali which I really hated and I continue to hate till today. Bandra was where I grew up, every single lane of this suburb was filled with memories of growing up, this was home. Although our first house where we moved in till our actual house was ready was quite spacious and comfortable and equipped with all the modern amen ties I truly missed my Bandra house. Infact after we left that house, I never had the courage to go and visit that house in the last 8 years. Kandivali was a complete new culture for me,it was full of the Gujarati, nosy clan which I had always dreaded to have for company. There weren’t even any nice restaurants or places to go to and to add to it traveling was a real pain. To attend my morning lecture at 7am, I would have to leave home at 5:45 walk to the bustop and then board the crowded train and walk again to the college, compared to a simple bus ride to college from my Bandra home. But yes Kandivali brought me close to my culture and my roots, Ganesh chathurthi, Diwali, Navratri, Holi were festivals celebrated with great fanfare and oneness in our buildings.


Working
Almost towards the end of my First year in degree college, I started working with a PR consultant in Bandra. So every day after college I would go to office. In my 2year stint with this consultant I learnt quite a bit.I picked up the business, and my boss was so happy with me that she actually left the business to be handled by me for 2 months when she was away on a vacation. Work wise life was very good, my clients were happy with my work, I had a good rapport with the lifestyle journalists and also the job gave me the opportunity to work with some interesting people like Shatbhi Basu, NRCI, Anil Dharkar. But yes I often missed not being able to sit in the canteen aimlessly like some of my friends and go out and watch movies or just roam around.

Final year in college
This was a true landmark year in my life.I still recollect in November,I was taking a break from work to concentrate on my TY studies.It was also my first cousins wedding at our native place in Nainital and this wedding proved to be one of those rare occasions where all my fathers siblings came together.The wedding was truly memorable, it was grand family reunion, so much so that for some reason I had tears in my eyes when we were all leaving from the venue. This was also a beginning to a end which, I could never even anticipate in my wildest dreams. After we came back Pa`s health started deteriorating, he had already made couple of trips to the hospital the previous year but now the visits got more frequent. Finally in mid-December under serious circumstances we moved Pa to a big hospital and when he left the house that day in the ambulance, he some how knew he wasn’t coming back. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me, I wanted to believe that it was just a dream, but it was reality that I was facing for the next seven days,where every single day, Pa in spite of his pain, in his humorous style told me that he was going leaving me to look after everything.I wish it was just one of Pa`s jokes, but it wasn’t a joke anymore,when one Saturday afternoon, after singing one of his favourite songs he was gone and all I could do is see his diminishing heart beats on that machine outside that room. On that day, life seemed like a huge challenge.I just knew that I had a huge amount of things that I needed to sort but I didn’t know how I would do it. Although Pa was gone in person, but his sprit was alive in me , and that’s what helped me to slowly and steadily sort out everything.But at that time, I really wished, I had an elder sibling who would take care of everything for me.


Post college
The day I finished my final exams, the only thing I wanted to do was to get a proper job for myself in a company. Finally I applied to a couple of PR agencies and managed to find myself a job with Percept Profile. For the first couple of months I was quite lost, and wasn’t to happy with the way things were at work, but about 10 months later my ex boss called me for an exciting offer with someone she knew. This is where I learnt to negotiate, I negotiated my salary and started working on Channel [v ]. Channel [v] was undoubtedly an exciting client and I had a great time working with my new boss. The new company Vaishnavi was good, and the people there were nice too. It was almost like a family. Professionally things were good for me, but I just couldn’t concentrate on my law studies. I had enrolled for a degree course in law but law needed a lot of time for research in library and lot of mugging up which I couldn’t do in my cramped time, and I realized that this was not something I really wanted to do, coz I wasn’t enjoying it so I left my law studies. As time passed by I had the opportunity to handle new clients, new challenges, I walked up the corporate ladder.
After almost 2 years monotony creeped in and I decided to take a break, and this is where I took my first single backpack trip to Kerala where I could sit and think about what I wanted to do in my life.

Sabbatical
Sometime in February after I came back from Kerala,I decided that if I wanted to try out something different and explore the opportunities this world has to offer, this is the time to do it so that ten years down the line I wouldn’t regret not having given myself a chance. I applied for my US- visa, shocked the world by quitting my job, without any assignment in hand. Luckily I got my US visa and I decided to go the US and explore the work, study opportunities that country could offer me.
My 3 month US trip was fun, I traveled a lot, met lots of interesting people, visited colleges, universities and concluded that US was not the greatest place for me to begin my career at this stage, as it would require a lot of time and funding. So I came back and started job hunting. Obviously I could have easily gone back to Vaishnavi, but I didn’t want to do PR, I wanted to do Marketing communications. I actually wanted to work for a media house but I ended up working with one of the leading life insurance companies ICICI Prudential. I have been working with them for close to 2 years now


New interests - Travel, Food, Reading & Children
Over the last ten years I have discovered the four things that I really like to do. I never realized how passionate I was about traveling until I took my first backpack trip to Kerala. Since then I have taken ever single opportunity to explore places in India and abroad.Travelling in Amtracks, Jamutavis , general compartments of long distance trains, state transport buses,staying at nominal home stays and exploring the local flavour of the regions I visit are things I just love to do.
Although I am a vegetarian, I love to discover new cuisines and food joints.In fact I am also in talks with a food site to pen a column on food.
Reading was something I was never to fond of, but this is something I have picked up over the last couple of years. I love reading Indian fiction.
I was never to fond of children, but I guess because of the sheer time I spent with my young nieces and nephews in the US that I started getting very fond of children. I look forward to the day, when I will have my own children


I know this is a very long post, and probably not everyone will be able to reach till the end, but ten years is a long time and 2000 words isn’t enough to document it.

Cheers to a decade !