India Trip 2013 - Part 10 (As tourists in New Delhi)

I lived in Delhi for most of my life, first attending high school, and then going to college at Delhi College of Engineering, or DCE as it used to be called. Jannavi has always been to Delhi with me to visit my parents and in here eyes it was a hot and dirty city from which one flees to the cooler comfort of Bangalore. There was no concerted effort on my part to showcase Delhi as a beautiful place, as a place to visit, even though it is part of the most popular tourist tour of India, The Golden Triangle. Even I had never seen Delhi through the eyes of a tourist. I decided to rectify it this time.

Chor Bizarre

When we expressed this desire to our host at Thikana, he recommended a site called Delhi Magic. I browsed through the various options and was amazed at some of the more novel ways of seeing New Delhi. We chose the "see all of Delhi in one day option" and I walked over the agenda made up of 4 parts. Our guide, a personable man named Rajesh Chawla, arrived promptly at 9 in the morning and we started at 9:30AM with a trip to Qutub Minar complex and followed it by a tour of the Old Delhi area consisting of Jama Masjid, Sheesh Ganj, Red Fort. During the drive, Rajesh explained the oral history and later written history of Delhi. Delhi is known to be home to anywhere from 7 to 11 cities with the latest city called New Delhi (and also known as Lutyens Delhi) and the current Old Delhi being the second oldest city. There is just so much to see in Delhi.

We took a break for lunch at Chor Bizarre, a famous Kashmiri eatery in Old Delhi. Rajesh recommended a delicious lamb dish that is a specialty of this restaurant. The 3rd part of the trip was a quick drive through the New Delhi area with stopovers at Central Secretariat, Parliament, Rashtrapathi Bhavan, Vijay Chowk, Raj Path, and India Gate. The day ended with a visit to the Humayun's Tomb. Rajesh informed us that this tomb was the template for the more famous Taj Mahal. We hardly did justice to the city and we knew we needed several days to take in the sites. Our guide was very knowledgeable and assisted us in hitting all the important spots and imparting to us several arcane but interesting details that we were never aware of before. It was perfect.


We came back to the B&B and freshened up for dinner in Gurgoan, at the house of Suresh, my classmate from college. During college years, we were a gang of five. Two others classmates, Sandeep and Sanjay, who also lived in Delhi were there for the dinner. We connected with the fifth member, who lived Fort Wayne, Indiana, via a video skype call.The dinner was very nice and our hostess Archana had made so much food, I yearned for those days when I could eat 20 rotis. Yes, I ate 20 rotis and lost a eating competition, but that is another story.The party broke up just before midnight and we all went our ways.

The next day started slowly as it was the last day of our vacation. We got a head start on our packing for the return trip and let Maa sleep late to get a good rest. After a late breakfast, we went to Delhi Haat, located on the other side of Ring Road, near AIIMS. After dropping off our purchases back in our room, we took the Delhi Metro to get lunch near Chandni Chowk in a narrow street called Parathewali Gali. The stations and trains were clean and ride was smooth although it was very crowded., so crowded that we were concerned we would not be able to get out at our destination. Sandeep and his wife joined us much to our pleasant surprise. The small restaurant served more than 40 varieties of Parantha, a form of flat bread from the Indian sub-continent. We tried an assortment of 5-6 of the most popular ones with the highlight being Rabri Parantha, bread stuffed with rabri, a sweet dish popular in North India. Maa in particular did justice to the meal.

With a heavy heart that we could not eat anything more, we said our farewells to my friend and went back. Food seems to be a central theme during our trip and although it was the last day we still were not done. One would also think that after such a heavy lunch we would not have much space for another meal. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3AM which meant that we could eat an early dinner with plenty of time left. For the last meal of the trip, we went to an pizza place, called Pizzeria Rosa, in Hauz Khas Village. The spicy Guava cocktail was a great way to round up the India trip.

What more is left to say that I have not already said in the 10 pages that comprise this travelogue. A great trip comprising some of the most popular places in Northern India, great weather, family, old friends, new friends, and great food.

We made it safely home although we left our hearts behind. We know will come back.