The Long Weekend of Christmas

Delhi Trip
Finally I am going to Delhi after a long time. I really missed the city and was longing to go there for sometime. Delhi is a city, which changed my life and that is why it has a special place in my heart. It is a city that taught me the lessons of life, the city that made me to laugh and cry, the city that taught me to love and hate at the same time. How can I forget such a city and not miss such a city? I am really glad to get this chance to go there and to meet my friends. I will be having a crunch of time in Delhi but somehow I cannot avoid it. Now I need to stretch my twenty-four hours to get the maximum out of it. Looking forward to have a good time out there. Let me see, what do I get from it?

Dadar Excursion
I do not know whether the title “Dadar Excursion” is apt for the journey that I had on Sunday? It actually was not a pleasure trip because I had gone to cancel my ticket from Mumbai to Jhansi. I piled on with Sarvesh to Dadar to get the reservation cancelled. We got Sarvesh’s Maruti and ran it through the crowded streets of Dadar on the eve of Christmas. Unaware of the station location we had to ask a couple of people to reach our destination. One of the men who helped us was the taxi driver in his late 40s who had worn a Muslim prayer cap and a crisp white starched kurta-pajama. I caught his eye during heavy traffic and when he came right across my window I asked him about the station. He was so helpful that he not only told me the way to reach the station but also suggested that if we could follow him, he would take us there. We missed him in the swarm of vehicles but his face remained lingering for sometime. The initiative taken by him to give more that what had been asked really touched me somewhere deep in my soul.

I wonder sometimes that when it comes to ask for help from strangers, I do not accost anybody to ask for help. In fact I search for a stranger with same vibes and frequency, as I possess to make myself feel more comfortable and safe. Probably, I do not want to talk to somebody who looks crafty, artificial, and judgmental, rather a person who is eager to help me whole-heartedly without making mockery of my ignorance.

Despite of so much help, we could not make to the parking end of the reservation counter. The result of course is to make way for the car through the deluge of people leaving Dadar station. The numbers does not make sense because there were countless people. All seemed to be rushing for something or the other. Some to their homes, some to their jobs, and some to fulfill their commitments made with their friends and relatives.

Nobody was alone there and that was adding more people and more chaos. Most of them were with their well-wishers, friend, acquaintances, or relatives. Those who were alone were accompanied by their dreams that they were living with.

To me the place was like a popcorn maker with loads of corns jumping around up and down, though this was more interesting as it had colors and emotions to each individual unlike corns. The place was chaotic but followed an order. Everybody was aware where exactly he wanted to go and was able to find his way out. I was suffocating and chocking for space to get some fresh air but people around me were looking fresh and energetic. God knows where these people get the energy to live in Mumbai.

As I walked I looked around the street urchins begging for money. Street hawkers displaying their products, garden fresh vegetables, flowers, and fruits occupied both the sides of the narrow street. The freshness and colors were oozing out from the organic matter on the dark gray road adding streaks of contrasting bright colors. Everything was structured, placed with precision, and systematic - bunches of saturated red roses, marigolds, lilies and what not; groups of plums laid neatly on plastic mats; pyramids of vegetables stacked one over the other. Stairs displayed stacks of shirts for Rs. 20/- only; trousers for Rs. 60/- only, electronics, towels and socks, and what not. Name it and get it at dearth cheap rates. Sellers shouting witty & raunchy lines like, “Maal idhar hai, dhyaan kidhar hai”. I wondered whether to laugh or feel sad after hearing that.

The whole atmosphere was charged up. When I reached to the reservation counter I found to my dismal that it was closed. Sundays are till 1400 hours only. The trip went in vain but I was happy that I could name in an excursion in the end.

Corny Night
The word corny is not used for the intended meaning but to express the feeling of a person who had had only corns in the meal. I went to Corn club along with Rushikesh, Sarvesh, and Milind to have dinner. It was Rushikesh’s idea and I was protesting it with Milind. It was not a confident protest and that made us submissive and to go for it. The food was different but it had too much of corn. It started with the starters- corn salad, and baby corn fingers. Then came the main course with corn soup. The platter had one paneer - corn based curry, two chapattis, one vegetable fried rice obviously with corns, and corn salad again. It was in a true sense my first discourse with corns. Never in my life I had eaten such quantities of corns. After I finished my meal I started feeling corns all around in my body and mind. I decided not to go there again at least for a while. I need some time to get away with this newly acquired corn-phobia.

I ended the day at Mocha with Jamaican Blue Mountains.