From the Pink City to that of the Nawabs, and everything in between... Part I

Safety Paranoia

I was travelling from Jaipur to Delhi and the bus had stopped at the Midway. When the customary twenty minutes were over, the driver started the bus and revved the engine. He was all set to go but there was a slight problem; a couple of passengers were missing. The conductor made his enquiries, the driver honked his horn but to no avail. The passengers were getting restless. It was then that the issue of the luggage of those passengers came up. Apparently there were a couple of unclaimed bags in the bus. And lo! The passengers were after the conductor to dump them off, who after his initial relucatace, complied with their wishes. For the first time I saw first-hand what the recent terror strikes had done; they had instilled fear in the people's mind. They were simply too afraid to proceed with some unclaimed baggage in their bus. It was only after the baggage was dumped and a call made to the nearest police station that the bus moved on. I wonder if this fuss had been there a few years back...

Cafe Bikaner

For all the foodies out there, do try out the new restaurant at Bikaner House. It's at Pandara road and serves excellent food. Rozz recommends paneer lababdar.

And hey, the hardcore non-veggies don't be disappointed.. for it serves non-veg too.. and jab paneer itna accha tha, toh socho chicken kitna accha hoga.. ;P

Su-do-ku chicklet

This is one of my best memories of the trip. I was in the Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi quite content reading my borrowed copy of Maximum City. The seat in front of me, on both sides of the aisle, was occupied by a Sikh family. There was this cute young chick, naa chick is not right, chicklet is more like it, the youngest member of the family, who was enjoying herself a lot. Hopping around from one side to the another, posing questions to her dad, she was the epitome of innocence and free spirit. Her dad was busy with his newspaper and I guess she caught sight of a su-do-ku in it and for some reason was fascinated by it. And there she was shouting suu-do-kuu, suu-do-kuuu on the top of her voice. I looked up from my book, grinning. Our eyes met, and suddenly she was conscious of herself. For the next couple of seconds we continued to gaze into each other's eyes even as her voice trailed off and she shied away and hid in her father's lap.

This little chicklet once again made me realize how much I like being around with kids. I would have loved to have her as my younger sis... she was cho chweet..... :)