Dilli meri jaan

The capital of India is never prettier but in the months of November-February, the time when winter reigns, the time when fog and mist cover the sun, the time when chilly winds tend to bite your skin off, the time when small bonfires have people gathered around them making small conversation, the time when pyaaz ki pakaudi aur chai takes a new meaning. Add to it the world class and unusually empty roads if you are out in the freezing night, and you have got an unbeatable combo.

Ever since I did my schooling from Delhi, the city has been close to my heart even though I managed to come back to it only 8 years later for my first post-MBA job. Some good friends made over the time I was there add to the charm that the city possesses for me. Every time I get to visit Delhi (in the not too long duration of eight months that I have been away from the city), it is yet another episode, yet another addendum to the love affair.

The visit this time was to participate in the wedding celebrations of Kushagra, one of those ex-colleagues whose friendship was and is a cherished one. Married on the 11th in Jamshedpur, Kushagra and Anugya had kept a reception for friends and family on the 14th in Delhi. Although Kushagra had informed us of the event about a month ago, there was no clear or recent information on when and where was the event supposed to take place. Obviously not expecting an invitation card, it was still a little awkward to land up at some place on a whim only to realize that the event had actually been planned for some very close family and we were, after all, uninvited.

As we (Nishith, Himadri and myself) had almost decided to give the reception a miss and I had cursed my luck enough, though clearly half heartedly for landing in Delhi without any purpose, we suddenly got SMS messages from Kushagra which was, true to his character, barely 4 hours in advance. The tone of the message was awesome to boot suggesting as though there may have been some ambiguity on our front as far as our attendance at the event was concerned.

To cut a long story short, we did attend the reception and it was absolutely spot on, with the newly weds looking terrific in their synchronized ensembles. Anugya was looking particularly graceful and Kushagra was the image of a good boy, what with uncharacteristically well kept hair, to quote an instance.

I was accompanied to the Delhi trip this time by Priya as apart from the reception, there were some other family engagements in the city as well, which also went off pretty nicely although not without a good dose of situational humor associated with the same. The only regret I had was that the two day trip seemed too small to meet all friends, go to all places I wanted to visit and most importantly, have all the street food that I wanted to have.

As I took the metro to reach New Delhi station to catch the train back (yeah, I took the train both ways, air travel is way too expensive nowadays), I could but only marvel at the growth that this city has had over the last few years. Looking at the reservation charts to check where they had allotted my RAC seat, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself upgraded to the 2nd tier. Happy ending, what!