If I were to describe Delhi in one word, I would say, Delhi is majestic!
Arjun, Parthi and me went to Delhi last January, to take part in an event organized by IBA (Indus Business Academy) and Spandan. We were selected from 12 people all over India and for the same reason we were happy. The event was in IBA, Greater Noida campus. We had to deliver presentations based on “Human Values in Business”. Happy that we could bring home, the second and third prices. Of course that was with Amma’s blessings, and Vaidy sir’s guidance.
For us, this was also an opportunity to visit and roam around Delhi. The trip had another specialty too. I was flying for the first time. (Thanks for my dear one who offered me the ticket). I started from Cochin. I was in a dream world, flying through the clouds. The flight was via Mumbai. For the first time I saw Mumbai from a thousand feet high and it was quite attractive. I remembered the movie “Wake up Sid”. Beautiful buildings kissing up the clouds, clean highways, the shore line, beach… I wish I could get down there, but I couldn’t. After an hour or so we took off to Delhi. When we were about to land, some kid screamed from the back – “Taj Mahal”. Peeping through the windows I could see a majestic building; I am not cent percent sure if it was the Taj, but it was awesome! When I landed in Delhi, at around 4pm, I started feeling the chillness of the winter.
I got a friend, Sreedhar, who was going to the same campus and we hired a taxi. As time passed by, I started feeling cold and hunger. We stopped by a place where they were preparing some pani puri, bhel, vada pav, pav bhaji etc. We had enough! After travelling an hour, I reached the place. Even though the place was really cold, the people over there were really warm! I had a nice dinner with them and I made some good friends over there – Shalabh, Abontika… They showed me their campus. After a walk-around of 20 mins in winter cold, they offered me a hot cup of coffee. Wow!
The next day, Arjun and Parthi came to the campus. That day we started to roam around Delhi. Morning, we hired an auto from the campus, to the bus stand. The auto guy was wearing a turban and was playing beautiful Punjabi songs in the auto. The first few things which got my attention in Delhi were the neat highways and of course the well planned Metro. The first place we visited was Akshardham temple. It was a very good experience to walk around through such a majestic historical monument. The only sad thing, they didn’t allow to take pics inside the temple.
Then we moved to Palika Bazaar. It was like a market without boundaries! We have no idea how long we spend there. Then we went to The India Gate. Three of us sang National Anthem in front of the India Gate and all of us got goose bums!
The next day was our presentation. And we believe, all of us did a good job. After a nice lunch and discussion with people from the industry and the academia, we set out for our return trip. As I flew back to Cochin, I had one wish in my mind, “I need to come back to Delhi, but not alone”. I landed in Cochin before noon. Amma was giving Darshan at that time in the Ashram. Straight I went to Amma, and I told her about the prize. She was so happy and so, me too :)
