I enjoy being a part of the life of a big city... Thats not to say that I dont enjoy being in the garden of a sleepy town-house, or sleeping on a rope bed under the stars in a out-of-our-world village, or climbing the shoulders of a rocky mountain-fort or sitting pensively on the banks of a flowing river... I love the spirit that comes with every place... But sometimes I just love being in cities, big cities... First there was Mumbai, then Pune, and now thre is Delhi... I looove Delhi.. and among the many places I love to be in Delhi is Nehru Place! To many, Nehru Place (NP) is just a big market of computers and electronics, and thats how I was introduced to NP too...
Actually, I dont remember
my first visit to NP at all.. All I remember is being outside Sona
Sweets- a decently big, modern looking sweet shop with its glass
cabinet-counters displaying racks of Indian sweets of every color and
shape, counters serving chaats, Indauri poha, gaajar ka
halwa et al and of course the crowd of families, couples, college
kids, and uncles jostling for their share of space and mouth-watering
food... (and it was the crowd why I actually ate at Sona Sweets only
a couple of visits later) The other food memory at NP is of a
garma-garam kadhi-chawal at a small outlet hiding
between its bigger non-veg cousin and a bank... Even more, (much much
much much more) tastier was the masaala mirch that comes with the
plate overflowing with rice... And if you are those types who can
believe a guy whose favorite dish at weddings is carrots from the
salad, nothing can beat hot kadhi-rice with the oh-so-tangy masaala
mirch on a hungry, sunny winter afternoon in Delhi. [And yes, if you
want to catch up with an old friend who cannot take a chance in a
million to risk his health you can go towards the part of NP near the
NP metro, and you can find Southy- a nice little south-indian cafe,
and everyone's favourite CCD, which with its couches and
terrace-sitting is actually quite nice to catch up with an old friend
on a lazy morning... :).]
If you are not a Delhiwallah and shouting at the screen- dude, what exactly is NP- hang on! From outside NP looks like a normal urban shopping area with a big parking and a clutch of big (compared to most of Delhi) buildings... It is only once you enter the premises you are welcomed into it's large bustling courtyards, squatting between towering structures of long concrete corridors, one upon the other; the towers decorated by a patchwork of small/big sign-boards and displays of latest electronic items. There is no seeming order, neither to the crowds criss-crossing your path nor to the patch work. It's only when one starts plodding one's way searching for a clue to what one wishes to find, this bewildering maze starts unravelling its complex design...
The ground floors of the
buildings are mostly dominated by single-brand stores, medium size
retailers, and ATMs save for a few shops selling ear-phones et al and
the ilk of Sona sweet/Snack junction... Lining the corridors here are
the chaps sitting on wooden stools, offering to laminate your
laptop-screens or refill a printer's cartridge... If you press ahead
with a confused look you are bound to be bombarded with a choice of
either “software-games” or “pen drive-hard disk-repair-second
hand-bechna-khareedna”... If you are still determined to
find your own way you can take one of those spiralling stair-cases
to the next level. For most parts this level has more small
retailers and small repair shops. This is where souls troubled by a
broken keyboard or a misbehaving screen, a slow computer or lost data
are most likely to find respite. Also likely that you were looking
for speakers or head phones or other accessories and you found them
here... On the other hand if you were desperate (or first-timer or
the chance-taker) and the agent was able to persuade you to go to a
shop he suggested you might turn out to be lucky (or not so lucky)
depending on how confused you are generally... ;) The inside of all
towers, or so it seems to me, consist of intimidating alleys of
outlets that are shady or run by novices... If you are looking for
really expert and cheap help, and IMPORTANTLY if you know your way
about the world you can decide to cross the towers through an alley,
come out on the outside and enter into the basement which is another
maze of repair units... Bon chance!! If you are looking for the
service centre of a particular company, you will find it comfortably
holding its place in the world (ac and all) on the higher levels
which can be entered through staircases and elevators hidden in the
deep interior of the towers... Apart from these, the highest levels
of the towers showcase huge boards announcing the presence of big
insurance corporations and banks.
Once you have found what
you came looking for at NP and exit the big towers, you start
noticing that the courtyards at NP have a different life of their own
too... Here you will permanently find the make-shift stalls of
garments, shoes and tools occupying a central place. Peter England,
BlackBerry, and Rebok dominate the stalls competing alongside lesser
known brands of trousers, shirts, sweaters, sweatshirts, half-pants,
sport shoes, sandals, chappals, you name it...
If you are really a keen
observer, or interested in those beings walking on two limbs, or if a
admiring regular (like me) you will start realizing that you have met
just about every kind of a person here... The couples come here to
stroll (yes! they are everywhere...), the college groups come here to
hangout, the geeks, the tech-savvy and the needy come here to buy,
over-caring parents come here to dote their college going kids, the businessmen come here to sell, the agents and workers come here
to earn livelihood, the apprentices come here to learn... People
arrive in buses, by metro, by cars, or on bikes... They eat at the
chhole-kulche waalah, from a home tiffin or in Pind Balucci!! They are
cheerful like new sons taking over their family businesses, sulky like old chaps bored with their lives, professionally adept
like the sales guys, really helpful (like the uncle who sold me a
laptop battery), or masters of their work (like the people who
replaced my screen-light)... If you spend enough time, you will start
noticing the paan-wallah, or the old man who repairs watches,
and still sells watch straps (!!), or the young fellas who polish
boots... even a poojari performing quick poojas for the shop-owners
and blowing the conch summoning the gods of prosperity...
As you start back on the road to your own life somewhere else in this big city, there is one last bit that you can never miss... a chai stall on
the first corner serving awesome tulsi-adrak chai with achaari
Maggi!!
At Nehru Place, the
worlds of individuals intersecting, coming together, creating a new
world of its own, the world of a city with the spirit of the city...
