We, me and my younger brother, had set for a strange journey. I was a teenage girl and he a primary school kid. The sun had already set and the husky darkness had started getting peach black, setting a chill in our minds as we were travelling through the forest in a self-driven electric cart. We want to meet a forest researcher who is staying at the heart of this forest. We knew that this journey is dangerous as the path we have taken is infamous for a big wild cat! The car is running without its headlights on may be because it is not supposed to disturb the jungle creatures. Suddenly it topples and we get thrown into the surrounding swamp with tall grass around..and the holy shit..we hear the grrrrowl!! I could see the silhouette of the big tiger in that moon light. It wasn’t far. In fact it was approaching us. The best thing we thought we could do was hold on to our positions without moving a bit and even hold our breaths. The tiger came close. It started sniffing over us, continued doing that for some time. We did not sense any intention of attacking or any kind of aggressiveness in its manner but we were frozen to death for sure. The cat was gone and not we had somehow made our way to the researcher’s abode. He was glad to see that we had reached to him safe in spite of the odd accident on our way. We spent the night with him.

Next day morning we started our return journey. This time we were on foot. The researcher warned us that we have to reach our home before the sun sets. The tiger is out in the jungle as soon as the sun sets. We had finished almost 75% of the journey. The sun was about to touch the horizon. Suddenly Mandar remembers that he has to go across the valley and collect the water of the fountain that we could see across. We did not have time to go there and in addition to that the water spring is the first location where the tiger makes his appearance when he sets out every evening! I tried to pursue Mandar to leave the thought but he was determined. He wanted to accomplish the task. He asked to hold on and he proceeded towards the spring alone. I was supposed to keep a close watch on the surrounding area and inform him if I notice any sign of the big cat. I was watching him moving towards the spring, crossing all the odds in his way as fast as he could. The sun was dipping down more and more with that my heart started pounding harder. The sun touched the horizon and at the same moment Mandar had reached the spring. I shouted loudly towards him “ RUN..the sun has set..run as fast as you can and don’t stop till we reach our home.” He had finished collecting water by the time my warning was over. I had already started running. When I looked back I saw him running hard, running for his life, running with the speed of wind! Finally we made it. We had reached our yard safe…this was the yard of our Aarey colony house………..this broke my sound (??) sleep, I revised what I remembered so that I can add it to the croniclez!

IMPRESSIONS OF DELHI-GURGAON

I arrived in Gurgaon in the mid winter. What struck me first and the most is the change in pace of life, with my Mumbai background! Everything around was slow and idle, may be the chilling cold had accentuated the sluggishness further! Slowly I started getting used to it. However the rough and cunning mannerisms of natives here stupefy me quite frequently even now! This attitude is also seen deep impregnated in all the systems, thus hampering a positive professionalism. I had to face it on the second day itself-
Vinay had applied for change in address and shift in his internet connection with airtel one month before our wedding. It was one month after our marriage and the connection was not yet provided in spite of constant follow up! I reached the customer care center. When I expressed my concern and mentioned, I would rather like to discontinue service from their company; the attendant simply showed me where I will get connection cancelation form! I was dumbfounded by this. I gulped my expectations as a customer and decided to patiently wait for one more week. This was fruitless as expected and we finally decided to discontinue the service.

This ‘I don’t care much’ attitude is also exhibited in the roughly gushing cars on narrow, crowded lanes, in cars crossing over the dividers! Recently I faced the consequences first handed- I was rushing up on the road during busy morning hour. The summer has just started but still the sunshine was scorching. Suddenly I was pushed ahead and felt flat on ground. Public around made a roar and I realized that I was hit by a cyclerickshaw. I was in my senses to gather myself and get up. As soon as I stood up blood drops started dripping down from a corner of my forehead. A co-walker asked the rickshaw driver to drop me to a hospital. By this time I had picked up my scattered belongings from the road and noticed a dispensary just besides the road. I requested the co-walker lady to accompany me inside the dispensary. The rickshaw driver escaped as expected. There was nobody inside the dispensary. I was holding my forehead with one palm but that did not help in stopping the blood. It was dripping on the floor of the waiting area of the dispensary. A man in his pajamas came out, made a weired face looking at me, went back in and sent a lady out. I suppose she was the doctor there. She refused even to touch me and asked me to go to a hospital 2 km away! The lady accompanying me asked her to give me at least some cotton to hold on my wound. I was asking for cold water or ice, which was not available at the dispensary! Thankfully I was given some cotton. The lady with me held it on my wound and kept it pressed for a while. The blood stopped. Now the doctor was ready to have a closer look at me and said she can do the dressing for it! I was relieved. I thanked the lady and asked her to leave. The doctor cleared my blood stained face and bandaged it. She also injected me for tetanus. Now I was bit relaxed. I realized that one side of my dress was all stained with blood. My specs were broken and I had picked up only one glass from the road. I made payment to the doctor and was about to leave when the doctor said, “ Take this remaining cotton, wet it and wipe the blood stains on the waiting area floor.” I actually cleared the blood stains and left the dispensary! Another half part of my specs was waiting for me outside on the road. I picked it up and reached back home.

We have now started exploring the city of Delhi after setting up our home in Gurgaon. Every weekend we visit a new spot. The first thing that I notice about Delhi in comparison with Mumbai is ‘big’. Roads are big, scale of cultural events, exhibitions is big, huge markets and similarly huge people with huge appetite! Delhiites are simply in love with their food and fashion. People of all class are seen eating at all sorts of food joints from thella on road to expensive food outlets in the malls and high end restaurents! They are very proud of their food culture. “Arre Madamji, aapke Mumbai mein kaha aisa khaana milta hai?”…my site supervisor once mentioned to me while offering me snacks of samosa and paneer pakoda.

The weekly markets are always full of fresh fruits and vegetables and everybody buys loads of them! Till now we have relished ourselves with yummy food at Haldiram, deep fried parathas, khurchan and frothy lassi at chandani chowk’s parathewali gali, roasted sweet root near India Gate, etc.

The metro in Delhi is really remarkable. I usually travel in the ladies compartment to commute to my site. Every time I cannot stop myself from staring, admiring and being bit jealous about the north Indian beauties. They are tall, with long hair, spotless fair skin and nicely clad. The shear reason of their beauty and attractiveness is their strong health. One may not be beautifully proportioned but being healthy develops a kind of special glow around them and they steal the hearts!

It has been 4 months now and I am still exploring the city and adjusting to it. It’s fun and adventure especially because I am not alone and experiencing all this with my hubby.