How I Spend My Boring Weekends in Delhi

No one in this world can have happening weekends every time; one has to have a pet place to go when there is nothing to do. One such place for me is a tea stall near my house where I meet my regular friends. None of has to have a reason to be there at Santosh chai-wallah. My group of childhood buddies comprising Rohit, Naina, and Kashish and I would arrive at the place around 7 pm to have a sip of tea or just sit there for a while. As we were growing up, we would gather at this humble place every evening after school and tuitions to gossip about our daily lives. After killing an hour from the allotted time, we would go home to have dinner and complete our homework.

Times after college

All of us have finished our college except Naina, and we still try to meet at Santosh’s stall even though the regular tea seller does not operate the place. Sometimes, it feels heartbreaking to see that everyone is getting busy and busier in their lives. We cannot always make time to meet at seven or even nine at our adda. We have to honor our commitments in office even though we cannot do so for our childhood promises. We still try to meet at least on weekends if we cannot make it during weekdays unless we have a plan to go out of the city.

Over time, the chai place at Santosh's has become more like a nostalgic place. Some weekends become so dull at times in Delhi that I cannot understand what to do to kill time. In my childhood, I would rarely go to our adda alone, but I like to go there on my own now because all my friends are busy. The colleagues from office are not a very good company to have during weekends since I spend a good deal of time with them during weekdays. 

The books are my companion

I take a book along to the chai-wallah whenever I cannot find anything to do, read fiction for an hour or more, and come back home refreshed and energized. Even a library cannot provide such peace and satisfaction that I get sitting on the makeshift seating arrangement constructed around a tree. The noise of the traffic, the chatter of the people, and the fragrance of tea continually boiling in the vessel is more pleasing than the peace of a library.

Although I miss my friends whenever I sit there, I cannot force anyone to come to the place every time I am there. While reading books, I often meet people from my neighborhood sometimes, and I get to talk to them. Sometimes I wonder why not I should go to visit someplace in Delhi whenever I get bored, but there is no fun going anywhere without my buddies. Rather than going to some random restaurant, historical place, or an event on my own, I would like to wait for someone to accompany me. The only place where I can sit alone is at the Santosh chai-wallah.

This January, it has been more than three weeks that I have met anyone from my childhood friends. And I have thought to get together with them as soon as possible, take a Car Hire, and go to the historical place of Delhi if we cannot go out of the city. It has been a really long time that we have spent quality time with each other. This time, I commit to myself that I will make it.

Thank God it’s Friday! I’m off for a Weekend Getaway

Every week on Friday, I get a feeling of doing something exciting. Rarely, just once in three months, I feel like sitting and home to relax. If I sit at home for continuously three weeks, it makes me restless for the entire weekend. I have to be honest with myself every Friday and make a plan with family or friends. Like every week, we made a program to go for bowling in Gurgaon, which unlike Delhi, is not well-connected by public transport. One has to own a car or hire a cab or an auto-rickshaw to commute in National Capital Region.

Anyway, Blu-O in Gurgaon is the place where we had to go. My friends picked me up from my office in Cyber City, and we were off to have a great time in Blu-O. The place is a gaming station where we can do bowling, play snooker, and many other games. I have zero experience in bowling, but I had a great time continuously failing and passing at the sport. Though we had a plan to return home after bowling, no one wanted to go home. So here we were off to Jaipur in an instant. Without looking back for a moment, we set off to the Pink City. On our way, we booked a hotel in Jaipur so that we can rest our heavy heads when we reach.

Early morning in Jaipur

We had driven at a leisurely pace from Gurgaon to Jaipur; we reached our hotel early in the morning. Thankfully, the hotel looked as it was shown in the pictures, and the rooftop construction was brilliant. The real Rajput architecture was used on the pillars and walls; it felt great to be there and watch the early morning sun. The houses and hotels in front of us showcased an entirely different picture of the Pink City. In that case, I feel that every city has a different mood at different points of time during the day.

A day spent in Rajasthani style 

Khameeri Hara Matar Poori was something I had never heard about, but it was a delectable dish that we had with Thandai. We decided to take some rest in the hotel until historical monuments opened. After sleeping for a couple of hours, we were off to Amer Fort, which is located pretty away from the central city. Nevertheless, it was worth taking the pain to reach there. Amer Fort is a sheer example of the royal lives of the Rajputs of the olden times.

We could not realize where we spent our three hours in the extensive Amer Fort. We had to force ourselves to get out of it and set off for Hawa Mahal. This place was again a brilliant piece of architecture with hundreds of windows. While clicking photos in the pleasant winter sun, it felt great to just sit there with friends. Although we wanted to visit more places in the city, we felt too tired to go ahead. So we decided to go to the hotel, but before that, the girls in the group wanted to shop around for Sarees and handicrafts. Maharani market is a beautiful place where we got almost everything we wanted. We bought things for ourselves and souvenirs for our families.

Just like every other weekend, this time was also spent well wandering around Jaipur in a Luxury Car Rental that we had taken from a car rental company. One more day went in a significant way, and I look forward to having many such great times with my friends.

A Night Well Spent Wandering on the Outskirts of Mumbai

Sometimes, you don't feel like doing anything at all. Everything you can think of seems to bore you to death. Boredom strikes you even more when you do not live with anyone, and you are an extrovert. The problem with me is that I cannot find a suitable person to share my apartment, which has many side-effects including boredom. I was getting this feeling one Saturday evening in my home in the Andheri region of Mumbai. I just could not stop my mind from racing, and thinking about things I did not want to think about. I had to do something to get my mind at peace, but everything seemed humdrum.

After calling a couple of friends to have a party, and failing at it, I decided to go for a drive. Did I tell you that I do not have a car? My bad! I don't have a car! So how could I possibly go for a solo drive without a car? Not-so-thankfully, people in Mumbai do not like to share their cars with anyone, so there was no chance of borrowing a car from someone. Without thinking for a second, I decided to rent a car for the night. The car arrived in two hours, and since it was off-season going on, I got the car at a heavy discount. Nonetheless, that is a different matter.

I took the car keys from the company representative, locked the doors, and set off for a solo drive for the night. Before I get into the details, I must tell you that it was one of the most amazing times I had spent with myself. I have been on solo trips to the mountains and beaches, but never for a drive before that night. Drinking alone while driving was out of the question, so I decided to drive sober.

The chai-break

After driving on the outskirts of Mumbai for more than two hours, the first break I took was at a roadside chai-vendor. I asked him to give a masala chai with a rusk as I sat down on a big stone beside he was standing. The best thing about Mumbai is the safety and peace of mind this city gives to females. The chai-wala had his wife and daughter with him. The daughter was studying under the traffic light as her mother prepared food for her family. I asked the man about his hometown; he told me that his name was Bhola and he belonged to Agra. He had come to Mumbai with big dreams for his family as his hometown had nothing to give to them. They were very generous people; as I sat there for an hour or so, they even offered me food. I did take a bite of the delicious lauki ki sabzi that the lady had prepared, but it was now time for me to depart from there and let the family have their alone time. 

The drive

For some weird reason, I did not feel tired driving the car rentals Mumbai for another three hours. I must have driven for more than 200-300 kilometers that night, but I did not feel tired at all. Just one more cup of chai at another vendor kept me going. I was just listening to music, looking at the sceneries around me, the trees and animals on the hills, and just driving at my own pace. Spending alone time sometimes feels so peaceful that you do not want to do anything else on earth. My friends still call me a weirdo for doing something as crazy as that, but I can always call that night as one of the best in my entire lifetime.

The Only Disadvantage of Traveling By Car

Much has been written about the pros of traveling by car and extended road trips, but hardly anyone talks about the cons of it. Every coin has two sides, and the road trips also have their benefits and detriments. Since I am talking about the negative sides of road trips, it does not mean that I do not like them. I am an ardent lover of traveling by car, but I felt like writing about the flip side of it. At least a decade ago, road trips used to be cheaper and much more fun than today. Let me take my heart out as I talk about the disadvantages of traveling by car.

Traffic jam

Earlier when I had started going for road trips during my college time, there used to be hardly any cars on the road. However, nowadays the immense traffic on the road irritates me every time I go out on the road, especially during office hours. Passing through the small cities is one hell of a task because the vehicles are not regulated at all, and I am sorry to say, but people do not have any civic sense to be on the road. The animals, children, pedestrians, and bikes are all on the same street where the high-speed vehicles should be. All this chaos causes traffic jam even in metropolitans, forget the Tier-II cities of India, which are in massive bedlam.

Time consumption

 I have to be honest here; road trips do take a lot of time and effort. If the distance is more than 100 kilometers, I have to do a lot of mental preparation to be there in the car for hours at a stretch. With the growing age after forty, being in the car for more than three hours definitely seems painful. If I leave for Goa from Mumbai, it takes me more than 11-12 hours to be there, which is a long time of course. Although extended hours of journey do not seem much painful when I have someone to talk to in the car. Being alone for such a long journey is undeniably awful.

Hidden costs

Being on a road trip does involve a few hidden costs, which may sometimes shoot up the budget by a great deal. If the car breaks down, the prices of the motels are great than I expected, the food is expensive, and the toll taxes there at every hundred kilometers; I have to bear the costs of every such expense. All these expenses are really agonizing, mainly because I am habitual of going for a road trip when these expenses used to be much lower than the current times.

Bad weather

Although the bad weather can impact traveling in all modes of transport, sometimes it becomes especially challenging to deal with it when it is raining or snowing heavily. Driving on the wet roads is highly risky since the visibility is too low and the roads become slippery. Secondly, if the snowfall occurs on the hilly areas, it becomes equally disturbing to drive the car in a zero-visibility environment because of snow.

I do love going on the road trips despite all these disadvantages because of the peace of mind that I get on the roads. Someone has rightly said that the roads are an answer to all problems. Whenever I feel lost or confused, I rent Self Drive Cars in Mumbai and hit the road with my friends or even alone. Just after a few hours, I feel my nerves calming down, and I can find answers to all my problems.

How I Prepared For a Trekking Holiday with My Friends

Failing at something is more humiliating to yourself than it is in front of others. I had been to Chadar Trek with my friends last year and failed at it miserably because I was not strong enough to cope with it. I hate to admit that I used to be a chain smoker, and this miserable habit had taken its toll on my health. Even when I used to be in Delhi, I could realize that other people around me were healthier than me. While they could easily walk a kilometer or two, I would look for my car keys even for a small distance. 

When I would see my friend, Shreya, walking from the metro station to her office and home, I would ridicule her for saving a meager amount of money on auto-rickshaw and cabs. However, she would give just one argument that walking keeps her active an fit. I realized the futility of my lethargic lifestyle when Shreya trekked up kilometers in just a few minutes without panting, and I could barely walk up a few meters. In the end, I had to say that I cannot complete the trek, and I would wait for my friends at a hotel at the base camp. It was incredibly humiliating to wait for them all alone in the dreary hotel room where I could not even access the network, while all my friends were enjoying on top of the hills. This was the time when I realized that I need to work on my body immediately. Over and above, I resolved to quit smoking straightaway. 

How I built strength in a year

Saying it to myself that I would strengthen my body and leave smoking was easier said than done. I could not fathom the mighty force to wake up at 5 am on the first day of my fitness regime. However, the body weight of 95 kilograms somehow pushed me to wake up and get set to go. I had already taken out my running shoes, joggers, and a t-shirt so that I do not feel lazy because of this small errand in the morning. Anyway, the first two weeks of jogging were terrible for me as I had to literally force myself out of bed to go for a walk and run. 

After two months of plain jogging and mild exercises, I started working on my strength of legs. After reading extensively about trekking and physical fitness, I knew that I needed to work on my legs. I had already modified my diet and lost a few kilograms, and then I began squats! This awkward position of half sitting and standing on my knees could not have been more difficult for me. It took me another two weeks to gain strength to do three sets of 8-10 squats.

Did I succeed?

Yes, I did. How could I not succeed after a complete year of running, jogging, and exercising? Leaving smoking was not easy, but as I felt the positive changes inside my body, it became easy to stay away from the smoke. I am happy to boast today that the smoke of cigarette or even sheesha irritates me now, and my friends are glad to see this positive change in me. So I made a plan to go for a trek with Shreya and gang again, and this time the destination was Triund, which is a moderate trek. We looked around to rent a Car but decided to go by train. And nothing makes me happier to proclaim that I finished the trek, and that too easily! Voila!

Buy Diamonds in Delhi with Just a Few Bucks in Pocket

What is the definition of a diamond? It is something that you can wear on your hands or neck once in a while and be happy that it shines brightly in a party. It is meant to make you happy at the end, which I suppose anything else can do as well. In my opinion, food is something that gives me equal happiness as diamonds. I am a big-time foodie, and l like to experiment with foods all around Delhi. Rather than spending one lakh bucks on a piece of tiny stone, I would rather be happy with bare hands and spend that money on life experiences.

Food travel rather than anything else is my cup of tea, and I can spend any amount of money on it. Travel, at least in India, costs much less than diamonds, and it suits my current state of earning. I would surely buy a diamond for myself rather than expect it from my guy, but I want to win many more experiences before that. Let me share a few instances when I had the best time of my life, in addition to delicious food, in Delhi.

The Qila  

The Qila is situated in Qutub Institutional Area in a quaint region in Delhi. I just love this area because of the peace it provides. Being there with my spouse before marriage for a romantic candlelight dinner was one of the most breathtaking feelings ever. It was the time when I did not know him much, and we talked for an hour on the terrace of the restaurant under the full moon. The best thing about the place is that no one disturbed our piece as we stood there in each other’s arms watching the moon. Nowhere in Delhi or India have I experienced such a place where I can sit with my partner for an endless time without any interruption. 

When we returned, we were welcomed with complimentary snacks, to begin our wine. The bread, I must say, tasted delectable with the sauces. The quantity of food is not what you look for at such places, but the experience of being with someone you love with all your heart. The time spent at a restaurant like The Qila is much more precious than anything in the world. I still look at the lone picture we got clicked from a person, and the smile on our faces is priceless. No diamond in the world can give me that smile when I wear it, but looking back at those memories can. After we got married this December, we still rent a car without driver every time we wish to have a fantastic drive and have a great time together. Again, the feeling of being in each other's company is the most precious feeling for me. Yes, I would like to have many more diamond-like candle-light dinners in future with my bae in all corners of the world.

How I Returned to Normal Lifestyle after Being a Nomad

Pune is indeed a beautiful place to live and work; it can mesmerize anyone as it did to me. I have, never in my life, ran into a person who has visited Pune and chinwag bad things about it. After a friend, who works in Vodafone Pune, invited me to spend some time with her several times in the last five year, I decided to give it a shot this time. I booked the tickets after Diwali and thought of spending a couple of weeks in Pune. Since the stay was going to be free, I knew that I was going to have a cheap trip.

I don't want to blabber about what I did and saw in the city of Millennial but the major thing that happened to create a dent in my life. Everything was going well as I stayed at my friend's place, ate whatever I wanted, went wherever I felt like and did whatever suited me. There was a birthday party that I had to attend in a Club in Pune when I met, Ashish, who liked people to call him James. So this guy, James was a nomad from Delhi; being from the same city made me connect to him instantly. As he narrated his story of being a nomad, how he began, and how he carries on his life; he impressed me so much so that I ended up being a nomad myself in the next six months. 

Missing family 

However, it was not a very good decision of my life. I did not think much before giving up my job as a travel writer, but I did regret it later. One thing that I missed the most was my family after being away from them for an entire year. I used to run away from my parents and siblings till the time I lived with them, but once I was forced not to meet them, I missed them like anything.

Money issues 

Finances were never a problem for me because fortunately, I come from an affluent family. Yet, I could not adjust to the fact that I am not earning for myself. After two years of toiling in a lavish corporate job, I had apparently become habitual of spending my money without answering to anyone. Now that I had to ask money from the family to survive in the initial period of my nomadic life, I used to hate it from the core of my heart. I wanted to get back to financial independence so that I could make any expenses without thinking.

How I rebounded to normalcy  

Another thing that I did not like about the nomadic lifestyle is that I could not stay committed to my boyfriend. He would be annoyed with me more often than he would be pleased with me. I would Rent Cars in Pune during the initial months and leave for a remote place to find solace, which never went down well with him. He would be often worried about my whereabouts, so much so that he threatened me to break up the relationship if I did not return to Delhi. 

After not being in touch with him for a couple of months, I realized that the nomadic lifestyle might be suitable for many people around the world, but it was not made for me. I used to think that I never liked living in a family, but being alone for a couple of years in a row made me understand the value of loved ones. Never in my life, I would think about being a nomad again.