You should see the revamped Delhi Airport. Looks just like any other international destination. But they need to do some work on the parking lot and the surrounding area. Its all debris and dust. I woke up at 5 in the morning to go for a walk, when the dawn was a good half hour away. By far, the morning is the best time to see the city. Early morning. When the light is not too harsh and the people aren't all up and about. You feel like its just you and the city. Like you own the whole of it.
Lodi Gardens is a 15th century park in New Delhi. There 5 or 6 tomb like structures called Gumbads around the park. It never ceases to amaze me all the wonderful pieces of history we have smack dab in the middle of the city. You see a lot of people out on a morning walk even some socialites and politicians with their bodyguards in tow. And there are dogs. Stray dogs which have clear marked territories around the city. Dogs which will stare at old people doing yoga or LOLing with as much curiosity as you might. Dogs which sometime start running along side some folks as if they were their owners. Some of them look khandani. Bastard children of rich dogs. And others just like the street they grew up on.
You have to walk by the swanky Khan Market to get here. My friend Samir has a house here, but he is away in Australia right now. Khan market is the 21st most expensive retail outlet in the world. There are markets in the ground floor and houses on the first. All the expatriates and the rich come here to hang out and shop. We used to go to Goel's to have Golguppay but they moved away. I remember Arun, Sam and I all got sick together after having Kathi rolls from the famous Khan Chacha's though Samir still maintains its not the rolls but something else.
My brother asked me to go to Purani dilli with him to have breakfast at Karim's. The place is run by descendants of ShahJahan's court chefs. I have been there before and was underwhelmed. My brother was raving about the Nihari and Khameeri Roti. While it was definitely good, I found it to be more of a lunch thing than a breakfast. I am not too privy to eating meat in the morning but my scrawny brother went on to devour roti after roti and was grinning ear to ear.
"How can you eat so much meat in the morning"I asked my brother.
"Thats what I am telling you, The Mughals were friggin awesome" he said.
My brother drives like a crazy person. So does everyone else in Delhi. Why did I not see this all these years.
