Dilli waali girlfriend

Ever since I have heard this song I am wondering what does the singer mean when he say dilli waali girlfriend. Last weekend when I went to Jaipur I met this girl who was telling me again and again how I am entirely different from ‘Delhi girls’. When I asked her how exactly, she just said I am not irritating like them. I was not at all convinced with the reply but then it made me think hard what is it with Delhi girls. The only place where I get to plenty of Delhi girls is Ladies compartment of Delhi Metro. I see all kind of women of different age groups rushing to college work, market etc. Let’s categorize them and see what Delhi girls are made up of.

Working girls: These are the girls that are dressed in formals and have oodles of make up on their faces and kohl in their eyes. They have nicely done ironed hair, have matching shoes and they are always busy on phone with earphones plugged in. And if they are not talking on phone, they will listen to music. Once I got chance to peep into this girls playlist and she had all kind of Panjabi songs right from Pani Da rang to Honey Singh. I am sure their current favourites are Aashiqui 2 songs. When they are in group they talk about work, office politics in Panjabi accent Hinglish.

 And there are working girls in Leggings and Kurta, they mostly have long plaits and wear shiny sandals.  When in group, they talk about their families, friends, what they cooked last night in Hindi.

Students: Most of them have notes and course books in their hands and they don’t mind sitting on metro floors. They wear colourful T shirts, shorts and jeans teamed up with converse shoes. They don’t wear makeup but never forget to apply Kajal and fruity lip balm. When in groups they talk loudly about the lectures and college festivals. They are full of life and make you feel good.

And then there are students who go to coaching classes ( I might be wrong here). They are dressed in jeans/leggings and Kurta and carry a big bag with them. They look tired and when in groups they talk about chapters they have completed and chapters they have not.

I am sure there is more to Delhi girls but this is just my observation.  

How time flies

Its hot Sunday afternoon and I am planning to watch Bombay Talkies with myself today. I am feeling good today and I can't care less about the reason. So many things to blog about and I am starting with these pictures that I took while travelling around Rajasthan because of work. Ahh how many times I have written in this blog that I lurveeeeeeeeeee my job.  

This is Pushkar. It was my first assignment outside Jaipur and this  is some holy place . People dip in to wash away their sins. 

Pushkar is full of firangs. This is a menu of some Hungarian restaurant. The owner is not Hungarian.    

This is taken at Pushkar lake. They were not allowing photography , even my press card didn't work. But this langoor was too happy pose 

As I took out my camera to click them, they said " 10 rupeej please"

The mandir

This is Mehrangargh Fort, Jodhpur, my favourite! That was one of the best phases in my life . The whether  was really fine and I was loving every minute of my life. The night before this trip I was dead drunk and woke up to red bull next morning. I went there to cover a Sufi festival which was organised by H and K. Damn what fun we had on the way. And what do I say about Mehrangargh, it's so mystical and I was actually feeling there's some past life connection. In this picture photogs are clicking a qwalli singer. 

I can spend hours and hours here. 

A group from Africa practicing 

It's such a huge fort and we had to walk from one corner to another  and there's just one place to eat . I was surviving on smoke and chocolates. 

There was something about this place that made me learn to let go. Of course that didn't last for long! 

Inside the fort. 

it's gold they say

Add caption

Blue city. 

I didn't buy anything. Damn costly 

Did I tell you I was surviving on chocolates and smoke. 

Performers from Egypt 

Like I said past life connection 

And the night!

On my way to Bikaner. I was there to cover a folk festival. Life was throwing lemons  and  I  didn't have enough tequila !

The driver. 

This was taken at Abhaneri festival. I loved this child. 

This woman with pink duppatta was beautiful 

Abhaneri well

The haweli 

The step well at Abhanari 

Noises in my head

Me1- Delhi is not the place for me, I hate it. I have no life here, I have no friends here

Me2- Stop whining. You felt the same for Jaipur but you made friends for life there. Give Delhi some time. And excuse me, are you not a self confessed loner? You will miss this Me time once this is over.

Me1- I can go back to Lucknow and work in a lifestyle supplement. I have done that and I was pretty good with that. I can also write for the main edition.  And I have learnt enough, I think I can do fairly well there.

Me2- I will pretend I just did not hear that? LIFESTYLE?  That too in Lucknow ? Have you forgotten the amount of torture you had gone through doing lifestyle in Jaipur? You are getting to do the kind of work here you always wanted. Just concentrate on learning

Me1 – That’s my home. I will lead comfortable life there. Eat healthy and stay hit. And it’s so hot here

Me2- If home means family then yes. Come on, who says you can’t eat healthy here, aren’t you loving your morning jogs? Imagine, losing weight and wearing all those you want to wear that you can’t in Lucknow. Yes it’s very hot here but that is not going to kill you. You will have heroic tales to share with your kids. Imagine telling them ‘mama survived Delhi summers without AC’. It will be a great experience

Me1- ...but I want to go home.

Me2- Oh shut up. Are you a quiter, a loser? This is all you wanted from this career? You wanted to do so much in journalism and now you are losing it. Just stay here and rise and shine. You don’t want to be nobody. It’s challenging and you don’t have to prove to anybody but you that you can do it. This is the place. This is the time to explore and learn. You can go back after spending at least two years here and join at senior level. And you will miss this time once it is over.

 And you will have fun here and who knows you will find your mister right here at some bar, at some park, at some bookstore or anywhere else.

Me1- I will feel anything but lonely there.

Me2- Yes but you can’t have everything. 

Blue is the colour

This is yet another wake up sid post. Come on  we all have that one movie we can relate to. There’s this girl in my hostel who watches Jab We Met again and again and every time she says she learns something new. That’s her movie just like mine is Wake up Sid. That movie ignited the desire in me to come out of Lucknow and do something on my own. I don’t remember how many times I must have written here that my life is not as happening as Ayesha Bannerjee’s. And it’s in only movie people have life as perfect as Ayesha’s. When the movie ends real life begins.

While I was watching that movie for nth time at home with my sister, I learnt something I already knew- it’s people not the city. I had friends in jaipur who made it easy for me. It’s actually nice to have warm people who meet you over chilled beer. Here, I am left on my own. There’s this strange feeling of loneliness that makes me want to cry but then I can’t cry either, tears just don’t come out. It’s killing me and I think weight loss would make me feel better. 

As random as it gets

Fuck this writers’ block, it makes me damn upset. It’s been four months that I have been in Delhi and my life has been a complete roller coaster and there’s not a single post from me. How sad is that? Ok , here I try. I was home for 6 days and I am feeling really refreshed. I realised how I have been taking my life for granted, there’s so much I could do and how I am not doing anything. There’s something I have decided and maybe it’s going to be the most important decision of my life. I want to ultimately settle down in Lucknow. I miss my family a lot and I have been trying since forever not to feel homesick but that’s not happening.

True that I dreamt of becoming one of the best journalists in Delhi but then I can always mould my dreams. I can do a lot while living in Lucknow too.  No, I don’t have any job offer from Lucknow right now and I am not either looking for one. Now that I have decided I am not going to live in Delhi forever, I am just concentrating of learning as much as I can. Not only at work but also at life. I want love Delhi, the way I love Jaipur.

Delhi is harsh but then Jaipur also didn’t open up its arm for me initially. I had hated the city and it was only the time when I was leaving I realised that it’s not the city I hated but the reason I was there for. And it’s exactly different now. I love the reason (read work) but hate the city. Okay, maybe I should give it sometime, Delhi is hitting me hard but I am sure it will embrace me soon. Till then, I am going to be very busy being fabulous! 

And then I wrote

And with this post I am trying to get over with my writer’s block. Life is still. My life was much happening when I was in Jaipur. I had a team that rocked, I had roommates that kept boredom at bay and then there was a sense of security. But here it’s just me, me and me and that makes me realise I am not that much of a loner as I thought I am. I mean, we all need warm people around us, don’t we?

And I finally I understand the difference between loneliness and solitude. What I feel now is sheer loneliness and it bothers me. There’s nothing to look forward after the work and honestly work is not going great either. Something is missing and I don’t feel motivated enough and I know I can do so much better here

Dreamy Literature Fest

 So, it was lit fest again! This is one event I keep waiting for the entire year. I am neither a very keen reader ( I want to be one) nor a fashionista ( I don’t mind becoming that either) but I still love this festival to the core.  I like the energy of it, I like the madness, I like the vibrancy , I like that press terrace, I like the idea of soaking up the sun while sipping that over priced tea, I like listening and taking notes, so basically, I like everything about this five-day long festival. Though I have attended   only two editions of it but it seems like never ending love and the best thing is I never attend, I always cover.

I was working in Jaipur itself when I covered lit fest last year while this year I travelled all the way from Delhi. Last year it was for daily newspaper that means I had to file back to back stories and this year I was in Jaipur to do a crime (rape) story and I just happened to be at the fest. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t file any stories this year. I did but that it was really not the priority. I enjoyed both the editions but last year it was more of work and less fun and this year it was the other way around.

The moment the bus entered Jaipur a voice said ‘ My Jaipur’ and those roads, lanes and forts actually reminded me of home. It felt like I grew up in Jaipur and why not, after all I learnt many of life’s important lessons there. I didn’t realise this while I was there and now that I am in Delhi and I can confess it in front of anyone that Jaipur is as close to my heart as Lucknow is.

Okay, so I reached Jaipur at 2 am and I took a cab and reached my destination safely. This is something I just can’t do in Delhi. Imagine taking a cab at 2 am in Delhi... Hell no. Next day I went to the venue, met old colleagues (read friends) and left for the hospital where that rape victim was struggling for life. I remember writing about that Delhi gangrape victim and every time I would go to meet doctors, I would come back teary eyed. But this time it didn't hit me that hard. Obviously I was feeling bad about that poor little girl who was raped brutally by two men in Sikar but I took it as a story just the way other reporters do. It took me entire day to speak to her family and doctors and then I visited my old office and man it felt like I never left! Same people, same ambiance the only thing that was new was that I was actually happy to see some of the faces! I went to my favourite smoking zone and bitched my heart out with my favourite people. From the office I went to my PG and it felt like it was just another evening when I used to come back from work and crash on that bed. It felt like I never left Jaipur and Delhi never happened. It was just the way I left, same people, same rooms and same me. I went out with my closest roommate and needless to say we had gala time bitching about the person we both hate!

I went to JLF venue on second day, not to attend any session or interview authors but to file my crime story! Yes, I needed a system to file the story and that venue was just the right place. I was done with the field work and all I needed to call cops for the quotes. I spoke to that SP and I was done with my story by evening. I was really tired and headed to my Mausi’s place where I was staying.

It was the third day and my Mausi had to go to somewhere out of Jaipur, so I shifted to my colleague’s place who was also covering the fest.

 I actually started getting the feel of the fest by now. You will get to see awesomely dressed people sitting and actually listening to the sessions. You will see a lady in strapy short dress and the woman next to her will be wearing muffler and long furry coat and you see best of boots here. You will get the stalls of city’s best cafes and of course that evergreen Kulhar Chai and this year it costed Rs 20 per cup! But then you can’t help but sipping it every now and then. Yes, it’s that awesome. Wine and Beer is for free, I remind you but that’s only for us press people. Yes, there are times when I actually feel proud being a mediaperson.

Okay, I listened to the sessions and I filed Rahul Dravid press conference. After the session I went out with old colleagues and had some heart to heart conversation about movies, love and yes men. Such a relaxed evening that was. Now that I am back to that cluttered life in Delhi, it feels like I was never away from it.  Now that I hastily run after buses and metros it feels like I never had those calm walks on Jaipur’s road. Now that I sit alone with my coffee at some joint near my office, it feels like as if I never went to that good old roof top restaurant with those good old people. And while you are having the time of your life, the thought that this time will soon fly never leaves you alone, nevertheless, you never fail to enjoy every minute of that time.

I came back to that colleague’s place and performed some awesome Mujra for her, yes it felt like fun decided to become a Vodafone pug and follow me wherever I go!  

It was fourth day and I was attending some more sessions and interviewing even more authors. And I bumped into a blogger friend. We both are from Delhi but it was in Jaipur that we met for the first time, such is JLF. In the evening I went out again with two of my colleagues and yes we had fun again. We came back drunk and had even more drinks. After bitching and nasty talks, we crashed and woke up to a nice sunny morning sans hangover.

It was last day and we rushed to the venue. After the sessions and interviews, with the glass of wine in my hand, I was recalling those four days which was no less than a dream holiday . I left without saying good bye to some of my friends, picked up my stuffs from that colleague’s place and headed to my Mausi’s place again. I had an early morning train to catch, so I slept like I am dead to the world. I reached Delhi with that sweet taste in my mouth and a fresh mind and a happy realization that now I have not one but two hometowns!