A Sunday Well Spent

First thing in the morning was the Delhi Half Marathon! I cannot claim to have run through the entire distance, but I did complete it. Without much struggle. I didn't expect myself to even do this much, so I am very happy.

There I saw somebody who was a senior in school. I also saw someone who was a co-traveller in the Vasant Kunj U Special. Somebody from college saw me. Essentially, it seemed like Dilli truly daud rahi thi*. Of course, Shiela aunty and Shah Rukh Khan were there only to flag everybody off, and they did their job well.

Harry, an old friend, was also running the corporate challenge. The last time I had seen him was over three years ago. So it was a good day to catch up with him too. At lunch I tried red wine and I don't think I liked it. So, after lots of chit-chatting and chocolate pastry, I overpaid an auto guy to drop me back home.
On my way, I ran into Shweta Guha from the very old days of Orkut Delhi Meets that I used to attend. It was nice seeing her with her little baby.

Late afternoon got spent in watching Maine Pyaar Kiya on TV. And man! that movie was dramatic. I mean I have seen it before, but I have never rolled my eyes at every scene as much as I did today. It was almost hilarious.
Following that was Rock On! and bits of Border. This is what happens when you sit in front of the idiot box after a light year. But the winner is the Tata Docomo ad with that ugly boy in the train. His expressions are so annoying that I don't think I can look at the TV when he's on air, and the ad is so bad that I can't look at the TV when it's on air. Maybe the two were meant to be together, but it's one of the top 5 most painful things I have ever seen in the audio-visual medium. Ever.

Talking of bad ads, wtf is that juice ad from Parle Agro. Saint Juice or something? "Juice the way god meant it to be". Where the eff are your commas, and where the eff is 'good copy'?!


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Been a perfectly active+lazy day! I should get good sleep tonight.


*I know this is what Hutch used to say during the Hutch Delhi Half Marathon days. Somehow Airtel's 'joy of running' doesn't do it for me.
And I am a former disgruntled Hutch user now using Airtel. :D

Everything Delhi

I hit the dashboard here with the thought of writing about NDTV Metro Nation today. But even before starting, I got my title. And now there are so many other things Delhi that I want to write about. All the things that are very Delhi and are part of me. The things that I now notice more because I am soon going to leave Delhi. I have never lived elsewhere, so my love for the city is probably purely on the basis of the fact that it is home. Even before leaving, I feel that I would like to come back. For more than one reason. But a lot of things say that I might not want to after I've seen that part of the country. Well, speculations they are. This will only depend on time. As a lot of other things. They make me anxious enough to leave me breathless. I wish this line was written only for the sake of drama. When it first happened and when I first framed this sentence in my head, I wanted to save it for my absolute last post from this computer. Yes, the attention-seeking dramatic self. Same old.
Anyway, we will come back to this.

In my days of ultimate boredom, I even watch NDTV Metro Nation. There aren't really any shows on it that are the addictive kind - no dramatic reality shows, no sitcoms, no soaps. But there are a lot of things that I like about this channel. Specially the innovative ideas they have come up with. Apart from the usual, standard things that are shown on TV about cities, etc, they cover a lot of things that are either offbeat or they create shows in such a way that it's interesting. They have debates on issues other than the common ones. Their debates have elements that are not run-of-the-mill. A lot of anchors are really smart. The breed that an NDTV lover would immediately identify and appreciate. Yes, some are quite unbearable too, but mostly nice. Intelligent and sophisticated. The Group's original traits. Love them! And as they say in their ads, "Watch It!". :)
So there is this really cute guy who hosts a show called U Special. Goes around Delhi colleges hosting debates. I think I like this show more for the Delhi college life's charm that it manages to bring across. There's one who covers schools too. [He's also cute. :)] He once did a special on mobile schools. There are non-profit organisations that have buses that go around the city teaching street kids. And the show was not full of interviews of fancy people wearing handloom. It had interviews of street kids, on the streets. Very informative, very interesting, and quite overwhelming. And oh, there are shows for foodies round the clock. Breakfast shows, lunch shows, fancy restaurant specials, all kinds of drinks' specials. There's one where two guys cover dhabas across the national highways too.
And then all that information on the cultural stuff happening around. And this is the part of the city that I unfortunately never associated myself with. Never tapped on the opportunities created by the fact that India Habitat Centre is ten minutes away from my home. Anyway. So yeah, all that you want to know about the city is actually there on the channel. Something that true Delhiites would love to see, and something someone new can appreciate. Oh, but they call us Delhizens. Uncool!

I can't get enough of the thought that I will miss this place. And I have still not started thinking how much I will miss mom. That's a crazy line of thought I want to stay away from. I wish she was not going to drop me there. I guess that will make things harder. Shoo shoo... later!!

If I was making this move one year ago, I think I would have been happier. (I know the greener grass story. And just while writing this I myself found a reason to contradict it. So never mind.) The only reason I say this is because then I wanted to run away from everything that was happening here. I would have had a reason to keep myself happy being away. But today I am more or less emotionally stable. Doesn't happen to me too often. And you know me, the change-dreader. I am quick to think of the worst things inflicting my life there. Pff.

Circling one more time - I will miss these streets, this chaos. I know I hate the assholes on the roads (the ones driving, not the ones walking), but the thought of being on an isolated hill-top makes me think I will miss this. All the PVRs, crazy cousins, autos, DTCs, MTNL, golgappe, winters, a lot of other things, and the luxury of living a spoilt life. I've been a good kid, but I have extremely spoilt habits. And now people ask me if I am my parents' only kid. Tch.

Anyway. Sorry for such a gol-mol post with no flow. Too many thoughts. And still not complete. Will come back.