8th March 2023
These days it takes copious amounts of self-will to still that furiously tail-spinning mind for a few moments. Holi has been gone for months and half the year is already gone and you do not want this godblessed blog to miss an entry from this year. So, on an oppressive morning with Navgraha Stotram playing in a loop - yes you need all the help - you finally manage to sit down to write this down.
Summers in Delhi now swing from heat waves to oppressively hot and humid days and if last year was a sign of things to come, these next few months are going to be a torture with the buzzkill El Nino probably denying the few days of scant monsoon rains.
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The Semals Delighted Again - Mirror Mirror on the Bus |
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The Petunias that saved the Spring |
Holi for some reason this year seemed subdued in the neighbourhood. The lingering pandemic has taken the funk out of the festival. Last year you had experienced some hair-raising traffic incidents in the North-West part of the city. Holi or no Holi, the immensely kind and amiable citizens of Delhi love to show their moronic dare-devilry on the streets. This time you decide to be less adventurous and stay in your own familiar neck of woods. The annual tradition has to continue, even if partly curtailed.
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The Painted Sector 30 Pillars of the Elevated Road |
The day is hot and the sky is unwelcoming and grey, reflecting the mood of the festival day so far. Maybe across the Yamuna, the sky could cheer up and show some festival colour. You will make your way through the familiar roads of Noida. Bridge pillars and walls in Noida, like elsewhere in the country, are getting a big splash of colour. The pillars of the elevated road opposite the Children’s Hospital in Sector 30 have some cheerful art of kids and nature. In the days leading to G20 Summit, the authorities are expected to go overboard in painting the town red, green and yellow.
Along with the wall paintings they have thrown in some disco psychedelic lights. The commuters can tripp without trippingg on their way home. All this has been designed by the caring babus to keep everyone high and funky. The fun begins when dusk falls.
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The Boys of Holi |
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Throwback to the Surreal Lockdown Days |
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This Cotton Silk tree has kept you company all these Holi Days |
It is here that you run into the first group of Holi revellers. For the first time you see signs of the festival. And they are happy to oblige. No, these photos will not appear in any newspaper. Sorry to disappoint you guys. But yes they will definitely appear in the world’s most followed travel blog. The google server might just crash when you upload this piece.
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The Suffocating and Dying Yamuna |
Under the dull skies the Yamuna looks even more depressing. Every year you look at the rapidly diminishing toxic strand of water thinking it will be the last time before the river chokes into oblivion. On the northern side, all you can see is piers that will hold more bridges of this ever-growing monstrosity of a metro. On the eastern bank, blocks of concrete rapidly encroach upon the floodplains – politicians, authorities, law enforcement agencies, all gleefully happy. Once Yamuna disappears, crores will be spent in uncovering the river just like the morons are doing for the now gone Saraswati river. We all have our priorities set so right.
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The new Ashram Flyover now directly connecting DND |
The DND Ring Road loop is
getting more dollops of concrete. The Ashram flyover has been stretched so that
the motorists can now drop straight onto the now uncared for and rapidly disintegrating
DND. In this all-round loopy development, you are just glad that the semal on
the central verge has miraculously survived. Under the sad skies, few blooms
twinkle. All is not lost yet.
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The Original Barapullah |
You stop over on the new Barapullah to look at the original Barapullah. The original still looks in good repair. For Holi, the traffic has picked up on the bridge. It is not safe to linger here. On the right, the domes of Khan-i-Khanan and Humayun tombs line up in a never before observed frame – for now you will save it in your memory to be clicked on an early Sunday morning.
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The Glowing Semal and the Cluster Buses |
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| Fish Out of Water - New Additions to the Lodhi Art District |
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| Celebrating Pandit Birju Maharaj |
The Barapullah brings you to the centre of your Happy Zone. All these weekend visits to this part of the city keeps you sane in these confusing times. And as on cue, the skies wipe the grey off to reveal blue with white clouds. Yes, this is the magic of the Happy Zone. Finally Holi is looking colourful. Semal trees have again smiled this year. You will take position on the corner of Lodhi Road and Maharshi Raman Marg. A glorious Silk Cotton Tree stands resplendent with orange blooms. The orange cluster city buses wait at the red light twinning with the tree. For the first time you are smiling. The outing has just turned worthwhile.
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| Matthew Circle - The Flower Easel |
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| Of Course! |
From here you will move to see the flower decked roundabouts. The NDMC Horticulture Department never fails to disappoint in Spring. The early unseasonal heat smouldered most of the flowers. The Tulips of few days ago have turned into burnt stalks. Probably, that is the reason more petunias have been planted this year. Petunias tolerate heat better and can continue to bloom till April and May. The Matthew Circle is a cornucopia of colours. This is the flagship roundabout of New Delhi and probably gets attention from NDMC’s best gardeners and planners. And as always, you stop by the sidewalk, wave to the traffic cops huddled around the traffic hut and cross over into the flowery heaven.
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| Teen Murti |
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| Teen Murti Bhawan or Nehru Museum now will be known as Pradhan Mantri Sangrahalaya |
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| No idea how G20 will help the people |
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| That Mother Dairy! |
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| Before they decide to pull them down |
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| Willingdon Crescent |
Now it will be back to some good old time travelling to Teen Murti and the newly christened Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya. Maybe one of these days you will go visit and look at the changes inside. To you this will always be Teen Murti and Teen Murti Bhawan and that familiar street over there, Willingdon Crescent where all the memories were made and that you will keep visiting here in the physical world and the nocturnal world.
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| The always surprising Bhagwan Mahavir Vanasthali in Delhi's Central Ridge |
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| The Remains of the Festival |
It is in your new haunt in
Delhi’s ridge where interesting episodes are happening. Bhagwan Mahavir
Vanasthali on Simon Bolivar Marg is your own little Eden. Away from the picnickers
and joggers of Nehru Park, this park is an absolute beauty with the right mix
of landscaped and wild grounds. On the weekend before the First Lockdown you
had saved a monkey that was probably mauled by the resident dogs. Animal rescue
van did turn up. Hope the little guy is back being a terror to humans.
FB Post that you made with your Encounter with the Tree Man!
Holi Run & Running into Pradip
Krishen
The Huffing & Puffing Years
Not sure what it is but it did not feel like Holi this year. The colony roads were mostly silent all morning. Maybe it is the new Influenza A Virus H3N2 that is raging through the city. Your love affair continues with every new virus on the block.
Getting out is becoming increasingly difficult each year and you almost wanted to call Ola and then ask the driver to click few photos. The run will be curtailed and will be limited to New Delhi. Last year you had made it to Rohini!
The early heat apparently did something
to the flowers. The tulips bloomed for few days before disappearing. It is the
petunias that have saved the Spring for Delhi. They have literally taken over
the parks. Everything else has wimpered out.
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Yup that's Pradip Krishen! |
And then you see this gentleman trying to protect his dogs from being mauled by the resident doggies. They are the same doggies perhaps who mauled that little monkey few years ago. You do a double take. The man looks familiar. Are you Pradip Krishen? Yes! It is so nice to finally meet you. He along with his Man Friday are trying to get their dogs away to their vehicle. There is lot of barking going on from both sides. The quiet park is suddenly live. You wished you had the book with you. Times like this and suddenly you don’t know what to say. You gather your thoughts quickly. I am sure there will no book ever like this on trees. Thank you! And they drag their dogs away to the parking lot.
Woof - What just happened here!
To be continued…
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| The Chamrod Stars |
The heat has made the park bone dry. The sun and the clouds monkey around. Chamrods and bougainvilleas bloom. The dogs are now resting after woofing off the intruders. Monkey families sit on the branches bonding.
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| The Glass House Petunia Heart |
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| Lodhi Gardens with still surviving Dahlias |
Skies are darkening again. You will stop by Lodhi Gardens for a little while. The heart installation at the Glass House this time of the year is blooming with petunias. Dahlias ring the octagonal Mohammed Shah Tomb sitting on a grassy knoll. Visitors are back in the park. They don’t seem to have played Holi either. Holi is definitely losing its charm.
Holi Day is coming to an end. It is drizzling as you make your way
back home away from home. You check your records – it rained in 2020 too. Over
the last few years that feeling of a festival day seems to be floundering
somewhere. It is as if you are just glad the day is over. The day doesn’t seem
to be any different except maybe for some respite from the traffic on the
roads. You are too old to be throwing water balloons from the terrace. So how do
we bring back the magic of Holi? No easy answers there.
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| Let's go trippingg |
The skies are dark and overcast. Below, the streets look inviting; wet and glimmering. Today you will not be able to witness the full moon in the twilight sky. It is okay. The psychedelic LEDs dance underneath the flyovers. You will take whatever is offered.
References:
A 'Holi'Day in the life of Delhi 2018
A 'Holi'Day in the life of Delhi 2015
A 'Holi'Day in the life of Delhi 2016
Blooming Walls of Lodhi Colony
