Having been stayed in Delhi for so long, I still haven't been able to discover and explore the whole city. Yesterday lady luck was on my side and it so happened that I discovered one of the most preferred locations by the tourists (for food and accommodation). And it had only been for our French friends that we stepped into the bylanes of Paharganj at the hour we generally prefer to avoid stepping out alone. It was so much fun. The whole alley bustling with life. Shops, small eateries by the sides, juice shops, the cafes and the people of course, had everything moving.
In the evening, I got a call from my friend to come to CP to hang out with her French friends. I agreed with the plan, thinking all this while that we would be frequenting a bar or a restaurant in CP. Well, I had been taken by surprise when I heard we were heading towards Paharganj. And what a pleasant one! Excitement rushed through me. I had heard so much about the place; both in negative and positive terms.
Well, we got down at the metro station and walked through to reach our destination. As soon as I got into the area, vivid memories of my Chennai-Pondy-Mahabs trip came alive. It felt as if I was strolling through the Triplicane High Road in Chennai which is also near the railway station. Or it could be identified with the Mahabs main street where we have all the hotels, restaurants. It all made me feel like a traveller in my very own city where I have been staying. I enjoyed the very feel of it.
If you are a traveller, you happen to know more about the place than the residents of the city. We had an advantage of our French friends, who love exploring the city as it is without any prejudice or bias. As we were moving ahead, I still had no inkling where we were heading to. We finally stopped ourselves at Sam's Cafe, which it seems is quite popular among students and tourists. We climbed the stairs all the way to the fifth floor to make ourselves comfortable on the rooftop restaurant. This kind of arrangement is generally done in Indian cities to cater to the tastes of foreign travellers, but I would say it panders to every traveller's tastes be it from any region of the world or the country.
Settling down comfortably in our chairs, we ordered food. In the meanwhile, chats, conversations, giggles ensued. The dinner cam after a very long time. Though we didn't mind that at all, having been engrossed in ourselves. From where I was sitting, I could see a not-so-full moon rising above in the sky. It seemed so beautiful. I savoured this sight along with the pizza I had ordered. After having finished our dinner, we then decided to head to a bar.
We descended back on to the street leaving Sam's Cafe behind. We walked a bit further ahead and I saw something I had never seen before. A shabby looking guy came up to the French guys asking them to get their shoes polished without anticipating any monetary returns. When he seemed to sense they were really not interested, he came downrightly to the point he had been wanting to make. He asked if they wanted to buy hash from him. Had I been alone, I would have got a bit nervous and scared to see these kinds of people. Since we were in a group, I was comfortable. After a bit of hassles with this guy, we finally decided to go to some place, I don't recall the name very well. We sat in front of the TV screen, football playing on it, Arsenal vs Swansea and the male friends automatically got glued to the screen for a while. We got our drinks , bouts of laughter came along. It was getting late for us ( my friend and i) so we decided to leave the French friends and get back to our place.
What an evening it was! It brought my traveller's spirit alive. It felt so not the Delhi, I have experienced so far. A big thanks to the French group who made it possible for me. I am certainly going to Paharganj again with my group whenever I feel the lack of travelling in life. At least, it would boost up my spirits in a way.
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