Everyone has some interesting story about their first visit to Delhi. What is your story on first time visit to Delhi?
My parents moved to Delhi in the summer of 1993. Until then, we were living in a village 300km south of Madras (Chennai). My dad was then promoted as a manager in a national bank and we got transferred to New Delhi. It was a huge cultural shock for me and there was a massive information overload.
First, we got a tearful farewell from the village as we took a train to Madras. My dad worked a few years as a manager in that rural bank and being the only government bank for dozens of villages, it was quite an influential post. Almost everyone in the region knew him and the bank touched many people's lives. I can remember, night and day many villagers used to come home to complain of various things and get issues resolved among them. Now, we were moving to the biggest city in the country, where we would be invisible and where there are millions of government workers just like my dad.
From Madras, my dad's bank booked a flight ticket for our trip. It was the first time on an aeroplane and was somewhat an unusual thing back then with just one government-run airline. My elder cousins told me what to do in an airplane and how to behave [and how to get the most chocolates that the airhostess served].
We were picked up at the airport by a relative who came in his Toyota sports car. I have never seen anything other than India's 3 traditional cars - Ambassador, Maruti and Premier Padmini & the sight of a new foreign sports car was mesmerising. No one owned foreign cars back then and he had to use some high level influence to import this from the US.
I was from a village that looked more like this. You are a big shot if you owned a Bullet or Rajdoot bike. My dad just owned a TVS Champ and also used the bank provided Rajdoot. Living in a concrete house means you are rich. Other than TV, VCR, radio, refrigerator and fan there was no electrical item even the richest owned.
But, here we were exiting a shiny Toyota Camry coupe, and entering his home whose laundry room looked like this:
As a 10 year old, I was even afraid to go near the machines that was almost as big as me and whose shine stunned me. And I had no idea of why a dryer was kept separate from the Washing machine. [Years later when I moved to the US, I figured out that the dryer enabled one to wear the clothes right out of it].
My second cousins there were talking about strange shows on MTV. I had heard of MTV and HBO back then, but never watched it. As we were playing they were talking about buying a new computer. This was back in 1993 in the pre-Windows 95 and Internet days. I had no idea that one could even own such things at home.
We were not rich and thus we lived in a more low income apartment. Looking back and forth between the rich class and the middle class like ours was jarring. I like the centralized A/C of their home, but all we could get was a low-end air cooler.
Those days in Delhi exposed me to things that I have never been seen before. High-end restaurants in Connaught place; wearing sports jackets to school in winter. I had no idea how people were so prosperous. At the heights of the newly opened up bullish market, everyone seemed to be rich. However, we just got promoted from being the richest in the village we came from to being the among the poorest in the circles we moved in the new city.
My dad and his friends were busy buying stocks. Whenever I go and meet them, I will get an Economic Times newspaper to look up prices of specific stocks [no Internet to check prices]. These would be in such small prints on 4 pages with full of various companies. Some of my dad's friends would casually mention that they made 25x returns on the new stock they bought. Housewife aunties were talking of Reliance stocks and Sensex numbers when they were giving us evening snacks before play time. Government budget presentation was the prime time masala.
One day my parents and I went home to a couple's home for dinner. As they were chatting, the lady mentioned that she was working for the RAW. I had no clue of what they do, but my dad just explained their activity as detecting counterfeit currencies. My mouth was shut and they continued their conversations. It seemed there was a wave of power and money in that newly hot city.
Babri masjid was demolished only a few months before then and the tension was all over north India. Bombs were shattering Mumbai as Dawood Ibrahim announced his national level entry. Riots were everywhere. This seemed quite in contrast to rural Tamil Nadu, where religious riots was almost unheard of. There was a plague scare from Surat that forced me to wear a mask to school for many weeks. In rural India you were not really touched by national panics.
We lived behind the Pusa institute in Karol Bagh and my dad explained how the magical seeds from there created the Green Revolution - something that fed people all over the nation.
I guess migrating to Delhi at the height of a new wave of economic optimism was both exhilarating and shocking. Early 90s was an extremely happening period and moving to the national capital got us front row seats to watch some of the events unfurl. Although I have visited the city many times since we moved back south in 1995, my images of Delhi is primarily impacted by the images above - of a nation suddenly on the move.
Shri Mayur Deshpande,
Philosophical Engineer
I visited Delhi for the first time in July 2013. I had gone to Amarnath, Vaishno Devi, Amritsar during a 10 day vacation with my brothers and some friends and Delhi was the final stop before returning home.
My visit to Delhi included good and bad both types of experiences.
The first cab that we took from the bus stop to the hotel, overcharged us. The cabbie had agreed to 200 but after reaching the hotel, asked for 350, saying that he had agreed for another place and not the current one. - BAD
Luckily we got an economical hotel, so didn't have to spend much on accommodation. -GOOD
Later that day we took the Delhi Darshan bus (A bus which takes you to the main spots in Delhi in a day). We had booked a Non-AC bus but luckily got an upgrade to an AC bus. -GOOD
We wasted a lot of time in visiting an insignificant factory. The factory must have had some tie-up with the bus operator for bringing in business and we were bored for 2 hours at that spot because some of our fellow travelers had a lot of interest in handicraft shopping. - BAD
We visited many good places in a single day like Rashtrapati Bhavan, Birla Temple, Lotus Temple, Indira Gandhi Memorial, Red fort, Qutub Minar and Chandni Chowk. - GOOD
But we could not spend enough time since the bus was on a schedule. Also we missed visiting some nice places like India Gate, Akshardham Temple (as it was not on the bus's route) and may be some more places which I am not aware of. Our bus didn't stop at India Gateand we just saw it through the bus windows. -BAD
We ate a very huge and delicious Jalebi (an Indian sweet) in Chandni Chowk, ate at Paranthewali Gali (Amazing parathas) and drank one of the best Lassi. - BEST
(image source - google search and then Old Famous Jalebi Wala)
As far as I remember we ate paranthas at this place
(image source - google search and thenParanthe Wali Gali.. - Day 1)
While coming back to hotel, we had to wait for an hour for a bus (public transport). Waiting for a bus, when you are stuffed with a lot of delicious food, is never a good experience. -BAD
One of my cousin brother's new Nokia Lumia phone was stolen in the bus while he was trying to get down on our stop. He ran behind the bus, searched in the bus, but could not find it. We went to Police station where he had to wait till 2 a.m. to lodge a complaint. And after all this, he did not get his phone back (of course, the chances were very slim). - WORST
Next day we had planned to visit India Gate and have a ride in Delhi Metro, which was cancelled due to the phone incident. - BAD
Our train was at 6 p.m. in the evening, and we just stayed in the hotel, played some card games, had a nice lunch at one of the nearby shops and got some much needed rest before our 18 hour train journey. - GOOD
And finally we got a ride in one of the cycle rickshaw to Delhi station. So to sum it up, my first visit to Delhi neither very good nor very bad. I had mixed feelings and experiences during that visit.
But I am eager to visit Delhi again and this time I wish to get the real feel (hopefully only the Good real feel) of the city instead of just visiting as a tourist.
First, we got a tearful farewell from the village as we took a train to Madras. My dad worked a few years as a manager in that rural bank and being the only government bank for dozens of villages, it was quite an influential post. Almost everyone in the region knew him and the bank touched many people's lives. I can remember, night and day many villagers used to come home to complain of various things and get issues resolved among them. Now, we were moving to the biggest city in the country, where we would be invisible and where there are millions of government workers just like my dad.
From Madras, my dad's bank booked a flight ticket for our trip. It was the first time on an aeroplane and was somewhat an unusual thing back then with just one government-run airline. My elder cousins told me what to do in an airplane and how to behave [and how to get the most chocolates that the airhostess served].
We were picked up at the airport by a relative who came in his Toyota sports car. I have never seen anything other than India's 3 traditional cars - Ambassador, Maruti and Premier Padmini & the sight of a new foreign sports car was mesmerising. No one owned foreign cars back then and he had to use some high level influence to import this from the US.
Village boy entering city
As we entered his new home in a south Delhi gated community, it was like entering a completely new world. I had heard of Manmohan Singh's liberalization on Doordarshan and All-India Radio. It was first time I saw in action in real life. In 3 years, he rose up to the top in GE's new entry post-Sam Pitroda's magic and got to riches that I could seldom dream.I was from a village that looked more like this. You are a big shot if you owned a Bullet or Rajdoot bike. My dad just owned a TVS Champ and also used the bank provided Rajdoot. Living in a concrete house means you are rich. Other than TV, VCR, radio, refrigerator and fan there was no electrical item even the richest owned.
But, here we were exiting a shiny Toyota Camry coupe, and entering his home whose laundry room looked like this:
As a 10 year old, I was even afraid to go near the machines that was almost as big as me and whose shine stunned me. And I had no idea of why a dryer was kept separate from the Washing machine. [Years later when I moved to the US, I figured out that the dryer enabled one to wear the clothes right out of it].
My second cousins there were talking about strange shows on MTV. I had heard of MTV and HBO back then, but never watched it. As we were playing they were talking about buying a new computer. This was back in 1993 in the pre-Windows 95 and Internet days. I had no idea that one could even own such things at home.
We were not rich and thus we lived in a more low income apartment. Looking back and forth between the rich class and the middle class like ours was jarring. I like the centralized A/C of their home, but all we could get was a low-end air cooler.
Those days in Delhi exposed me to things that I have never been seen before. High-end restaurants in Connaught place; wearing sports jackets to school in winter. I had no idea how people were so prosperous. At the heights of the newly opened up bullish market, everyone seemed to be rich. However, we just got promoted from being the richest in the village we came from to being the among the poorest in the circles we moved in the new city.
My dad and his friends were busy buying stocks. Whenever I go and meet them, I will get an Economic Times newspaper to look up prices of specific stocks [no Internet to check prices]. These would be in such small prints on 4 pages with full of various companies. Some of my dad's friends would casually mention that they made 25x returns on the new stock they bought. Housewife aunties were talking of Reliance stocks and Sensex numbers when they were giving us evening snacks before play time. Government budget presentation was the prime time masala.
Power flowing like honey
Just like money flowed freely, power did too. Most of my dad's friends were also government servants. People casually name dropped big union ministers. I don't know how true and legitimate their claims were, but suddenly everyone seemed well connected. Just weeks before, I was in a village where the most important local political news would be a meeting that some random party worker would organize.One day my parents and I went home to a couple's home for dinner. As they were chatting, the lady mentioned that she was working for the RAW. I had no clue of what they do, but my dad just explained their activity as detecting counterfeit currencies. My mouth was shut and they continued their conversations. It seemed there was a wave of power and money in that newly hot city.
A nation on the boil
I also came across issues, I never thought about. It was a time, India was on the boil. Kids in flat came from 20 different states. We talked in a range of languages and exchanged a range of ideas. There was a crazy boy who would often scare us with a real, but unloaded revolver. In his home. I saw no male members. I just heard that his whole family was burnt alive a few years ago in the anti-Sikh riots.Babri masjid was demolished only a few months before then and the tension was all over north India. Bombs were shattering Mumbai as Dawood Ibrahim announced his national level entry. Riots were everywhere. This seemed quite in contrast to rural Tamil Nadu, where religious riots was almost unheard of. There was a plague scare from Surat that forced me to wear a mask to school for many weeks. In rural India you were not really touched by national panics.
We lived behind the Pusa institute in Karol Bagh and my dad explained how the magical seeds from there created the Green Revolution - something that fed people all over the nation.
I guess migrating to Delhi at the height of a new wave of economic optimism was both exhilarating and shocking. Early 90s was an extremely happening period and moving to the national capital got us front row seats to watch some of the events unfurl. Although I have visited the city many times since we moved back south in 1995, my images of Delhi is primarily impacted by the images above - of a nation suddenly on the move.
Shri Mayur Deshpande,
Philosophical Engineer
I visited Delhi for the first time in July 2013. I had gone to Amarnath, Vaishno Devi, Amritsar during a 10 day vacation with my brothers and some friends and Delhi was the final stop before returning home.
My visit to Delhi included good and bad both types of experiences.
The first cab that we took from the bus stop to the hotel, overcharged us. The cabbie had agreed to 200 but after reaching the hotel, asked for 350, saying that he had agreed for another place and not the current one. - BAD
Luckily we got an economical hotel, so didn't have to spend much on accommodation. -GOOD
Later that day we took the Delhi Darshan bus (A bus which takes you to the main spots in Delhi in a day). We had booked a Non-AC bus but luckily got an upgrade to an AC bus. -GOOD
We wasted a lot of time in visiting an insignificant factory. The factory must have had some tie-up with the bus operator for bringing in business and we were bored for 2 hours at that spot because some of our fellow travelers had a lot of interest in handicraft shopping. - BAD
We visited many good places in a single day like Rashtrapati Bhavan, Birla Temple, Lotus Temple, Indira Gandhi Memorial, Red fort, Qutub Minar and Chandni Chowk. - GOOD
But we could not spend enough time since the bus was on a schedule. Also we missed visiting some nice places like India Gate, Akshardham Temple (as it was not on the bus's route) and may be some more places which I am not aware of. Our bus didn't stop at India Gateand we just saw it through the bus windows. -BAD
We ate a very huge and delicious Jalebi (an Indian sweet) in Chandni Chowk, ate at Paranthewali Gali (Amazing parathas) and drank one of the best Lassi. - BEST
As far as I remember we ate paranthas at this place
While coming back to hotel, we had to wait for an hour for a bus (public transport). Waiting for a bus, when you are stuffed with a lot of delicious food, is never a good experience. -BAD
One of my cousin brother's new Nokia Lumia phone was stolen in the bus while he was trying to get down on our stop. He ran behind the bus, searched in the bus, but could not find it. We went to Police station where he had to wait till 2 a.m. to lodge a complaint. And after all this, he did not get his phone back (of course, the chances were very slim). - WORST
Next day we had planned to visit India Gate and have a ride in Delhi Metro, which was cancelled due to the phone incident. - BAD
Our train was at 6 p.m. in the evening, and we just stayed in the hotel, played some card games, had a nice lunch at one of the nearby shops and got some much needed rest before our 18 hour train journey. - GOOD
And finally we got a ride in one of the cycle rickshaw to Delhi station. So to sum it up, my first visit to Delhi neither very good nor very bad. I had mixed feelings and experiences during that visit.
But I am eager to visit Delhi again and this time I wish to get the real feel (hopefully only the Good real feel) of the city instead of just visiting as a tourist.
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