Moving away

One day the legendary Mir wrote

'Dilli ke na the kuche, Auraq-e-mussavir the, Jo shakl nazar aayi, tasveer nazar aayi.'

'The lanes of Delhi were not mare lanes, they were paintings from a painter's album, every face seen there, was a picture in itself.'

Now that is some compliment to a city.

Delhi has always been a city of people more than anything else. Some cities are famous because of their architecture, some because of their location but Delhi has always been because of its people.

It's location has played an important role in India's history (and mythology). It's known as Dilli becuase of King Dillu who set up his capital around birth of Christ. It came to be known as Dehleez into India during the Islamic rule. British capital was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi because of it's strategic location to control the whole country.

If mythology has to be believed, Pandava's palace at Indraprastha was a marvel which even lead to the greatest war of all. So was the Old Fort in the medieval times. Shahjahan's capital Shahjahanbad was so beautiful that the Red Fort has a carving on it which reads the famous couplet of Khusro,

'Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.'

'If there is any paradise on the face of the earth, This is it, this is it, this is it'

The British build their beautiful city here. The concentric circles around Raisena Hill, those tree lined roads, those magnificent buildings which still seat the powerful in India. Today India is building it's modern city here, with the most extensive Metro network, the malls and high rises of Gurgaon. So Delhi never lacked the magnificent architecture of a great city either.

However, its people made it what it is today. From the times of Pandavs, it has been the melting pot of all the culture that the world had to throw at it. From time immemorial when someone ventured into India they came and found their first home to be Delhi. It became the cultural hub during the early muslim rule over north India. Nizamuddin Auliya and Khusro made it their place, Shahjahan and Bahadur Shah turned it into the place where poetry and prose were almost worshipped. This is where Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Zauk and Bahadurshah wrote there best works. Zuak had once written:

'Hamne maana dakkan mein hain , bahut se kadr-e-sukhan,
par kaun jaye ae zauk, ye dilli ki galiyan chhorh kar'

But unlike Zauk or Ghalib, Mir had left for Lucknow after the invasion of Abdali and like him I left Gurgaon after seven years. I felt sad about it. Probably, last seven years have been the toughest of my life but who said life would be easy and neither did I ever want it to be easy. There is a certain charm in walking on the razor's edge, it sharpens you too. However, I guess that's my life.

When I had moved to Gurgaon, it had potential to be India's IT, Call Center and Mall hub. Now it is. That is what has changed in 8 years. I had moved to Gurgaon when I came back form the US. I guess I never thought I would live this long there. It wasn't always a conscious choice. However I still loved my apartment and loved it's location.

As we were preparing for the departure and packing, IPL kept us sane with no TV at home. TGIF became our destination to watch those matches.

Some pics from my apartment: (A-158, Regency Park 1, DLF Phase 4, Gurgaon)

Looking down from my bathroom window:


Looking west from Bathroom window:


The Building:


The Building:


Looking South East towards the new development (from main hall balcony):


Looking East (wondering how that little little garden changed in last few years):


Looking East towards Phase 1 (from main hall balcony):

Looking North-East (from bedroom balcony):

Looking towards north (from bedroom balcony):

Looking towards north (close up) (from bedroom balcony):

Looking West (from bathroom balcony):

My empty Office & Library:

Empty Main hall:

Siddharth with the packed stuff:

My last pic in this home:



Here are some videos from our train journey back. It was extremely hot through out the journey even in Bhopal.






As we are looking to spread our wings into Sports Academies, I am ready to move back to Delhi.

As the song puts it:

Yeh dilli hai mere yaar
Bas ishq mohabbat pyaar

Basti hai mastano ki dilli dilli
Gali hai deewano ki dilli

Bada kas ke gale lagata hai
Dhadkan ki dhun sunata hai
Iske baanye taraf bhi dil hai
Iske daanye taraf bhi dil hai

Yeh shahar nahi mehfil hai
Yeh shahar nahi mehfil hai
Yeh dilli hai mere yaar
Bas ishq mohabbat pyaar