Read the diversified travel experiences of Delhi in this travelogue written by traveler Shrey Srivastava.
This was a really amazing trip. Traveling through a variety of places with diverse experiences. With Delhi having such far-flung areas, I chose to travel with Metro and was just impressed with the extensibility of how far it covers the areas in the National Capital Region. My first metro ride got me near Red Fort; the best part after the Metro was taking smaller local rides to destinations, including Red Fort. This had been on my list for many years, and I was always curious about exploring this place.
As I entered the place, I was really amazed by the greenery inside the fort and the structures around it, each representing amazing history. It was great to be at the place where once rulers of ancient India lived, along with the place that stands as the place where today’s Prime Minister gives the speech on Independence Day every year. The trip also started to test my physical capabilities, as I didn’t know at first that I would be required to walk so much in the Red Fort. With such a vast area, I was really amazed to explore the corners of this fort and its Ancient Meena Bazar; even the road that led to the entrance of Red Fort after taking the entry ticket was quite long. The red fort, along with Mughal architecture, is filled with various British-style buildings, which was quite a surprise for me. The buildings contain a lot of museums inside, holding some of the great patriotic freedom struggle stories of India from such greats as Subhash Chandra Bose and many others.
From there, I took it to explore the roadside joints of Delhi’s famous Rajma Chawal Joints. I found one in Rajiv Chowk, Jain Chawal Wale, where I had my great Lunch of Rajma Chawal. Further moving towards the next destination, which was the Rashtrapati Bhawan Museum, I again took the Metro. The in-between Metro rides were quite an adventure on this trip. Waiting for the metro, boarding it, and changing stations were all part of the thrill for me. On reaching the Rashtrapati Bhawan, I was again amazed by its beauty and size. The museum had a great collection of personal and professional belongings of the various Presidents of India so far. The museum holds such high-tech and sophisticated tools of storytelling, displaying the stories of the struggles and glories of the presidents. The museum also holds amazing recreations of scenes from the war, depicting some historical moments from India’s struggle for independence.
Later in the day, I took a stroll around the city, exploring some clubs, and found myself relaxed over there in the evening, planning for the next day. The next morning turned out to be extremely special when I met my cousin and his family, who are in the Indian Army, and along with them, I was privileged to visit the prestigious Delhi Gymkhana Club. The club was an amazing collection of different restaurants offering some of the great cuisines from India and around the world. Gymkhana clubs are some of the rare clubs in cities where defense forces are present. The clubs of such sorts hold great restaurants and sports facilities, facilitating tournaments for the defense forces. We had a great time, lunch, and some fine drinks over there, and while on return, how could I miss the visit to the club in Hauz Khas, Social, where the movie Tamasha had some of the greatest shots? The place had an amazing, lovely, and vibrant vibe.
The next day was quite special to me, as I was longing to visit the Nizamuddin Shrine, the dargah of Sufi Saint Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya. This was the second visit for me, and as I made my steps toward the dargah, I could again hear the noise of people asking me to drop in to deposit my shoes and collect rituals for the dargah. This whole thing is quite thrilling how people keep shouting to stop you and shop from them in an instance, but as it was my second visit, I decided to go till the end and only then remove my shoes to enter the dargah. And as I entered the main shrine complex, the peace that I felt was not only peaceful but quite spiritual. I have been fascinated by Sufism, and nothing could be better than this place for reflection. I sat there for some time before finally moving on to my next destination through the adventure of Metro rides.
I was then moving towards the iconic Jama Masjid in Delhi, which has a lot of history and heritage behind it. The walking path towards it after the metro was pretty jam-packed, full of shops and crowds. I had to take my shoes in hand and roam around the Jama Masjid, watching its quite amazing structures. After some time, I finally moved towards having lunch, which was planned for eating some of the fine non-vegetarian delicacies of Delhi in the area near the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi.
I wanted to eat at the Al Qureshi Kabab, but due to an early visit before their starting time, I could not have lunch there. So my fate took me to the legendary Al Jawahar Restaurant, which dates from the independence era and is named after India’s first Prime Minister, Shri Jawahar Lal Nehru. Moving from lunch, I turned towards the Metro in Chawri Bazar. The way to the metro through this market was a revelation in itself. The market in the Old Delhi area was among the most crowded places I have ever seen, and in the middle of the market, I found myself staring towards the metro station of Chawri Bazar, which to me was nothing but a wonder. Like a pool inside a desert, as I went down, I could just go on and on, and I just could not believe how could they build such a deep metro station in one of the most crowded places and near the monument of Jama Masjid, and then with such a deep staircase, the station again got deeper with a few rounds of escalators? I was really amazed, and later on in my research, I found out that this metro station stands as the second deepest station in Delhi at 82 feet. I took the metro to Delhi Cantt from there to board my first ever journey on the Vande Bharat Express, which these days is quite enjoying a curious and celebrity status for the people of India. The journey from Delhi to Jaipur by train was quite comfortable.
This was a quite short trip, but with an exploration of the contrasting themes in Delhi, from visiting Historical monuments to government institutions for the public to Food places, Military clubs, and the greatest shrines. The trip had it all, with variety and diversity fulfilling my thirst for such experiences.
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