THE 3G MARKET

First things first. The answer to the question in the previous post is Chandni Chowk, Delhi-6. 3G stands for Gems, Garments and Grub, which is all that you can get there. I tried hard to catch a sight of some other shop, but in vain. (Ok, I found one mobile recharge outlet, but you can discount that).

Well, much has been written about this place, and the romance which it exudes. To me, despite the extremely narrow lanes (just enough for one cycle to pass), electric wires dangling precariously close to your head, and the maddening crowd, there IS a charm to this place, a throwback to the days gone by. In this era of malls and skyscrapers, Delhi-6 provides a refreshing change.

I will now let the photos do the talking. After all, it is better to attach a picture than to type 1000 words. J

The Red Fort overlooks the Chandni Chowk, and definitely worth a visit (Everyone knows that). What everyone may not know is that the ITDC Restaurant inside the Red Fort premises is a great place to have some lassi. J So there, a new place for great lassi.

Given that gems and garments shopping are as removed from me as Liverpool is from the Premier League title, my sole interest in Chandni Chowk was the 3^rd 'G'. The 'Parawthewale' gali (as they write in English, see pic), consists of 3-4 stores, each serving about 25-30 different varieties of parathas. Ambience and crowd is a dampener, but this place is a must-visit for delicious fried parathas and yes, some more lassi. J

The electric mains wires hang dangerously close to your head. This is just one pic. At some places, the wires came down even more below. No wonder Y.M is yet to visit Chandni Chowk, despite spending the better part of a decade and a half in the NCR.

I am now back on campus, and enjoying the great weather and rains. As per tradition, I will leave you with the question for the next blog post. This is a sitter though:

Q: What is the most famous brainchild of Jules Rimet'?

So long folks! J

The First Client and the ‘3G Market’

And so the last days of the internship have come about. In spite of the constant cribbing about Gurgaon and the heat, I have got used to it (4 years of Pilani have definitely helped), though that doesn't mean that Gurgaon has become my favourite village in India.

Anyways, the week has been hectic; with my first ever visit to a client office as part of my project. I had to go all alone, and the visit was to an industrial estate in Delhi, some 50 kms from Gurgaon. The trip itself was "eventful" as you can see below:

9:55 am: Call cab driver Sunil

Me: Are Bhaiya, kal shaam aapse baat ki thi na, Mathura Road jaana hai.

Cab driver: Are aisi kya baat hai ji, aa jao upper basement mein.

10 am: Leave office.

10:05 am: Open slides on the lappy, try to rework them, think on what to speak blah blah

10:15 am: Open gmail, check mail, google news, WC 2010 updates etc.

10:30 am: Sheer boredom forces me to "try to" rework those slides again.

10:35 am: Doze off in the back seat.

10:45 am: I realize that the lappy is running on battery, as I am comfortably dozing. Switch off lappy and doze off again.

11:15 am: We reach Mathura Road, and the driver wakes me up and asks for the address. The road has been dug up due to Delhi Metro construction (one of the few things which I like about N.Delhi). Now, go through small arbit lanes, go wrong way once, take a wrong turning before finally landing up.

11:45 am: I alight from the car and ask the security guard at the gate, and he dismisses any notion of the supposed client's existence in that building. I call up the client, but no response. Open notebook to confirm address, and find out that one small word "extension" has made some difference.

Anyways, I got back to the cab driver Sunil, who, it must be said, is an extremely patient and cordial middle-aged fellow. He had started sipping tea on the roadside stall, and invited me for a cup, before we moved to the "extension". After the tea, as I stepped up to pay, he waved me aside and said:

"Aap to abhi student ho, aapke full time appointment hone par hum aapse treat zaroor lenge."

Heartwarming moment of the day, no doubt. J

Noon: Finally, make it to client's office, at which time I am informed that the accounts manager is busy in some meeting.

1 pm: After an hour of fidgeting, drinking water with some facebooking interspersed in between, I get to meet the manager and his team.

I was taken aback by the respect shown by the team, who thought that I was a full time employee. The meeting consisted of coffee, some arbit talk, and most of all, cribbing about some transaction or the other (Since I was alone, I had to bear the brunt and nod with "dekh lenge sir, we will surely look into it"). This was interspersed with some useful work (READ: Pitching the product, which is one of my projects).

Anyways, those few minutes were fortunately enough for me to get them to say "Aye". And thus ended my first successful sales pitch. This was followed by more coffee and biscuits and cribbing.

2:15 pm: Leave the office. The return journey was far less eventful, and I spent time by looking at metro constructions/traffic jams/....

And so it ends. This post has become a bit long in itself. The "3G market" post shall follow soon enough.

And no, "3G Market" has NOTHING to do with A Raja or Airtel.

HINT: It is actually the name of a well-known hindi movie which released about an year ago.

GURGAON TIMES

If one ever wanted to see a live example of disparity in India, or, as they call, “the great urban-rural divide”, look no further than Gurgaon. I am not one who would like to start blog posts on a negative note, given that this is actually a humour post, as you shall see below, but I have hardly warmed up to Gurgaon, what with its culture (or rather, a lack of it), infra problems, electricity and water problems, crazy traffic and pollution etc.

Three types of people inhabit Gurgaon:

1) The ones who work in the myriad DLF offices in Gurgaon, and for whom concerns merely involve managing traffic jams in their cars (NOTE: Motorcycles and Autorickshaws in Gurgaon are myths, which people may have used to lead you into a false sense of security. Don’t believe it).

2) The ones who have gained through land holdings at this place, and who have become HNIs as a result. They are not “very” gifted intellectually, though.

3) The original Gurgaon inhabitants, who look in awe at category 1 people and their lifestyle. Compare Type 1 and Type 3 people and you get what I am talking about.

Anyways, some anecdotes from this place:

1) My Office cab driver, Deshraj, is an extremely jovial and punctual chap. In fact, I have till date never beaten him to the pick-up point. One quirk, though, is his choice of music, which can be summed up as a mix of Haryanvi lyrics set to the Punjabi dholak. And no, they are not even songs I have heard of. No mean feat, considering the fare dished out during trips on Haryana Roadways buses from Pilani to Delhi and vice versa. Then, along comes a nice song from Karthik calling Karthik, and he changes the song. I ask him to stay on with that song, but pat comes his reply: “Are nahi bhaiyaa, bakwaas gaana hai” (Add Haryanvi accent).

2) My first experience of bowling at Blu-O, supposedly the best bowling station in India. Bad start you may say, from the scores, as given: (0-0, 0-8, 0-0, 0-8, 0-2, 1-5, 0-3, 2-0), till round 8. Then, enter Round 9, and a strike, followed by a 7-2. Talk about a comeback.

3) I am staying here with my batchmate from BITS, Challa Abhishek. BITSians know about him, but for non-BITSians, he is a saint-turned-movie freak-turned-raw material planner (present) and will graduate to being an economist and civil engineer, followed by head of state (keeping in mind his astute political skills), philosopher and then the saint again. The fun part of being in Gurgaon has been Challa, and discussions with him, whether while walking, cooking together, or just dining outside have been fun. Almost every discussion is an anecdote in itself, and I plan to write a book about it in a decade, titled : “Conversations with a saint”.

Given that He doesn’t believe in facebook and orkut, I hereby convey to the world that St. Challa is doing well, and offers his blessings to all those who seek, along with any guidance on worldly issues, if asked.

(NOTE: Point 3 is not an anecdote, it is a tribute).

PS: To the gang, Challa is now “Lassi adikara Challa”, given that the extreme heat doesn’t allow him to drink tea anymore.

4) As mentioned earlier, Gurgaon does have a water crisis, and, on a personal level, it has aggravated over the past week. This has necessitated jumping like Tarzan over three tanks just to get a bucket of water for the morning ablutions.

More interesting anecdotes will follow soon.

On a parting note, I thought I had my share of 4 Pilani-style desert summers, when I bade goodbye to BITS last year. Little did I know..............