Lazy Sunday Photo- Another Noida Sunset

May 6 2007, Sunset at Noida

Sunsets Over Noida and Uttranchal

The sun sets over Noida


And the same sun setting over Har-Ki-Doon (Uttranchal, India)

Straight from the Sabzi Mandi (Vegetable Market)

What are these? Bell Peppers or What: From the Noida Sunday Bazar
(Now that Ketan mentions it, they do look like capsicums, don't they?)

Vegetables in the Local Market, Noida

We are used to buying our vegetables from the local market where the sellers put there stuff under the sky out in the open and we take our pick. I wonder how a majority of us would react to coming of the Walmarts of the world to us, I wonder if the way we shop is going to change? Cause I am not willing to drive any place and find parking with the kind of roads, traffic and parking facilities we have. But this is no informed opinion, just what I feel, my initial reaction. In fact I would give my students an F if they wrote something like this but thankfully this is no assignment.

Going Places ... I Didn't Mean To!

After all the drama (that I mentioned in the previous post) of the weekend subsided, I headed to my sister's place to catch up on my weekend. I absolutely love playing with my one year and four months old niece, she has started speaking like a tota (parrot) and tries to repeat everything we say. And then, of course, no one can pamper you like an elder sister even though I forgot their wedding anniversary for the second year in a row. She still lets me enter her home and insists that I eat loads of delicious stuff every 10 minutes. No wonder, I lazed off and decided to go back home early Monday morning instead of Sunday evening. We chatted up to 1 in night and then I reluctantly went to sleep. I am so chirpy at night but I wake up like an almost dead fish in the morning.

So when the alarm went off at 6, I got up like a dead fish and left in 10 minutes to start my 30 km drive home. Being winter, it was still pitch dark when I got out and reversed my car. Soon my favorite songs playing, I was congratulating myself for starting early as the roads were nearly empty.

There are a few diversions (very minor I must say) from Noida to Kalindi Kunj due to Metro construction, near the roundabout that has a road going to Greater Noida Expressway. I had to get on the Kalindi Kunj road. In the dark, I read a signboard saying no right turn and kept left.

I reached a well lit road and was a bit confused. I shrugged it off, thinking they have improved the lighting on the road. But the nagging persisted as the road was too wide to be the Kalindi Kunj road. Soon, a signboard (after about 1km) confirmed my doubts. It said Greater Noida X km ahead! I realized that I have taken a wrong turn and hit the Expressway.

Two options flashed through my mind. I could pull distress signal and drive on the wrong side of the almost empty road but I remembered a fatal accident on DND flyaway through the same action for some people and decided against it. I decided to drive ahead and wait for a U-turn. But obviously, they do not design highways for people with my sense of direction. I rarely look at the distance on my dial but I took notice this time. And I was still looking for a U-turn after driving 16 doubt-filled kilometers on the Expressway.

I saw a police vehicle and a few other stranded ones but decided against seeking help, it was still pitch dark and I did not feel overly safe in pulling over as I was alone. Anyway, I can say this much, the expressway is well laid out and you can easily reach the speed of 80km/hour without even noticing it.

So, driving at that speed, I finally notice a small break in the road that could be used for taking a U-turn. Then I started applying breaks and with my Maruti 800, I stopped about 15 meters ahead of the spot. I knew there was no one around for miles, so I reversed my car back to the spot and took that U-turn and started driving all those 16 kms back. Now that I knew I was headed in the right direction, and the highway was completely empty, for the first time in my life, I reached the speed of 100km/hour for about five seconds before going back to the regular 75/80.

After about 50 minutes and 32km of extra ride, I was once again on course. Drove for another hour to reach near my home. And this time they have changed the diversion near Uppal Orchid and ahem, I once again went ahead of the spot where I was to take a turn (I wonder if they are ever going to complete the Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway and stop changing the diversions every few seconds). But this time, just after 150 meters there was a U-turn. After sometime, I reached home, finally.

Husband had a good laugh on my account and I thought I would catch up with sleep for 45 minutes before I start for office. After 45 minutes I decide to call the office to say I am not coming (I could afford to do this because I had not taken an unscheduled leave in ages and there is no teaching right now). When I woke up again it was 2 in the afternoon!

So the lesson learned: Not start when it is dark even on a road I have taken a zillion times, because I am still not sure which turns to take even if there is even a hint of a diversion. How I hate road diversions!

Are they loading now? A Picture of Bindis

Yipee! the pictures are loading again! Clicked this picture of Bindis (known as 'dots' to some) in Noida's roadside Sunday Market.

A Drive from Noida to Gurgaon

It has been a long time since I visited any new place and living in an urban concrete jungle gets on my soul after a while. This weekend we visited my brother-in-law and sister's place. We had a great time with them and their one year old terror, my lovely niece. For a rare change Sesha was driving and my elder nephew was with him in the front seat where they were debating the relative merits of Hindi and Tamil pronunciations! Left to my own devices I as usual started taking photographs, the only change being I was doing it from a moving car.

I was clicking pictures at random, trying to capture whatever caught my fancy at the moment. It was a Sunday and the roads were relatively empty. After capturing many blurred images I suddenly started noticing a pattern.

There were so many people on the sidewalks! I noticed it very clearly maybe because I was looking for things to record on my camera. Otherwise we have taken the same road so many times and they at the best remain a blurr for me.

I wonder how much they make in day, what are their dreams?

The pavement is a home for so many even now!

They seem to be so much at ease even on the dusty roadside. I hope these lovely flowers add some color to their lives too!

Almost every 50 meter or even less, I encountered some kind of an attempt to earn a livelyhood! And all this in our capital city of New Delhi or fast developing region known as the NCR.

How Far a 100 Rupee Note Will Go?

I was visiting my sister and brother-in-law at Noida. A small side agenda was to do some shopping too.

I have to buy a business suit for a forthcoming conference. So the idea was simple and this hoarding seems to capture it well, I was looking for some feel good clothes!
But the problem with me is, I do not feel good so easily. I thought the cycle parked in front was a perfect contradiction to the message of the hoarding. I was wondering if the cycle owner was a guard at one of those shops, who work 12 hour shifts? I was wondering if he was 'feeling good' or not?

I get drawn to the sidewalks and the signs of life there much more than the swank shops and the malls. I was really drawn to these sellers selling the colorful firkis and they posed for me quite willingly. I do not know how much they make in a day. Is it enough to keep them going? What kind of dreams they have?


A little ahead, and still in my quest for feel good clothes I met a few small and smiling girls. They were selling flowers and I simply love flowers. The flowers were not so fresh but I felt drawn to the kids. I asked them how much for one bunch? The girl in the left hand corner of the picture below told me that one bunch was for 10 rupees. I bought one and this prompted the others to try and do some hard selling, which was quickly turning simply into pleas for money.

I think reading this post by Krish made me respond the way I did, I said, I would buy some food for them but I will not give money. The kids readily agreed.

We started with these three and I was wondering where they would take me and calculating how much it would cost? I am so used to paying Rupees 150 for a single dish of rice or more than Rupees 100 for two plates of Momos or more than Rupees 1000 for a few pizzas. I tried chatting up with them but they were not too interested. One girl said she was from a small town in UP. I asked why she left home? She mumbled something about not having a home but all the kids that were hanging around were living together. I wonder where they live? I wonder if they are safe on the streets? I only know they smiled quickly while talking with me.

The kids took me to a road side stall selling chole-kulche (vegetables with a kind of India bread). On the way our number increased to four. By the time the person started giving out the food to the kids the number went up to nine. When it came to paying for it, my bill came to a total of Rupees 90!

It was a stunning realization that a measly 90 rupees that in many cases cannot buy two plates of Momos can buy lunch for 9 people. For the first time I felt that the measly salary that I draw can go quite a long way, if I really have a will to do something. The kids took there food away and I once again thought of the task at hand- to buy a business suit.

I started walking off and a small girl approached me and pleaded to buy a flower. I said, I would buy food for her. She told me I already had. Then she pleaded to give her just one rupee. When I asked why, her answer was simple. She wanted to eat a toffee! I said I would buy the toffee. As we were walking, I saw an ice cream vendor and suggested an ice cream to her. She took the biggest cone she could spot in the picture.

This is not the stall where I bought food for the kids, but I have developed a new respect for the street food.

I went to the mall and looked for a business suit. It was priced at Rupees 4000. That can buy a meal for 400 people at the stall where the kids took me!

I tried a few but if the jacket fitted me, the trousers were small and if the trousers fitted me, the jacket was too big. I seem to have developed an uncomfortable tendency not to fall in any pre-tailored categories. I had to walk out after 45 minutes without buying one.

And in the process I have realized that in some places 100 rupees can mean a lunch for 10 people and not the price of a small shampoo bottle or two plates of Momos.