In the #winterchallenge series, I am presenting to you a road journey where I reach Delhi from Dehradun amidst mild winter and visit India Gate. Let's go to Delhi.
The festival of Diwali is a symbol of lights which gives us peace and happiness. Diwali means sweets and welcoming the coming winter. But smog started after Diwali due to which about 50 buses from Dehradun to Delhi got cancelled. I am leaving for Jaisalmer, Rajasthan for the next event which is organized in memory of the Indo-Pak war of 1971.
When I reached Dehradun ISBT, I came to know that not only the 2 pm bus but many buses of the day have been cancelled. After talking to the ticket counter, I come to know that a bus is available at 4 pm, whose ticket I book immediately without thinking. I sit at the bus stand for 2 hours, watching people coming and going, dogs entered in the bus stand are barking at strange looking passengers. The bus conductor is calling the passengers by calling Haridwar and Meerut.
After waiting for 2 hours, finally the bus starts at its scheduled time which is 4 o'clock. I am sitting in a bus from Dehradun to Delhi which will cover a distance of about 225 km in 5 hours and drop me at the capital of India, Delhi. 5 hours get converted into 06:15 because there is traffic jam at many places on the way. After getting down at Sarai Kale Khan bus stand in Delhi, I take Uber to go home.
Late at 11:30 pm, I step on the threshold of the house, change, eat and sleep after watching hive. The next day my friend has gone to some conference of FICCE, I also go to meet her. I leave home late in the evening and reach the metro station directly from where I take the line to Janpad metro station. There is a lot of pollution in Delhi these days which is decreasing rapidly every day. It takes me 60 minutes to reach Janpad from where I reach FECCE auditorium on foot.
From here, both of us walk to India Gate which is at a walking distance of 2.5 km. Winter has arrived in the plains as well, both of us have come wearing one layer each. Cold wind is blowing here, and it is a lot of fun to walk. We cross Rail Bhavan. This is the embassy area. When we cross the road and move ahead, we see the statue of "Alexander Pushkin". I am quite surprised to see the statue of Pushkin because our country has never been under the rule of Russia, yet the statue of the Russian writer has been installed here.
Well, coming out of the Russian dilemma, we start seeing the tricolor shining in the distance. This is India Gate which was built by the British in 1921. Today this monument is protected by the Government of India and the names of all the martyrs who fought for independence have been written on it. Right in front of India Gate, there is a statue of our beloved leader "Subhash Chandra Bose". I feel proud of being an Indian after seeing the names written here, the tricolor which is our national flag and the statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
At the last stop in Delhi, I go to Lajpat Nagar and do some shopping from the west side, from here I come back to the bus stand and take a bus to Gurugram. Now I have to attend a wedding in Gurugram, after which I will go to Jaisalmer with my team from here where I will be volunteering in a race. So that's all, we will meet soon in another post where I will write about the further journey, until then you guys take care of yourself and stay healthy.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from Poco f1 android smartphone and edited in deskstop software adobe lightroom. Thumbnail created in dekstop adobe photoshop.