Yeh Delhi hai meri jaan

True to its stature Delhi is truly the capital of India, u’ll see everyone from everywhere, u’ll get pretty much everything from anywhere, food of every variety typical blended in Indian flavor (let me mention the all time favorite indianised chowmein and the most specific north indian version of dosa), rags to riches, a true attitude of things will be done and a the all time jovial happy go lucky attitude.

Its just like a person, there are too many a good things to mention but there are bad phases also, who’s physical appearance changes with the growing trend but the soul remains the same, it has a pure heart but sometimes gets influenced, still it has that stature to blend its neighbors in its flavor (gurgaon , noida, Ghaziabad , faridabad …..) with open arms for everyone .

Why am I being so nostalgic??

Having shifted the base to noida from the past couple of years I am not that much far to not being able to go to delhi, its just a ½ hr drive then why feel so awed whenever I land in the capital city . …hmmmm
The feeling is indivertible, I cannot help it.

Driving down the lanes reminds me of the good times spent in the city, it has something which forces people like me to go there for shopping, for ghoomna firna , and to hang out .
The funny part is even today when one has to go for shopping there is no other place like delhi .

it's good that ithas certain defined place for each and every, day to day and other specific items.
Some of the most important places of the delhi for specific items namely being :

• bhagirath place: one the cheap yet all variety of electronic fittings, u name it they have it there .
• sadar bazaar , chandni chowk , bada mandi , nayi sadak , Kharo bowli : all these places are the ultimate hub for any item one can think of . the specialities being the groceries at kahro bowliand papers of each variety fron chawri bazaar
  I sweared by nayi sadak for the 5 years of architecture from a mere rotoring pen to the catridge sheets , for everything there used to be a a yearly visit to that place and that trip did not used to be complete without the kulfi faluda and cholle bhature .
  The belt starting from jama masjid even boasts of being the only specialist in the bird’s treatment
• Nehru place : the ultimate hub for electronics and computer freaks , original to pirated , street smart to posh showrooms everywhere , unimaginative , printing plotting .. the endless list goes on and on ….
• For book freaks ……..how many of us have tried the daryaganj Sunday bazaar when there is complete rush of second hand as well as new books and magazine on sale along the pathways . one can actually find the old editions of any magazine in those heaps if u have the patience and plenty of time .:)
• I cannot think of any other place apart from panchkuyiaan , kirti nagar and tilak nagar – jail road for buying the furniture .
• Karol bagh , ajmal khan road , ghaffar market : specializes in smuggled electronics. The area between Gurudwara Road and Ajmal Khan Road, at the Pusa Road end, specialises in car accessories, and the main central market is a hub for jewellery and apparels. Even today I jump on a oppurtunity to buy clothes from there and no other place to buy crockery. and during the visit to karol bagh it is a must to have ice cream of anjalika(cakes are awesome)
  Sarojini nagar and lajpat nagar being the alter sisters of karol bagh .
• And for food – there is hardly any place where one can not get enough to gorge upon from the yummy kathi rolls of nizam in C.P., to the sweets of Bengal sweets, a array of restaurants in the outer circle of C.P to the street food . the list is endless
  These are few to mention the list is not complete .the city is growing within and spreading with the cities urbanscape and skyline is marked with awesome structures ,historical monuments. It stands true to the saying that “delhi mein job hi ata hai yahin ka hokar rah jata hai "

How ignorant are we towards our environment

Our environment is depleting, we all realize but how can we protect it? its a big questions
The main wake up call was the world wide depletion, degradation of the natural existing resources and environment, and indulgence of human activities to exploit the natural resources to their utmost.
We all have read about global warming during our school days, depletion of ozone layer , degradation of environmental conditions and what not … but never gave it a second thought.

It was a common view on developing sites to see uprooted trees .we never bothered to see our river turn into drains, when did smog took over fog we don’t know, but somewhere in our mind all of us knew the reasons and causes.
All of the above effects could have been avoided if each one of us thought it as moral responsibility to think about the little steps that could have been taken as small as not throwing paper or any litter on road.

Anyways its never too late to start afresh and Sustainability and its transformation of design, development, and planning of the built environment has reached a "tip most point," as being reflected in the nation wide adoption of green / sustainable guidelines for development predominantly based on the U.S (LEEDS to be more precise)
There is an insurgence to adopt this criterion in the whole world.

but how effectively has been adopted ??? the progeress is slow but surely for a betterment .

its a common thought that Deteriorating environment is often linked with increasing economic activity, requiring deforestation, energy consumption etc. “Development” being usually held responsible for environmental damage, while environmentalists are accused of being “anti-development”. but is it so ??

what can be done ?? what should we do ?? are there any measures?? surely .. one being sustainable development .
Sustainability was a topic of ignorance till we had abundant of these resources, but bad now if we don’t give a consideration to there depletion or what may lead to their depletion.

We all talk about development, upliftment of the area but that does not mean discrete development from the environment, they can surely go hand in hand, then why not to adopt it ?? why is it that a simple googling of sustainability assessment and architecture give a zero result

Sustainable development should not be an oxymoron but a reality which can be implemented by simple steps of consideration towards development in form of structures which should lead to development of the surrounding environment ..

And I think our approach should be as suggested by some learned

Think globally - act locally. Look around - find others that are doing something you resonate with - join them.

A good movie for a change... naahhh

I was a bit wary to write this blog out of only excuse to being called a film critic, out of hesitation to offend some who may have liked the movie, but I could not resist to share, to put down my feelings after a spat of watching three movies in three weeks.
Having office near shopping malls and multiplexes has its own share of advantages and disadvantages and in my case the biggest disadvantage is that I have created a fetish to watch most of the movies in their first week, the lame excuse being what else is there for entertainment in noida apart from these malls, and movies (ok somewhere deep down I know that I am developing a bad indulgence ;)
From January to February last week I saw three movies, each one driven by family and friends raving reviews.

The first one in the list: luck by chance :I jumped on the chance to see this movie because I did not go to see rock on , so lets go and see this movie , it turned out to be ok , nothing great , nothing bad , for the first time I did not like hrithik roshan and above all the bit confusing was what was isha sherwani trying to portray , is she that much dumb or what . For me it was not the best of the performances by konkana, she has portrayed far more superior characters (she was too good in mr and mrs iyer ) , and above all the most cutest couple award should go to rishi kapoor and juhi chawla they still have the charm of bol radha bol .
Anyways it was a ok time pass, maybe likeable for some like my sister and a easy avoidable movie on theatres for me

The next week released billu (…..barber ) I had lot of expectations in terms of comedy and simple yet touching portrayals by its director priyadarshan, but once again things don’t always turn out as we try to presume them
There were only two instance consistent in the whole movie the cheesy dialogues by irfan khan (our very own billu) and the omittance of barber in the songs or wherever it finds the mention (the title song was awesome those who must have listened must be knowing about mention of word barber, but when this was being played in the cinema it goes like this .. apna billu ……………………. Apna biluuu ………….) one uncle sitting next to me seemed to be confused and very innocently asked his wife picture kat kat k kyun dikha rahe hain ..
Anyways the picture seems to be some sort of answer of sharukh to aamir that he is the ultimate king khan and how much he is idolized.
and please someone tell lara dutta that she does not look like a gaon ki gori with highlighted hair and a accented hindi dialogue delivery
In the end I felt it like a halka fulka time pass, a good performance by irfan khan , out and out its his movie .

The most disappointing of the lot was delhi -6. I was determined to not to go to see this movie unless and until I have confirmed about its reviews and how worth it is to spend on.
After hearing about the reviews from my office colleague I thought to go for it, how bad it could be it has a good star cast, raving songs and a director whose debutant was awesome
Finally I make it on a weekday to spice world to find out only 25 people in the hall.
The movie starts of with the kala Bandar and ends with it, I was utterly confused why was it named delhi -6 when the most apt title should have been kala Bandar.
The most important question: where is delhi in the movie on Delhi leave apart chandni chowk .
In the name of delhi we see glimpses of metro, a jhalak of India gate and tit bit glimpses of some of the places of Delhi in the Delhi hai mere yaar song.
Apart from that a zilch of Delhi, it could have been easily named kala Bandar and the way abhishek is shown jumping the roof tops , made me wonder why was he made to jump like a monkey from one roof to another.
The only good thing about the movie is the support cast (this does not include cyrus sahukar , why was he there in the movie and someone please explain me in the same night few hrs before he had plans to run away with sonam kapoor and after that he runs away with lala ji wife ??? why ) , and the end roit situation.
Overall my cousins reaction provides a jist to the whole movie “ ye kala bandar ki story thi, isse achha national geographic dekh lete... J”(it is a movie on black monkey , it would have been good to see the national geographic )