We reached Delhi Airport at 9:30 in the morning. Since our
connecting flight via Air India was at 5:40 PM, we decided to go sightseeing
from there. Both me and my wife had not been to Delhi earlier. Delhi is the
capital of India and upon looking at Google map, we had decided to go to the
nearby Aircraft Museum and get back to the Airport.
We took a ticket to Dhaula Kuah from where we agreed to pay
an auto driver 130 Rs. to take us to the Museum. Upon reaching however, we
found the museum to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. So we explained our
condition to the auto-driver and asked him to take us to some nearby place
instead, as we were desperate to see some part of Delhi that day.
He agreed to take us to Gyara Murthy (11 statues – with Gandhi Leading), Indira
Gandhi’s House and India Gate to which we agreed. Upon seeing Gyara Murthy, we
were somewhat disappointed because we have that exact same statue right in
front of our house in Bangalore. Then we were disappointed even more when we
learnt that it was maintenance day on Monday and hence Indira Gandhi’s house
was closed as well. On our way to India Gate we enquired if the auto driver
could take us to Connaught place, which we had heard from our sister who had
been to Delhi with her friends to which the auto driver agreed.
"To the dead of the Indian armies who fell and are honoured in France and Flanders Mesopotamia and Persia East Africa Gallipoli and elsewhere in the near and the far-east and in sacred memory also of those whose names are here recorded and who fell in India or the north-west frontier and during the third Afghan war" - India Gate
"To the dead of the Indian armies who fell and are honoured in France and Flanders Mesopotamia and Persia East Africa Gallipoli and elsewhere in the near and the far-east and in sacred memory also of those whose names are here recorded and who fell in India or the north-west frontier and during the third Afghan war" - India Gate
Even though he had told us we had 1 hour to spend at India
Gate, we could not think of what to do beyond 10 minutes of exploring the
place. Then we headed to connaught place which we learnt was just like a
shopping place we go to on weekends in Bangalore and quickly checked map again.
Our driver then agreed to take us to the Jantar Mantar in Delhi, which is the
most beautiful historical structure I had seen on this trip. Jantar Mantar is
clean. Near each Instrument, there is a clear description of what the
instrument does and what its purpose is in the measurement of time and space. We
went from one building to another, and within 30 minutes covered all the
monuments located there.
Then we saw Madame Tussauds Wax museum just around the corner in the left. We stopped by the Wax Museum. Upon enquiring at the reception, we learnt that a web booking was 50 percent less than an in cash booking at the counter.
Then we saw Madame Tussauds Wax museum just around the corner in the left. We stopped by the Wax Museum. Upon enquiring at the reception, we learnt that a web booking was 50 percent less than an in cash booking at the counter.
It was my wife’s first trip to a wax museum. I was happy to
see her fascinate at the life like images of various Film Stars (Salman Khan,
Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor, Will Smith, Leonardo De Caprio,
Scarlet Johansen, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Sunny Leone, Tom Cruise, Ranbir
Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Marylyn Munroe, Shahrukh Khan, Kapil Sharma), Politicians (Gandhi Ji, Narendra Modi Ji, Dr. Abdul Kalam, Bhagat Singh, Subhas Chandra Bose, Vallabhbhai Patel), Sports Person (Sachin Tandulkar, Hussain Bolt, Mary Kom, Kapil
Dev, Virat Kohli, Lionel Messi, David Beckham, Milka Singh, Christiano Ronaldo), Singers (Sonu Nigam, Asha Bhosle, Shreya Ghoshal, Justin
Bieber, Michael Jackson, Zakir Hussain). The museum also has a kitchen like setting where a
lady explains how was replicas are made, giving demo to children to make a
replica of their hands.
We felt satisfied having looked at these attractions in
Delhi. We stopped by some ancient Hanuman Temple near Shivaji Stadium. We ate Veg
Biriyani and Parotha with Paneer Curry near the temple. We visited the temple
after placing order. The temple had the dietees, Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Hanuman,
Kali, Durga, Shani, Ganesh, Sai Baba, Eashwar, Parvathi, Dattathreya all in the
same compound.
From here we departed to the Dhaula Kuan Metro station as
agreed with the Auto driver. He agreed for the sum of 1100 as fee for the trip
which we were glad to pay. We reached Terminal 3 in the airport at 2:45. Then
we walked to the International Departure section which had beds besides waiting
area where we rested for 30 minutes. We then ate Beetroot fries which were
served at one of the stalls at the airport which cost us 162 Rs. It was nice to
try something new at the airport.
We then departed at the scheduled time. Much to our
surprise, Air India served us a heavy meal on our flight. Thus we completed a
wonderful trip covering places near to the Delhi Airport in about 5 hours, and
went back home satisfied with our trip.
Learnings:
In Hindsight, it might seem like we could have avoided wasting time by avoiding going to the places closed on Monday. But we are happy that we met this amazing Auto driver who volunteered to wait for us and ensured we had sufficient time to see each place. He took us around Delhi and empathised with our situation without taking advantage of us in anyway, for which we are truly grateful.
Learnings:
In Hindsight, it might seem like we could have avoided wasting time by avoiding going to the places closed on Monday. But we are happy that we met this amazing Auto driver who volunteered to wait for us and ensured we had sufficient time to see each place. He took us around Delhi and empathised with our situation without taking advantage of us in anyway, for which we are truly grateful.
