Mumbai might be the financial capital of India.

Bangalore might be the IT hub.

Chennai might be the largest urban agglomerations in India.

But, Delhi has something that these cities can never possess — the spine chilling winters!

Come November, and the climate decides to cool down. The ice-cream wallahs dwindle in numbers; mothers start taking out the woollens; school-going children start getting late for college; moongphali and popcorn sellers mushroom around bus-stands and railway stations; and the local GP gets scores of patients complaining for common cold. That’s the beauty of Delhi’s Winters! Dilli ki sardi is hell-famous!

So what makes Delhi’s winters so HOT?

The chilly weather itself!

Oh yeah! When you shiver endlessly while walking down the road, not able to see anything due to thick fog, the sight you become when you have to wear two sweaters because you cannot help it!

The Food!

Winters are a food lover’s delight! Moongphali, gajak, kaaju, akhrot, and what not else! Sipping endless cups of tea; sitting outside in the sun and munching carrots and raddishes; devouring til ke laddoo and moongphali ki patti; having vegetable soup every evening! Eating mom-made panjeeri and the lip smacking combo of makki ki roti and sarson ka saag, reaching college damn early and having that essential cup of coffee, while ambling around an almost empty campus!

The Nostalgia!

Remember the last time you caught cold? Such occurrences form the bulk of my journey through the winter season. Yet, I love it! Believe me, catching cold is fun! Sitting in a rajai and studying for exams; waking up all night in the cold, listening to FM… There are way too many things to write here!

I am a proud Delhi-ite!

Just look at these pictures, and you’ll get to know what I am talking about…

For the Delhi-ites, this is a normal sight: people squatting on the floor of metro trains. These people think as if yeh unke baap ki jagah hai, and that they can sit anywhere they like. By doing this they make their, and their fellow passengers’ lives in grave danger, in addition to eating up some valueable standing space in packed trains.

What if a train had to come to a drastic halt? Those standing will fall on those sitting. Somebody will get a sprained ankle, somebody a twisted neck, or somebody else even a broken bone. The effect will be disastrous, but it will teach surely them a lesson 

Worse still, sitting on the train floors is an offense according to the DMRC rule book. Somebody make these people understand, please!

As promised earlier, I am presenting my experiences at Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology (MSIT)‘s fest.

If you want to learn how not to manage a fest, you should attend the one hosted by the said college. Blitzkrieg ’08 was a disaster when it comes to efficient management.

There were three of us — Dhruv, Mohnish and me, who went to participate over there. Mohnish had gone for LAN Gaming, while me and Dhruv were there for Possiedon — the C/C++ event. And I knew how things were going to be when I reached the registration desk.

We had registered ourselves earlier by visiting the college one fine day. However, when I went to confirm at the day of the event, I was told, “There has been no registrations from Hans Raj College.” And I was like.. What?? Why?? I had to do a separate registration again. The icing on the cake? Barely five minutes after the second registration, one of the volunteers said that there has been a mistake, and we had been registered earlier itself. What the Fuck? Couldn’t they check properly?

One who makes the rules, should make it a point to follow them as well, isn’t it? But there are no takers for this adage at MSIT. They made the rule that no more than two teams from each college will be allowed to participate in a single event. However, there were colleges over there represented by more than fifteen teams! Horrible! And if I must tell you about their skills at crowd management, you’d quip that ten year olds might have done a better job! Take a look:

My verdict — Don’t you ever go to MSIT for a fest. Even if the director personally invites you! 

From somebody who does not even attend his own college festival, to somebody who is just back from the college fests of Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT) and Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology (MSIT) — its a long way, isn’t it? Exactly! 

Ever since I remember, I’ve never been a very social kind of person — always looking at ways to avoid parties and stuff where a lot of people are involved. Those who know me, or have read my book, know that given a choice, I’d rather stay at home and sleep rather than attend a Rock Concert, even if somebody takes me there for free! I don’t like the screaming and shouting that people indulge in at such places, nor do I like partying and dancing and discos. In school, whenever the Diwali Party used to take place, I used to go — but only for the sake of the person who used to get entry because of me! In short, when it comes to socializing, I am the wrong person.

However, this time around I decided to give it a break. Not consciously, though!

My friend, Pritha, is in NSIT — and she was bugging me many-a-times to attend the fest that was going to happen over there. And I was like, “Naah.. Me not interested. I have tests. I have assignments. I don’t have time!” She wasn’t amused, and I was being stubborn. However, last saturday when I went to college, I saw one of my classmates with a really heavy General Knowledge book (?!@#??!!). He said that he was going to NSIT to participate in the GK quiz.

Me: Tu NSIT jaa raha hai?

He: Haan. 9:30 baje jaunga.

Me: Main bhi aaunga tere saath.

He: Kyon? Tune bhi participate karna hai kya kisi mein?

Me: Nai yaar… Aise hi. Time paas ho jaayega.

And off we went! It was about an hour long journey, mostly by metro, that took us there.

***

Believe me, by the looks of it the fest, called Innovision ’08, was impressive! Pretty bad that I went there on the last day, and missed out on a quite a few events! Pritha caught me as soon as I entered the campus, and took me to a hall where Technical Paper Presentation was going on. It was a contest where teams from the various schools of Delhi were there, showcasing and delivering talks on their ‘inventions’ or their ‘original work on science’. When I entered, a dumb student was speaking rather monotonously about the habitation in space. There was so much text in his PowerPoint slides that I wanted to run away!

The next two presentations were far better (thank God!). One of them talked about Magnetic Levitation, and the guys even had a miniature model ready! The second one was about the NextGen Wind Turbine, where the presenters were showcasing a way of generating electricity with wind, using a device unlike any wind mill, which could accept wind from all the directions. Pat on a back, both the teams!

With this over, and Pritha being busy with compiling results and all, I was left alone for sometime — and I entertained myself by visiting the Defence Exhibition that was put up on the grounds. This one, unlike many other that I have seen with static models, the army officers were giving a live demo. Check it out: (Click on images to enlarge)

Impressive! Prior to this, I had never been so near to a working defence exhibit. 

It was about half an hour till she got free from her duties, and then we had a wonderful time together! Imagine two old friends meeting up after a long time — you can calculate the nostalgia factor easily, isnt it? For old-timers sake 

We roamed about the campus, stirring up memories of the past. She was like.. “Pehle sab achcha tha.. Sab saath saath thhe. Ab sab log duur duur ho gaye ” Indeed. Most of our classmates from XII-A have gone out of town, to pursue their respective BTechs and blah blahs. Few of them remain in Delhi, but our tight schedules doesn’t leave room for frequent meetups. Too Bad.

Leaving that aside, I’d like you to meet Pritha:

Yup, she’s the one in red.

In my forthcoming post I’ll tell you about my experience in the other fest — that of MSIT.

Its been roughly eighteen hours since the serial blasts in New Delhi took place. So I guess you know about them. A total of five bomb blasts took place, in crowded areas like Gaffar Market, Greater Kailash, Connought Place and Barakhamba Road. Also, live bombs were diffused near Regal cinema hall in Connought Place and near India Gate.