Delhi-ites! Or are we?

Guys, this is my first blog! And what better way to start a blog than writing about the place you live in! But shamefully for most of us, we don't even know the place we live in properly! Why are we so ignorant?

Just today I was narrating this incident to a friend of mine who asked me whether I am from Delhi or not! A few days back a girl from my college, maybe a timid new-comer, came up to me to ask me whether I was from Delhi or not! I,very proudly, admitted on being from Delhi and thus, she asked me whether I knew where Rajouri Garden was! And I was blank! I said maybe its in the South of Delhi! But she refuted my point saying that it indeed is not in the South of Delhi and that she is confused as to where it really is! I realized, that I was as clueless about Rajouri Garden,perhaps even more, than this 'timid' new-comer was! After that she asked me whether I knew if the Delhi Metro connected to Rajouri Garden, of which again I was clueless. A sudden shamefulness stabbed me in my chest for not knowing this information about Delhi! After all, it was my city! The place where I belong. The place where I have lived all my life. How could I be so ignorant of it? How could I not answer her questions! The answers lied deep within me and my inner self was screaming and laughing at me at the same time. I was just careless. I had never bothered to get to know places in my city! I don't know what the girl was more amused of- my shameful expression or the fact that I didn't know about Rajouri Garden? I just wanted to run away and hide my face under my pillow. But that would have been running away from it. Again. 

So I decided to atleast get a map of Delhi or look up Google Maps and locate places on the map of Delhi. 

That night, as I went through the map of Delhi, I was astonished to know the amount of places we have in our beloved city. Delhi, on the map of India is just a dot, but is so so rich in culture and heritage! 

I, being a history student, know most of the 'important' historical places places in Delhi but on paper and in theory. I never went of my way to explore them. The fault lies with me and I am trying to rectify it but what hurts me the most is that it took me eighteen and a half years to realize my city's importance? How many of you actually know all the places of your city and all about your culture? I won't be surprised if a large amount of people didn't fall under that category!

I quizzed some of my Delhi friends with my newfound knowledge on Delhi, expecting them to actually know some of the stuff! But they too just flipped out like I did, as when that girl asked me about Rajouri Garden.

Like just generally as an example, I was talking about the markets in Delhi with my friends and all we could come up with were Connaught Place,GK markets, Khan Market, Sarojini Nagar and Lajpat Nagar. We easily missed out on Gaffar Market,Pankuiaan Road,Paharganj,I.N.A market and alot more.

it just surprises me how ignorant we really are!

I think part of the blame game can be played with my parents too. After all they too, never showed me most of my city. I remember as a kid all we ever used to do was go to India Gate or maybe Qutab Minar once or twice here or there. But that's it. Nowadays no one really has a time to explore. What's with all of us being busy with our social lives,colleges or heading to mall, but even these things require getting out of our house and travelling through the city which we do blindly as we never bother to really care about what lies on the way! 

So guys, wear your travelling boots, head out of your place and get to your city!

Well at least thats what I am going to do anyways!