Zero degrees in Delhi

Yesterday was Delhi’s coldest day in seventy years , so says the head of the meteorological department on national television . Zero point two degrees on the ninth of January two thousand and six. Seventy years back was Nineteen hundred and thirty six. Three years before world war two . Man !
I took the eight am flight from Mumbai today , just so that I don’t land up in Lucknow like the passengers of Sahara did last week when fog reduced visibility to five feet . And their Mumbai – Delhi six am flight was diverted to Lucknow as Delhi airport could not be seen !
I remembered my days , a couple of years ago , when I would drive at five thirty am in the morning from our house in the National Media Centre in Gurgaon through Dhaula Kuan , Subroto Park and Connaught place to the Delhi railway station on the Ajmeri gate side . There I would park my car and get into the Shatabdi Express to Ludhiana . The drive was routine . Every Monday through bad visibility . I remember driving blindly , just following the lights of the car in front till it would take a different path and then follow another vehicle all the way to the station . I had always thought flights would have some kind of fog light and control landing equipment , just like they have in the US . That they don’t , is a pity.
Zero degrees is surely new to Delhi . Five , Six degrees is the winter norm . Zero degrees is patented by Srinagar .Acquired meteorological knowledge tells me that Srinagar is sub-zero degree centigrade for a good part of December . As television presents visuals of the frozen Dal lake , I remember my days in Srinagar . Dad was posted in Srinagar in the freezing ranges of Baramula , Kargil and Drass where many a battle has been fought with Pakistan . Dad fought there as a young second lietnenant in Indian Army's 18th Infantry brigade in 1971 , defeating the Pakis to free Bangladesh as an independent country . It’s very cold in Srinagar , but the three layers of sweaters below overcoats with mufflers and monkey caps that we wore to school every winter , kept us warm and excited .Tucking into huge quilts and waking up to the chill was mortal pleasure . Hot milk never tasted better and a hot water bath was bliss .
Delhi winter is welcome , because it is well earned . All through summer , it is one extreme boiling pot at forty degrees centigrade . The tyres swhiss at the vapours on the tar . Acute power shortage makes bearing the heat even difficult , with failing air conditioners , fans and inverters . The densely populated roads add to the overall misery ; there are fourteen lac cars on these roads compared to four and half lac cars in mumbai . There are no rains . A short wet spell in late November is heavenly . Summer also means a shortage of water in this landlocked city . The four letter word for Delhi in Summer is hell .
Winter visits to Delhi have their own rewards .
Just outside the office is this guy who sells boiled eggs . Good , hot boiled eggs for two bucks a piece , sliced and spruced with salt’n’pepper . Cheap and wow ! Also , the afternoon sun is brilliant . As we lunched at the roadside dhaba in the middle of the road in Okhla Phase three industrial area , I lapped up the sun . Never has one liked the sun more . The warm rays breathe new life into my being .
My hotel has a warm water bottle waiting for me . The large room also has a heater in the center that radiates much needed heated conditioning .
I asked the chauffeur to turn the car’s air conditioning to heating as frost formed on the panes of its windows . The lancer is a very low base car , so for some reason you feel colder than a higher car . As we passed through the empty Aurangzeb road , Tughlak road towards sardar patel marg , there was not a soul on the road . Actually , in this part of delhi , there never is anyone anytime . As one moves from the densely populated northern Karol Bagh area to central Connaught place and thence to southern delhi where richness knows no parallel , you see lesser and lesser people . There are various shades of Delhi ,from the markets in Greater kailash one , M block , Lajpat nagar to the Malls in Gurgaon , Delhi is a city in transition .
In Karol bagh , the cycle rickshaws is an intergral part of ones life . The houses are small , the lanes are cramped and the cycle rickshaw is the only means of transport . In central delhi , taxis rule the roost alongwith auto rickshaws . The areas are plush , the country is governed from here . The best houses occupy the areas around these roads . South Delhi is an address . Something like Downing street .Only taxis here . And , Gurgaon has no taxis , just private cabs , costing a bomb . You need to have your own cars to move around , no autos for miles , no public taxis , no buses , no nothing . Have lived here enough to understand that there is a lobby of private cabbies and automobile manufacturers , maruti , honda and hyundai who rather have people buy their own cars rather than let public transport spoil their party .
They can’t stop the metro though . Three more years to go and Gurgaon gets connected to Karol bagh through Delhi’s underbelly in fifteen minutes . Automobiles lobbies will then be out in the cold. Economic cold .
Groups of people collect wood and light fires to keep themselves warm . Very primitive in concept , but works well fine . Business meetings find everyone dressed in smart suits . I love putting my blazers to good use in these visits .
And Delhi women in winter ?
They look beautiful too . Their cheeks flush red due to the cold making them glow wonderfully. Their phenomenally white skin freshens up , oozing pleasantness . And wearing bright body hugging pullovers , they are enticing and warm . Denims , warmer than the salwar kameezs , showcase wonderful legs , making you conjure up possibilities .
Ah , Tangdi kababs !
Prefer zero degrees in Delhi to seventeen degress in Mumbai .
Anytime .