Recently a friend of mine and ex-colleague, Jai Arjun, who’s truly, madly, deeply in love with blogging described in his blog about a Good Road Day in Delhi. I thought I’d share it with you guys. It’s a must read for all. “Most times it’s ghastly driving to office at the peak of the Delhi summer. At the end of the 16 kilometres (which can translate into anywhere between 45 and 80 minutes, depending on how many cars have been bumper-kissing along the route I take, and how antagonistic their drivers are) I feel like I’ve lost 40 per cent of my body weight in sweat and aged a 100 years in the process. Today (June 27) was different; I wouldn’t have minded one bit if I had to travel to another city. The weather was lovely (save for a spell of much-too-heavy rain near the Moolchand flyover) and there were RD Burman specials on radio channels (today being the great man’s birth anniversary).

“When the weather is good, the traffic always seems much better behaved than normal. People even stick to their lanes, don’t honk all that much and there are hardly any traffic jams (except for waterlogging-induced ones). Interesting. And sad, because these are the days I wouldn’t mind being stuck on the road for hours. ("Piya tu ab toh aaja" was being played for the third time when I had to switch the stereo off because I’d reached office.”
Well I have been longing for such a drive but sadly enough I have shifted my residence, which is just a stone’s throw away from office and have sold my old car. Earlier, it was a cool 16-kilometre drive from my home to office and since this paper was just launched, the work timings fluctuated a lot. There were days when I used to go back home at twilight, tired and sleepy, driving at 80kmph ready to crash in the bed. I never enjoyed those drives.
However as my bosses changed the office timings, my route was reversed, and lo I was driving office at 5.30 in the morning. I started enjoying my drive through Moolchand, Delhi Golf Club, India Gate and Ashoka Road. Those were the best drives I ever experienced in Delhi. I used to hit the road at 5.30 in the morning, fresh and revitalized and within 20 minutes I used to reach office. Well, those were the days when I experienced Delhi mornings with a fresh mind for the first time in my last eight years of stay here.
I still remember a cyclist, whom I used to cross paths with everyday, on his bike riding down the Ashoka Road on his way to Yamuna Velodrome. Then I used to come across a certain group of bikers doing wheelies and trying certain acrobatic skills on the open road and not to talk about old couples walking along the road with their pups.
Gone are those days now! I hardly enjoy my two-and-a-half kilometre long ride to office from old Rajinder Nagar to Jhandewalan Extension. Well for journey details you got to wait until my next column is published on Monday.