Delhi Metro: Serving up a mouthful to students

SURENDER K DHALETA

As a teenager, I often accompanied my father to the Walled City. The umpteen bus changes and traffic snarls involved always acted as dampeners on this trip. However, I always looked forward to the small rewards that would reward my patience - gol-gappas or paapdi at Chawri Bazaar, or parathas, kachori and kulche-chhole in one bylane or another, or the tikkas of Karim’s at Jama Masjid.

But as I grew older, I preferred not to tag along with my Dad for these trips as the thought of getting stuck in traffic jams was too much. So when a friend who worked in Connaught Place recently told me how he and some of his colleagues had hopped on to the Metro rail during lunch to have chaat-papdi at the famous Ashok Chaat Bhandar Corner in Chawri Bazaar, my mouth watered reminiscently. But what I couldn't believe was that they were able to have lunch and get back in just under an hour.

I had to see it for myself - not just for old times' sake but for satisfying my appetite too. I parked my car at my Dad's office in Shastri Bhawan and took two Rs. 7 tokens for my friend and myself for Chawri Bazaar. We got there in a mere ten minutes. As it had started drizzling, we hired a rickshaw to Karim’s. The restaurant had been refurbished since I last saw it but the food was as good as ever. We weren't disappointed and hogged on chicken-biryani and chicken-seekh rolls along with chutney. The service was however substandard – the water glasses were dirty and the Thums-Up we ordered tasted strange.

On my way back, I found a number of students waiting for the Metro at the Chawri Bazaar station and was surprised to know that they too were regular visitors here - I thought they only went to Barista or McDonald’s. "The Metro has only brought the place closer," said Kapil Sharma, a student at Hindu College. "The rickshaw rides through the narrow lanes only add to the charm," his friend Rajeev Kundra (a Hansraj student) added. Both had savoured rabri-faluda at Chowk Fatehpuri at the famous "Sardarji's shop." You too can take the Metro from DU to Chawri Bazaar. There are a number of small stalls that offer a savoury mouthful.

And yes, we were back at Central Secretariat and heading to our office in one and a half hours!