OK! I have made my first solid plan for my India trip, having booked a space in Vikaspuri (Delhi suburb) just a couple of kilometres from the Metro station from the 6-13 of Feb. I’m quite excited. I have a few plans already for some of the tourist landmarks I want to see that I missed last time (or want to do again – the Mehrauli Archaeolical Park).
But what I’m also curious about, particularly from the Dilliwallas who read my posts, is what people who live there love about the city. Where do you go and what do you do that makes you happy you live there? As I’m sure you’ve noticed, when I show you what I love about Toronto has not really included the CN Tower or its easy access to Niagara Falls. Those places are nice, but the places I keep coming back to are the ones you’ve seen here. So, friends in Delhi, what makes your city special for you? Feel free to comment below or if you’ve a lot to say and want to share it with your own readers, feel free to write an entry and link to this post so I see it. And fellow travelers who haven’t lived there, don’t feel left out. I want to hear what you love there as well. Feel free to comment below – links to posts on your own blogs are welcome.
Go Outside Today 
I grew up in Delhi. My father was working in the Indian railways. We lived there from 1971 to 1979. We lived near Connaught place. School days were fun. After leaving in 1979, I returned only once in 1999. 😊
Wow – I bet it has changed a lot. I know the place I lived in 1979 (Vermont) has changed *dramatically* since then. In ’75 I lived in a different place. I don’t remember it that well.
I did see that the house I lived in back then was listed for sale with photos. That was interesting to see. It hadn’t changed much at all! (Though there were many more houses around it.
The most redeeming quality about Delhi, oddly enough, is it’s people. I’ve lived here for about 10 years, and having moved from Bangalore (where I grew up), Delhi was tough to get used to- with its chaos and contradictions. The surface-level of the city can be disenchanting- but it’s when you look deeper into how the people inhabit the space that the city comes to life.
What makes me happy, and what I’d recommend, is to engage with people here- and sample the variety that this city offers. Beyond visiting the monuments of the remote past, it’s important to walk the streets, however broken the pavements may be, or to just attend performances, events, sit at cages and explore market places. Delhi is its quirky, sometimes brash, but often surprisingly engaging people. 🙂
This sounds like really good advice. It’s similar to what I’d give for someone coming here: Walk places, talk to people. The tourist sites make destinations but be sure not to miss the journey along the way.
One of my favourite books about Delhi was written by a man who started at CP and walked a spiral outwards to the edge of the city over the course of several months. In that way he saw so much variety and came away with so many stories. And really, that’s why I travel: Photos of famous sites are great but it’s the stories that those photos make you think of that makes the trip worthwhile.
Thanks for the advice!