Saturday, February 27, 2010

A Busy Hiatus in New Delhi!

Many of you might be wondering how can a hiatus be busy when it is supposed to be a break from the daily humdrum of life. The daytimes were extremely hectic because of work while the night was a period of gastronomic binge to take away all the tiredness!! And what more does a Bong need when you serve him meat in its purest form.

Am just back from 12 long and hectic days in New Delhi and am still unwinding from the after effects of conducting an event like DEFEXPO 2010. DEFEXPO is a biennial, International Exhibition, held under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Defence. The event has grown over the years and the strategic importance of India in defence circles is amply demonstrated with the number of participants and the countries vying for space. This year me and 2 of my team mates were entrusted with the responsibility of executing the entire event right from the planning till the curtain dropping! And a marvellous experience it has been bringing all the diverse teams from various location together, planning to effectively use a 8000 sq ft stall space and standing your high ground amidst the global giants in the business, and the logistics of it all. We made a big impression by showing three live, frontline Weapon Systems made by L&T. And the faith in L&T was demonstrated by the number of high level dignitaries, right from the Defence Minister to a flurry of Admirals and Generals. It was ten 12 hour days, spent mostly standing, but a time worthily spent.

The icing on the cake, however, was the gastronomic binge that Delhi provided alongwith temperatures dipping to almost single digits on a daily basis!! The first day was Nathu's at Bengali market with an array of chats, chhole bhaturas, tikkis, lassi and sweet. And all this at an excellent value for money. We also discovered a chain of stores called "Sandoz" which specialises in kababs and everything meaty. One of the stores was close to our hotel and hence became our dinner joint. Run by a sardarji, they make the kababs fresh for you and what a heavenly flavour. So our staple dinner menu was variety of kababs and roti. One of our group suggested that we should avoid gravy as it has lots of spices and therefore just rely on plain, burnt meat. And what a marvellous meaty experience it has been! I have rarely experienced such fresh and succulent meats here in Mumbai. And all this was topped by the brashy warmth of the Delhi-ites which is incomparable.

It is now back to work and am still unwinding, but looking ahead to a visit to Delhi!

3 comments:

Childhood Journeys said...

Shum and we also ate at Nathu's this time. The same place where Jia darling requested for chockate pastry. Good that you could catch up on some fun along with the loads of work.

Ambitious Pheonix said...

Ghosh,

Am telling you its high time you publish such articles on a different paradigm

Fantastic write up.

Amitabha said...

Gomes, Thanks a ton ... Why complicate my simple life!!! :)