2014- The First Eleven Months

Delhi has been good to me. 2014 so far has been good to me too. I have met new people, been to new places, experienced new things and hopefully gained some knowledge and wisdom along the way.

This is an amateur attempt to document the last eleven months with pictures and words.

JANUARY

COMMENCEMENT OF SECOND SEMESTER- 7 January, 2014

January was too long ago. This picture is taken outside Dilli Haat, sometime during the first week of January, after beading my hair. The next and the only other time I have been to Dilli Haat was during Diwali this year on 23rd October.

Though it was chilly, January was perfect for outdoorsy activity when the sun was shining. So, one fine day, when we had an afternoon class, Riddhima and I went to Hauz Khas Village to chill out, and by chill out I mean copy notes overlooking the lake. We did gorge on some amazing nachos at OTB later on though.

We also had a mini class get-together cum Poulomi's farewell at Shivani's place in Gurgaon. It was a wonderful day, with loads of fun and amazing homemade food.

FEBRUARY

February had a lot of cultural and co-curricular activities on schedule. The Convocation ceremony was held on 5th Feb, 2014 in which we all decked up in different shades of blue sarees and I sang a welcome song. 

  

I had also volunteered as a rapporteur for Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, 2014  held from February 6-8, 2014. I had a lot of fun, eating and working, in that order, and realizing these two are the absolute best people I could meet, but more on them later.

The event was held at Taj Palace, and one crucial bit of table manner that I learnt was that it is wrong to slurp on your coffee no matter how hot it is. This was my first encounter with Deepan, who was my fellow rapporteur at the event.

There was also the book fair at Pragati Maidan, which is "the" place to be for people like me. I had so much fun that day!

From the bookworm to the party animal, February was a month of extremes. I spent a weekend with Ria di and painted the town red with her (and her friends). It was the most fun I have had in a long time. We ate at this awesome Chinese restaurant, did girly beauty stuff, and went out dancing. We also shopped and watched movies.

Before proceeding to March, which was spent mostly meeting old friends and family, let me talk a bit about these two new girls in my life, who are called the-

RAJASTHANI ROCKSTAR DUO

 ROCKSTAR#1
This one had her birthday in February, which is what we are celebrating in this pic. She just had this amazing vibe about her that prevents you from being gloomy or sad, no matter what shit you are going through. And let me tell you , that is one hell of a talent to have!

ROCKSTAR#2

This other fella is amazing in her own way. She has this 'no-nonsense' attitude and 'gets' me. It also helps that we have quite a handful of things in common.

I think that is enough for a public forum! :)

MARCH

This was again a great month because I went home. We had gotten this new flat at the banks of Ganges, and we had the inaugural ceremony only after I went home. I enjoyed the journey home, visiting friends, visiting Calcutta, and the journey back to Delhi. It was all amazing.

In Calcutta, I met Nabanit and Abhinav, one my Nursery friend, and the other a significant part of my +2. We went all over the city, and hit all the memorable spots from Mocambo to Oxford Bookstore at Park Street, to the new and upcoming food joints.

APRIL

April was another travel month! This time with my classmates and one senior from college. We went to a quiet resort near Shimla, and spent three amazing days there.

I also met up with Shubham at his college, and played some pool, which obviously made me miss my Calcutta friends, but it was a fun day nonetheless.

SUMMER (May- July)

The summer was kind of a bore. I did go to a lot of places in South Delhi, nooks and cranny to be exact, to conduct primary survey for my summer internship at DSE, but I also kept falling sick, because it was too freaking hot. I had a dengue scare, which I accept was 70% paranoia, but still you get why it wasn't such a great time for me. Also, my friends were all away, and the exams hadn't gone too well, so I was stressing out about marks too. I think the main reason why the summer was a bust was because of Brazil's really disappointing performance in the FIFA world cup which broke, nay shattered my heart.

 I did get to hang out with a couple of friends though.

One was Maitreyi, finishing her Masters from JNU, and the other was Jayasudha, studying MBA from my college, who was luckily in Delhi during the summers. I also went and stayed with my aunt and cousin at Dwarka, and that turned out to be ample fun!

AUGUST

August was another great month. The Third Semester started on 21 July, 2014, and by the first week of August I realized that this semester was going to be a good one. The profs were great, and I loved most of the subjects that I had taken up. I also fell in love with Bailey's Irish Cream. It is the best!

I also had a great day, with my roomie, and then ate at this really swanky place, Indigo Deli.

We also made this one helluva instant plan to go watch Papon's show at the opening ceremony of the North Eastern Film Festival at Siri Fort Auditorium. It was an awesome experience. The songs were amazing, the ambiance perfect and we had great north eastern food afterwards.

I also went to Hauz Khas Village, and ate at this cute little restaurant, after probably visiting 4 eateries; that was a lot of fun.

So, all in all, August was a pretty sweet month.

SEPTEMBER

More travel in sight. This time to Dehradun. And even though there were a few minor glitches, and I couldn't travel as much as I had wanted to, I did learn some amazing things about wildlife conservation and protection, and spent some quality time with friends, watching pretentious movie reviews and bitching about people I had hardly ever spoken to.

After the trip, I went home for pujas. I went to Calcutta and met with a few friends, and then went to Bokaro and met with more friends, and spent some quality time with my parents, knowing I won't be home in the winters. A decision, which I now, sorely regret.

OCTOBER

October was another good month. I met Ved after a really long time in Bokaro and then returned back to Delhi by the first week of October.

There was also a lot of festivities going on in this month, from Diwali to Halloween. And I finally did attend a Halloween theme party, for the first time, this year; doesn't matter that I had to leave before the party actually started. It was fun nonetheless, and I got to wear a witch's hat for a bit!

NOVEMBER

Though I didn't get to travel much, and had to say goodbye to my supervisor, November still couldn't be sad. Not only did I attend great lectures but also interacting with some incredible people.

One such speaker, who came for the closing lecture of the Wildlife course was Dr Sejal Wohra from WWF-India. 

We also finally got done with out thesis proposal presentation and submission, and a large portion of the class went to the mall to chill out.

We also had a lot of non-academic events happening this month, be it REtopia or the Combined Farewell.

And November came to a grand finish, when on the last day of the month (in the middle of the final exams) I went to attend the Food Festival, where I ate food from the Turkish and the Spanish Embassy food stalls, making it a really amazing Sunday.

And that is how awesome my first eleven months of the year were. 

The reason why I didn't wait for another month, so that I could document the entire year together is because I am secretly hoping that I will have enough fun in this month to be able to break my adventures into separate posts.