WHEW!! Am back home, and loving every moment of it. This trip to Delhi was a strange one....I normally love traveling and am happy being on the road 365 days a year, but this time I just could not wait to get back to Bombay. Actually came back three days earlier than I was supposed to! Still don't understand why.....

The trip to Delhi was fun in a lot of ways....catching up with Chitra (one of my two best friends in the whole wide world); spending time with Anjana Sharma (my college professor, mentor and the person who has made me what I am today); eating Nirulas pizza at Sharda's house while catching up with the world of cricket reporting; having a late-night animated discussion with Murli Karthik on the upcoming Pakistan tour; meeting my favorite niece whose 10th standard board exams start today; window shopping at Santushti; hogging chaat and kulfi at Nathu's and Haldiram....these are the things I really miss about Delhi while in Bombay!!

What I hate about Delhi is the fact that you just don't feel secure anyplace and at any time. Sharda's house was burglarized despite a half-inch steel grill, padlock bolt on the subsequent wooden door, mammoth Godrej lock on the bedroom door and solid Godrej cupboards. Is it possible to secure yourself any further?

While in Bombay I laugh at my parent's fears about my staying out late in the night, in Delhi I could not bring myself to stay out alone after 8 in the night. It was just too scary. People get mugged, raped, kidnapped and killed there in full daylight, and I was just not upto risking such stuff. And the horror stories that I heard from Chitra, on her own experiences of working and living in the city did not do anything to assuage my fears.

God, I hope I never have to work in Delhi ever again. Bombay does spoil you quite a bit :)