pahadganj-a

the auto zips through the bylanes of Shahid Bhagat singh Marg.... its night, around 7pm. the delhi winter made its presence felt, much more than required, and that day wasnt any different. it was cold, fiery, for some weird reason. you already know beforehand, sometimes, the things that are going to unfold in the next few hours. the auto takes me to extremely conjusted and dirty lanes and suddenly i see outside and we'r surrounded by a million lodges. all around me they were just arbid names of hotels, motels, lodges and ofcoz the guest houses. the auto guy stops me there. he tells me "saab, yeh raha pahadganj"

sometime back: when i asked the auto driver if he would take me to pahadganj, there was an instant stare from him. i was a little taken aback... did i say something wrong", i asked myself. a few seconds later after he curtained his look, he asked where in Pahadganj, i told him "the german bakery". he said " acha, saat bajhe ho rahe saab, jaana chahoge?"
i said "ha, kyun", he said "nahi, aise hi pooch liya tha, chalo beto".

the first thought i got when i saw the place in its totality, was, oh bloody hellllll. where am i. if chandini chowk is crowded and dirty, then pahadganj is its son. bloody crwoded and filled with curious customers, onlookers, hippies, foriegners, sardars, and a whole bunch of pimps. they'r everywhere. just about every lodge there is,is a brothel. Just as i was walking, someone from behind, held me across my shoulder, gave a slight jerk and asked me "u want hashish, ganja, charas, coke" i said "no, no no no thanks" he asked me further "u want ladies, gents, top, bottom, angrez or desi" it was like someone planted an atom bomb, right next to my ear, and i went numb and dumb. after a few seconds, when i recovered from my extended shock, i replied very feebly "nahi, no" he insisted that i try, and i insisted him to leave me alone and alive. he had this glare on his face, and with all curious eyes he asked me " kyun bhai, kuch tho chaiye hoga, yeh pahadganj hai, india gate nahi"

the place is occupied by thousands of foreigners. most of them who'r still in a trance. they probably smoked up weed or hash years back, and havent returned back to the normal world yet. most of them look at you with all brooding eyes, trying to tell u something, trying to give u sweet hints tat they want somethin, or just smile at you as if they knew u for quite sometime and u happened to pass by. the women there deserve a special mention for their sense of fashion. well it doesnt exist for starters, and secondly its just a few pieces of cloth, infact waste cloth from a total flop tailors shop, put together. they look bizarre. they will not talk, but their entire body makes it very clear, that they lost it long back. the men there have hair longer than that of women, and most of them are from france. u will surely get this thought atleast once in ur already clumped mind "am i in a bad version of goa".

i was enjoying all this. not that i wanted to pounce on someone and sleep with them instantly, but everything around me had only one thing screaming out loud "we dont care wat u think, we'r screwed and stoned, go to hell, or come to bed"

when i realised i spent alot of my time dazzzing around, i decided to go to the german cafe, and then the diamond cafe. both were quite close to each other, and both extremely small, but both extremely beautiful. at the german one, i had a lasagne, and it was superb. it was just perfect and it was wat i needed. but i couldnt sit there too long, cos there was this pimp who was stalking me and i was super freeked out. i thnk he traded me without my own knowledge, and any moment someone's gonna come and do something REALLY bad, was what i had in mind all the while the lasagne went into my mouth. so i quickly gobbled my lasagne, and headed to the new diamond cafe. it was a little more peacefull, and was astray of pimps. i sat there and ordered for a beer. it arrived on my table even before i could breathe the next. super fast service. well its another thing, that i sat next to the fridge. i sat there, and felt tired. not phsyically, but mentally. i was filled with all kinds of pictures and frames, and i realised why most of them there sit so dazed. its cos, the entire place is like tat. it just dissolves u, and throws u out from its core just when u wanna understand whats happenin. but mind u, i was feeling quite good. dazed, but good, even without touching a dust of weed.

just when i was tucked into my own thoughts, a white man, sat in front of me, at my table. there was no place, and hence he decided to sit there (i obviously dint need a table i thought)(it was my 5th beer). i just sighed to myself "oh god another horny phirang". anyways, after a few uncomfortable minutes, he asked me "delhi?". i was like "yeah, and you" he said, with pride "france". i was like ok so, ur like a drop from the ocean, there are like so many futrvouis here". he probably wanted to hit me, but hey they'r romantic i heard, so he said "iv been here for 6 yrs" i havent gone back home""india my country now" ouch...

his name was jeff, but he now calls himself krishna.

it was already 3 hrs since i came to pahadganj, and i felt i hardly saw anything. the craving to see more, and the blessed company of jeff/krishna was quite tempting, but passable. it was too late. it was around 9.30, and the autos wud charge alot, considering i have to travel 20 kms to get home. i carried myself (happens to me after 10 bottles of beer) to the auto stand. my mind was so peaced out, so spaced out, and still had such horrid plus amazing memeries of the place. i was still in the place, but was not scared anymore. everything abt the place will scare u whether u like it or not. everyone there looks at u, whether u glance back or not. and everyone's high, if u are or not. i was walking to the auto stand, and an auto stopped by, i told him where i needed to go. he asked me for double. i wanted to show him the middle finger, but he would have thought im telling him single meter. i kept bargaining, and fighting with him, to reduce, and just then suddenly someone held my hand and asked, "u want ladies, gents, top, bottom, desi or angrezi". i looked at the auto and screamed "DOUBLE METER CHALO JALDI"...

im goin there next week btw, for a documentry shoot. i will kill that pimp.