Delhi & the Qutub!

It was a hot summer weekend in 2007 that we packed our bags to Delhi. Reema my wife was all excited for she was meeting couple of her close friends from college days. I have my memories of Delhi from my various visits to the city. Son of a Hon. Flight Lieutenant (retired) of the Indian Air Force though I got to travel a lot around the country, though never stayed in Delhi.

During all these years and trips I have been growing up wanting to own a camera. What sort of came in between was my father's belief that I was not ready to have one...the best chance being fiddling with an almost antique Agfa! My first camera was (and still in very good shape) a Kodak KB10. And this is the one ( was upset that I had to make do at that time) I carried for this trip. Travelling around the country and the countryside I developed a strong liking for photography. This became more and more serious during my early days in advertising. Working with the creative guys and some very good photographers around the country. And there started my serious hunt for a good camera. When I started the best digital cameras available in the country was 3 mega pixel camera and the manual ones looked oh so heavy!

Suddenly am wondering why I started talking about my camera...oh yes! Delhi! In all my trips to Delhi and even a year that spent staying very close to it, Air Force Station Hindan, Ghaziabad to be precise...I never got to travel around Delhi...to see the history...to soak its culture. And one day all of sudden I had finished my schooling and was to pack my bags to Madurai. This is when I realised that I may not get a chance to visit Delhi. I pestered my dad to take me around Delhi for a pure 'pose-click-go' trip on our Bajaj Super! Dad realising my urge also requested one of his colleagues to lend his camera ( a rather heavy and complicated piece, don't remember the brand). Once back from the trip eagerly sent the camera to the shop to get the negative processed and prints developed. An hour later my dad came back with the worst news possible. While removing the roll, it got stuck, and ripped into two. Alas...

I wondered if there went my memories of Delhi...till I was back there almost 15 years later. Even before I landed my agenda was very clear...besides meeting Reema's friends of course! The first place to visit was Qutub. Just before we went for this trip, the New Seven Wonders of the World poll was over and the winners were announced. While everybody around was happy, proud and what not that the Taj made it there were a few upset quarters about the Qutub missing out. This time with a lot of time on hand I set out with my wife and her friends to experience and soak in Qutub! Armed with my Kodak KB 10, I ended up spending a good 3 hours at the Qutub. Observing...reading....clicking and chatting. Was a tinge upset that I didn't have a better camera. The roll got over at Qutub itself. Was planning to get it processed back in Bangalore initially but as I started clicking I became more curious to see the prints the minute the roll was over. I managed to find a photography store and surprisingly I got the CD within 2 hours!!!!

Once back from the day's trip the first thing we did was to see what the CD had in store for us. The results were amazing. Over the next few days when I shared the pictures with my friends and colleagues they were couldn't believe that they were clicked with a Kodak KB 1o! Some of pictures got featured in my company's newsletter too. This also proved that my interest in photography was more serious than I thought. When I visited the place and also through the pictures I realised Qutub Minar has lots more to it than the main tower....