Our Air Sahara flight from Kolkata reached Delhi on time. The flight to Chicago was in the night. So my uncle drove me around Delhi for a couple of hours on a quick recap tour. So don't expect an extensive coverage. Just a few shots. Some of the aerial shots are greyish. Sorry for that.

Landing in Delhi...

1
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9853/delhiaerial10xd.jpg

2
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4234/delhiaerial38lw.jpg

3
http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/4504/delhiaerial40ln.jpg

More photos on the way...

Nice Pics!
Dont blame yourself on the greyish pics;Delhi is always like that. It always has this smog layer in the sky;which screws the skyline and views(from the plane)

Nice Pics!
Dont blame yourself on the greyish pics;Delhi is always like that. It always has this smog layer in the sky;which screws the skyline and views(from the plane)

But from the window it looked quite clear to me this time when we landed. There were remnants of clouds from previous night's thunderstorms. But it seemed nice from the air. On ground it was a different story.

Sun, good effort.. :applause:

And you are lucky to have uncles and cousins who will take you for a drive, even in the midst of these busy schedules.. :)

Sun, good effort.. :applause:

Thanks!

And you are lucky to have uncles and cousins who will take you for a drive, even in the midst of these busy schedules.. :)

In Delhi, it is always good to have "connections".

:)

More aerials

1
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/4504/delhiaerial64av.jpg

2
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/6439/delhiaerial73vo.jpg

3 - Metro Rail track

http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/5494/delhiaerial83tj.jpg

Nice,awesome Pics man! You can see 2 metro stations..

But from the window it looked quite clear to me this time when we landed. There were remnants of clouds from previous night's thunderstorms. But it seemed nice from the air. On ground it was a different story.

hmm..ok

Delhi and surroundings is a peculiar mix of planned sprawling communities and unplanned growth. As the city is expanding, it is swallowing up villages and small haphazardly developed towns, but in a strange way. Often these small urban settlements or villages are left as they are and surrounded by planned townships around them. The price of the land shoots up in these places and people either sell off or build two three storey houses with only one aim - to make money while the sun shines. So at one moment you are in 21st century India and suddenly you are bang in the middle of 19th century style bazaar communities. I did notice lots of poor people and this could be because of migration of poor people from Bihar, UP and other states and neighbouring nations. These people were working hard in the terrible heat - selling fruits, food or working on huge road and flyover projects. While they worked, thousands of airconditioned cars (including one in which I was) drove through wide boulevards seemingly caring little about what's happening outside. The buses in the expanded areas are often shocking. They are run by private enterpreneurs who have no care for amenities for passengers. (an example of when privatization without effective rule of law doesn't help) A lot of them are probably coming in from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Coming from Kolkata where buses are ridiculed as "murir tin" (puffed rice tin), I thought even Kolkata buses looked better. The only positive thing is that the Delhi region buses run on CNG. The quality of buses speaks in a way of the quality (or laxity) of the various administrations which supposedly look after the "welfare" of people. In most cases the Babus, netas and police are probably lining their own pockets. Kronik spoke about the problem in the Kolkata thread and his analysis is probably correct.

- Some more aerials

Example of a planned development around haphazard settlement

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2733/delhiaerial90qr.jpg

Two Metro Stations

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/7035/delhiaerial100am.jpg

Landing at the airport (time 11:00 AM)

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/549/delhilandingsahara3gu.jpg

Several Indian airlines and one Jet Airways

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/8813/delhiairport200xz.jpg

Sahara, Deccan, Jet, SpiceJet, Deccan, Deccan

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/1653/delhiairport219hs.jpg

Sahara, Sahara, Jet, Kingfisher, Jet, Sahara

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/6421/delhiaiport16tz.jpg

Several Indian Airlines including new colors - plus Cargo complex (FedEx, Korean etc..)

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/4179/delhiairport252zm.jpg

We get our parking spot! Note the Alliance aircrafts and the Jet turboprop. Later while going on a bus to the arrival terminal, our bus had to slam hard (and most of us who were standing fell pretty hard - either on floor or other passengers' laps!) as it almost hit that turbo prop. Thank God we didin't end up as a news item in all the 24 hour news channels that we have in India today.

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/7992/delhiairport248xs.jpg

As I have said earlier, Delhi (and other cities) desperately need good airports.

The Air Sahara flight was good. They ran out of non vegetarian food and we had to eat spicy vegetarian stuff (which I dislike on flights, I prefer bland non veg continental). At least for Kolkata flights they should have more non veg stuff. Apart from that, the service was excellent. American Airlines flight attendants should learn some lessons in courteous and professional service from the men and women of Air Sahara and Jet Airways. More on my American Airlines experience later.

Great pics! Delhi Metro!

Nehru Place - around 5:30 PM

Nehru Place was one of the several 'places' to cater that was built a couple of decades back, to meet the business and commercial needs of an ever expanding Dehi. It seems to have improved quite a bit since my last visit. But they can easily make this a much better place with a little more effort. They have to get rid of those big, well fed cattle which seem to be a permanent fixture, as if waiting for tourists to take their pictures.

Driving towards

1
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/3476/nehruplacedelhi90yo.jpg

2
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/9942/delhinehruplace117gt.jpg

3 - Almost there

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/2285/delhinehruplace127dl.jpg

4

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3760/delhinehruplace8wh.jpg

5 - anyone can identify this?

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/7478/delhinehruplace11hk.jpg

6 - Modi Tower
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8350/delhinehruplace23zh.jpg

7 - anyone can identify these?

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8587/delhinehruplace34hj.jpg

8 - ParkRoyal IntercCntinental, International Trade Tower

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/8425/delhinehruplace42zk.jpg

9 - ParkRoyal InterContinental

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8909/nehruplacedelhiintercontinenta.jpg

10.
- check out the Lotus Temple (Bahai Temple) at a distance

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/2716/delhinehruplace22kl.jpg

11 - Corporate Towers

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/1337/nehruplacedelhi58ko.jpg

12- ICICI Tower

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/2636/nehruplacedelhi64bo.jpg

12-A ICICI Tower - another view

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/9005/delhinehruplace77rf.jpg

Nice pics there Suncity!

Gud tht u hadn't had to go thru the crapy New Delhi railway station......god somthing shld be done abt tht.

Nice pics there Suncity!

Gud tht u hadn't had to go thru the crapy New Delhi railway station......god somthing shld be done abt tht.

I think, I found Delhi to have improved a lot since my last visit. All our cities need good planners and enforcers. Plus co-operation from citizens too. When citizens don't actively participate in keeping a city neat and clean, no administration can do anything except by using the rod - something that is not possible in India.

As I said in the Kolkata thread, Delhi has no dearth of flyovers and wide roads. I saw a lot of construction activity to widen roads (some near the airport are going to be real wide!). The Gurgaon Expressway is under construction and once completed, it should be a great addition. Now they will have to do something about the power situation. It is not really in Delhi's hands as it has to depend on surrounding states for power. So it is in Delhi's best interest to keep Uttar Pradesh happy or it will have to deal with sly (but incompetent) politicians like Mulayam Singh Yadav playing the victim card to get votes in UP.


On the way to Connaught Place

Near Moolchand/Ring Road

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/5014/delhiflyover11jb.jpg

Along the JN stadium towards Oberoi

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/5913/delhiflyover21rp.jpg

Opposite the Oberoi

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/7563/delhiflyover31qe.jpg

New Delhi has plenty of five star hotels although they are so expensive, that cash strapped tourists have to stay in slum like Paharganj area. Delhi needs dozens and dozens of mid priced but good hotels before the commonwealth Games. But there is an excessive stress on building pompous five stars (probably because of high rate of returns).

The Oberoi - one of the older luxury hotels

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/4715/delhioberoihotel8mo.jpg

The Shangrila

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/2313/delhishangrilahotel4yv.jpg

Le Meridien

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/3881/delhilemeridienhotel0is.jpg

Nice update dude!

Hey i agree....i'm jst pointing a fact man. I do wanna see gud infrastructure man.....yeah public has a lot to do with tht though...

:)

Jawahar Vyapar Kendra

http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/9667/delhistc4bx.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3912/delhistc21ac.jpg

Quoting the pictures would screw the thread up,so i am replying to what you said above certain images.

Near Moolchand/Ring Road

Thats the "GK-1 flyover" in SOUTH DELHI.

The flyover is part of a radian from the ring road to the outer ring road.
the right side of the picture leads north to moolchand while the left side leads south to Chirag Delhi and connects to Outer ring Road.


Along the JN stadium towards Oberoi
Thats the Oberoi flyover which was built back in 1981. It runs over Delhi's local train lines.


Opposite the Oberoi

Thats the Mathura Road flyover,the flyover which goes right in the picture is heading south to Mathura where Lord Krishna was born and then to Agra and in the end Kolkata.

BTW Shangrila was the place where infamous Tandoori Kaand took place,in which a guy was thrown into a Tandoori Tawa and was cooked alive!

Jawahar Vyapar Kendra

Thats the Cottage industry Center(name is something in the same lines). Is opposite Janpath which is just next to CP.
Sun,do u have any Delhi metro pics? Did you go to the CP metro station??

Thats the Cottage industry Center(name is something in the same lines). Is opposite Janpath which is just next to CP.
Sun,do u have any Delhi metro pics? Did you go to the CP metro station??

No I didn't see the Metro. Just didn't have the time. Next visit I will spend a few more days in Delhi.

Aren't you going on your vacation to Delhi/Nagpur?

Yeah,my plan for India is almost finalised.

June25th- Reach Delhi
June28th-Agra by road(2 1/2 hr drive)
June30th-Delhi
July8th- Leave for Nagpur
July20th-Leave for Bhopal,MP
July28th-Back to saddi dilli
Aug1-Back to US

Cheers :)

nice pics sun!

havent seen the other thread...its huige! great effort...

Thanks Kshatriya!

There is massive makeover going on at Connaught Place. Hopefully this place will regain some of its lost glamour after construction is complete.

Way to Metro Station and lots of pigeons!

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/4869/delhicounnaughtplacemetro6no.jpg

The entrance to a Metro Station and the LIC building in the background

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9115/delhiconnaughtplace19hu.jpg

Tolstoy Marg

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/34/delhitolstoymarg8vo.jpg

nice pictures Sun:)

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/504/kolkatadelhi20067481xn.jpg

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/6246/downtowndelhiindia4oq.jpg

Gopal Das Bhavan

http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/338/delhigopaldasbhavan7dh.jpg

Statesman House

http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/4376/delhistatesmanhouse1af.jpg

Nirmal Tower

http://img277.imageshack.us/img277/7476/delhinirmaltower5cd.jpg

Nice pics Sun.

Connaught Place is the perfect location for some swanky new skyscrapers, and they can begin by tearing some of the 70's showcases down.

Nice pics man!

You see that cannaught circus fire station? I used to go to my dentist,who was located just opposite to the firestation every Saturday, in 3 weeks for 3-4 years! :)

Nice pics Sun.

Connaught Place is the perfect location for some swanky new skyscrapers, and they can begin by tearing some of the 70's showcases down.

Yes, many of those highrise buildings represent the greed (over asthetics) of seventies and eighties The least the building managements can do is regularly paint the exteriors.

Some swanky skyscrapers would do a hell lot of good for CP. But don't think anything is in the works.

___________________________________

Example of a refurbishment with a glass facade - this looks much better than what it was earlier.

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/2987/delhirefurbishment0ur.jpg

Right next to it is a white highrise buildng which seems to have every window broken. Is it in the process of being demolished? Does anyone know? And then there is the unfinished for ages highrise at the end of the street. What's that building and why is it in that state?

And what is this one?

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/6315/delhiundercons7jz.th.jpg (http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=delhiundercons7jz.jpg)

Barakhamba Road (the Birla building - glass facade- is a nice one).

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/4324/delhibarakhambaroad1dk.jpg

Hansalaya and Vijaya

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/4961/delhihansalaya9dq.jpg

I am hoping indiansunite or anyone else will cover the other streets with highrise buildings in this area. I didn't have the time.

^^ i got a few.. will post them soon..

There is massive makeover going on at Connaught Place. Hopefully this place will regain some of its lost glamour after construction is complete.

the CP Metro Station is directly under the Circle itself - that's the construction-site you must have seen - i think they're gonna turn the whole inner circle into a park... i read something of that kind when i went to the station when i was there on my holiday.. then i got busted by this guard for taking a photo, but it was worth it.. :)

great pics as always Sun!
hope there's more to come..

I am hoping indiansunite or anyone else will cover the other streets with highrise buildings in this area. I didn't have the time.


25 days left..you'll get everything there is there :)

Some of these buildings definetly need a makeover! Painting the Hansalaya would make a certain difference.

Oh but great pictures though!

Great pics Suncity :okay:

Thanks everyone..

:)

Another pic of Barakhamba Road buildings. I think when they built these buildings they never thought people could afford airconditioners.

http://img431.imageshack.us/img431/859/barakhambacloseup7jx.th.jpg (http://img431.imageshack.us/my.php?image=barakhambacloseup7jx.jpg)

The next set of pics is blurry and the light is in the wrong direction giving a peculiar colour to the pics...

As we make a turn, you get a glance of the InterContinental hotel in CP.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7661/delhiintercont5nt.jpg

More highrises on Tolstoy Marg (probably Atma Ram, Rohit House..)

http://img318.imageshack.us/img318/3940/delhitowers1ty.jpg

Ambadeep

http://img318.imageshack.us/img318/9012/ambadeepdelhi0xc.jpg

Ambadeep, Ansals, Hindustan Times on Kasturba Gandhi Marg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7847/delhiambadeep26re.jpg

New Delhi has plenty of beautiful, tree lined roads. In fact New Delhi looks really green from the top of the highrise buildings. One look at the Old Delhi however sets you back by a few centuries.

Raisina Road

1
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7838/delhileafyroads18oj.jpg

2
http://img431.imageshack.us/img431/5227/delhileafygreenroad4ex.jpg

Rail Bhavan

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/6196/railbhavandelhi3yt.jpg

Raisina road continued

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9263/delhigreenlane3qo.jpg

Jawahar Vyapar Kendra

http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/9667/delhistc4bx.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3912/delhistc21ac.jpg

my mum worked at stc 9 years ago b4 we shifted to auckland NZ

how u got the metro pics from the plane is beyond me =\. h4x :)

Sansad Bhavan (Parliament)

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/8222/parliadelhi0zg.jpg

Rajpath

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/3368/delhirajpath7ly.jpg