My trip to Delhi

Written by Melcom

If you ask me to sum up my experience at Delhi in one word/ phrase, I would say ‘mind-blowing’, ‘superb’, ‘wonderful’, ‘extraordinary’ and all other possible adjectives that would describe my good feeling. But before that I would really like to share my experience on various phases of my trip to Delhi.

To be very honest, I had never seen a live train in my life, perhaps there is that one time from my childhood but I can’t remember the experience. Experiencing the train for the first time was amazing. For the first time I saw so many people of different diversity standing on the junction waiting for their train to come. We sat and experienced our first wait for our train to come. It was fun but also the time where my travelling companion Niju, dropped his phone and the phone broke!

When I stepped inside the train…. our seats were waiting for us happily, expect our seats were away from each other but it was OK. It was an A/C compartment so definitely it was cold but fun. The train commenced its journey on 15^th of March 2015 exactly at 3.45 and off to Delhi. First time I realized that there is also other beautiful things exist outside Goa. Well, some beautiful things and also bad things. Beautiful things are mountains, greenery, bridges, animals, new and traditional houses, people of different culture etc. To be honest I always thought that India is progressing but after witnessing things with my own eyes, following are the things which I thought are the subject to my disappointment:-

1. I don’t want to be political, but I feel that the concept of ‘Swach Bharat’ is only practiced in the city and within the framework of Media (means it practices where there are media bites and etc.) not at the sides of the train. Where ever the trained moved, all I saw was garbage.
2. Lack of toilet facility: This I observed during the morning time. All I saw were people (especially the Men) defecating at the side of the train or side of the field.

I really feel sorry for this people but I feel such things may never change. Anyway too much of my “Neta Bashan” Moving on…inside the train I met a lovely family from Russia. Very nice people. We all had lot fun during the journey with them. I really had a good time with their 4 year old son . The food inside the train was good. Except one food item which I ate and which caused me a stomach upset .

It was indeed a very 38 hours of long journey.

Once we reached to Delhi, there were taxi driver waiting to take people off. They were just attacking people….trying to convince the customer with their best price. But we took the pre-paid taxi and off to Goa Niwas. Once thing about Delhi which I have learned is that all the road seem to look like each other . Person like me will definitely get lost.

The hotel in which we were staying, was indeed a beautiful. The room was beautiful. There were painting of some amazing artist and I very comfortable.

Speaking about the conference.

The conference was really good. Although I won’t be able to share about the whole conference here are some of my comments and experience:

1. The conference was indeed was a good one. I got to experience different kinds of panellist who represented their organization and gave their views on aspects of Public library.
2. Each one had their notion of Public Library. Some were good , some were horrible and some were tolerable.
3. At the conference, it was my privilege to meet people like Amrita Patwardhan, a very hard working lady , Usha Mukunda a very proactive lady , Neena Jha a very organised lady, Sarah a library lady and other delegates.
4. I loved the spirit of Usha and her love for children and making contacts with the other distinguish delegates.
5. I liked the food which they served at the conference and took active part at meal times.
6. However, the conference was not organised properly. There was too much of chaos and confusion about timings and a sense of being rushed through out the day.

About the workshop conducted by Sujata Noronha

Her workshop was enriching and fulfilling one. She introduced the ideas of how one should choose a book carefully and how one should make an effort to bring books to the children rather than just displaying them on the shelves.

She had a wide range of participants from senior most to student librarians. Each of them actively participated in the workshop. I hope they gained as much as they could! We also did a read aloud story of “fTwenty Five Rupees and Helicopter’ by Tanveer Iqbal and demonstrated how a read – aloud session can be conducted and what all should be done while a story is unfolding. We also met more amazing people like Mridula Koshy and others who run libraries at State, District and Community level.

I went on a Rickshaw tour and saw the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Supreme Court, India Gate. . Then we went to see Bahai Temple, one of the beautiful temple I ever saw. The temple brought peace to my mind.

I also went to Nehru Place. Man!!! That place was full of laptops and electronic stuff. The market was indeed crowed and filled with excitement and fun.

To conclude, I have learned many things from this trip and I hope I will cherish every moment of my life. Last but not the least, I would like to extend my thanks to Sujata Naronha for making my trip to Delhi possible. I would also like to thank Niju Mohan for accompanying me to Delhi and tolerating my nonsense on the trip. Without him I would have never travelled to Delhi and had such an enriching experience. Thank You…