The visit to Azadpur Mandi and Old Delhi Railway Station

The visit to Azadpur Mandi and Old Delhi Railway Station

The stay in the national capital has been truly mesmerising, witness to a a spate of release of advisory on your long-lasting battery. Apart from revealations having widespread ramifications, truly revealing has been the price of vegetables and other commodities brought to your table.
It was a second visit to Azadpur Mandi in five months and herein i was amidst vegetables and other gems. The visit the second time was post 12 prime against a ride in Delhi Metro which took 30 minutes to reach Adarsh station and which had among passengers some expressing concern on price of petro. Having successfully negotiated the stairs i walked at a brisk pace to reach Azadpur and its base. Streams of cart and a little less visible small trucks laden with vegetables were seen in operation,  reaching their destination.

As i entered from a rear gate i came across men and those possessing the power to prove the same carrying bagful of vegetables and other variables. Probably would have walked 300-odd metres to reach the vegetables which were on a budget parameter tempting hot. Gobhi ( cauliflower) could be seen in plenty; some reaching as high as 15rs and touching a low of 10rs a kg, quite a monumental achievement given outside they have a high price firmament. All i could gather during the stay in Azadpur Mandi was a handful of gobhi (cauliflower), parwal (trichosanthes diocia) (also known as pointed gourd), tomato, ghiya (bottle gourd), ginger and onions.Gobhi came between 10 and 15rs a kg, parwal around 10rs a kg, tomato rs 10 a kg, four pieces of ghiya for 10rs and perhaps onion coming for 20rs a kg. Perhaps i could have added a fair sprinkling of aloo (potato) and todi (ridge gourd) but the prevailing load coming for 120rs was enough to discourage me to go for any extra.

The walk back to metro station was not without its share of sighting of kashmir apples being unloaded from trucks. Herein one needs to stress that it is better to get vegetables from here as outsiders look for every opportunity to exploit you and in the name of monthly payment take away your peace. It would have been better to keep expenses low so that the dependence on outsiders would be less which would at least close one window of exploitation.

The other day the visit to Old Delhi Railway station too happenned agaist a ride in Delhi Metro. Herein to be noted is the time and distance it takes after you exit the metro and reach the station is considerable. Given the rush and people using this option, some extra time should be kept if one intends to reach station to catch a train. Once you are out of station, the first sight on the left side is of a space that clearly instructs not to relieve yet the persuasion has not produced the desired result. Better would have been to raise a public toilet.

As you reach the station the window which used to be on the left side of entrance for procuring platform ticket has been shifted to a place where general tickets are disbursed. As you enter the station on the left side of the first platform which used to house railway canteen has been split between a private party running a food outlet and railway canteen in the rear.

The first platform has a bunch of vendors selling tea and eatables and here unless the nexus is broken tea vendors and different department people would continue to sail. Apart from the premises that is split between a railway canteen and a private food outlet, there is another private food outlet which has outlets across railway stations in the country and it gains more gathering at any given time. Railway canteen should have been given priority. If you look at the tracks the repeated usage it shows but the funds meant to keep it entirely fit does not show.  Some believe every year this Old Delhi Railway station gets funds released for its maintenance and upkeep. And herein if funds are properly utilised with a record kept of vendors operating on platforms who get their licences renewed for their services and not for pleasing higher authorities, this railway station would get its sheen back. Transparency in the entire railway station and the functioning would prove fruitful for the entire railway organisation.