An Early Morning at Connaught Place

The sky was beautiful after the rains through the night. The Click Walk group had planned to meet in Connaught Place to go shutter crazy on Saturday morning, 14 July 2012. There was no reason for me to miss this walk and I should have been amongst the first people to have arrived. But I was the last one to join the group. I did not hear the alarm when it rang for the first time and I woke up only 15 minutes after the appointed time. I rushed and managed to reach in another 15 minutes to the spot of meeting. And boy am I glad that I did not miss this one!

The skies were in a generous mood and showed me all their colours! 

Golden

Brown

Blue

There were devotees who were up and about even before us. I spotted this garlanded symbol of the Shani God on the footpath.

Worship

By the time I reached the group, they were already busy clicking pigeons.

Shutter crazy over pigeons

I did my share of pigeon clicking.

To the sun

Chaos

In one direction

This group of crows caught my attention. This one seemed to tell others, this carcass is mine!

Mine. All mine!

With others still busy clicking the pigeons, I decided to enjoy an empty Connaught Place. You can barely see one pillar without people crowding the place in the afternoon or evening or night.

Pillars of Strength

The editor in me could not help herself from spotting a spelling mistake.

The case of a missing P

I saw some photo-friends move away from the pigeons

Click-Board

Some remains of the previous day were still visible on the grey roads.

Road advertising

I turned my attention to me and decided to get a self portrait with this well dressed mannequin.

Arm candy?

The stores with their well-done window displays did not hold my attention for long and I again pointed my camera to the blue skies.

Travelling

 Though the traffic was slow in the early hours, there were birds flying, autorickshaws moving and the Metro stations had also been cleaned and readied to welcome passengers.

Up and Down

 For  some, morning was still a few minutes away. So they slept in innovative beds made by joining chairs and a big stool. This is what is called 'jugaad' in India and what Delhi is famous for!

Jugaad

 Some men had been discarded and were lying carelessly on the roadside.

Discarded Men

 There were other men doing the job of cleaning the heart of Delhi before the crowds came.

Hard at work

 Not satisfied with clicking pictures of pigoens, sleeping men and the skies, a friend and I decided to venture a little and take the view of the city from the top of the white buildings designed by Lutyens. Now, partly residential and partly commercial these buildings and their approach from the middle circle is a revelation. It was surprising for me, someone who has lived in the area for nearly a decade and a half, as well.

Red

 We were told by the care taker of the building that we can climb this ladder if we wanted to get a bird's eye view of the Inner Circle of Connaught Place. Unfortunately, we were not adventurous enough.

Steep Climb

 With not much else to see, we returned to the pigeon point and I tried to capture all the colours I could.

Colours

I then pestered the photography expert with us, Abhijeet Kothale, to teach me the technique of getting a handheld burst zoom shot. This is what I got in my first attempt.

Centre

We ended the morning's shoot with a cup of tea. The roadside vendor looked like a Marathi man (because of the cap he is wearing) and a small chat revealed and we were happily surprised to know that he belonged to Bihar. This was a wonderful case of national integration.

Chai!