As I exited the hotel bright and early in the morning, there it was, gleaming in glorious Wine Red. That’s right, Hyundai had given us yet another top-end Santa Fe for our trip up north, and the colour on this one just popped, catching the eye instantly. I couldn’t spend too long admiring what would be my ride for the days to follow, however, because we had a long day ahead of us and had to get cracking.
Our first stop for the day was to be at the beginning of Rajpath, flanked by the Secretariat building and with the Rashtrapati Bhavan as our backdrop. The Rashtrapati Bhavan is, of course, the mansion that the President of India calls his home for the duration of his tenure, so don’t expect it to be featured on an episode of MTV Cribs. Although how awesome would that be – “Hi MTV, I’m Narendra Modi, and this is my crib.” The roads of New Delhi are spectacular, and scarcely populated in the early hours of the morning, allowing us to take in all the sights at leisure. Our next stop was just a skip down the road to the India Gate, where prep work for the Independence Day celebration was in full swing.
We also ran across a most singular individual at the India Gate, an elderly gentleman who had rescued (read: bought) a kit of pigeons from an illegal trader, and was in the act of freeing them at this iconic venue while we were there, which I thought was a more fitting tribute to the Independence Day than any of the decorations I had witnessed out there on the day. It would have been remiss of us to leave the area without bowing our heads in the direction of the Amar Jawan Jyoti that burns in homage to the Unknown Soldier – the martyrs who pledged and lost their lives for our nation.
