4.5 hours

Approx twice the time of air travel between Delhi-Bangalore or
One and half times the duration of any Hindi movie or
Slightly more than duration of twenty twenty cricket match or
Time it takes to cover meagre 29 km strech between Noida and Delhi (subject to rain)
July 27 – Monday - 7:30 pm
Weather: Cloudy
Place: Ring Road - Delhi
Culprit: Rain
Victim: Delhiites
Verdict: Your call !!

That day I was car pooling with my friend Gaurav Khurana. Although he was suppose to pick me up at 7:00 IST, but nevermind IST, my dear friend follows KST viz IST + x where x is the lateness quotient. But the weather was nice that day and I did'nt mind waiting a little. We started off from my office towards home at exactly 7:30 pm.

The traffic was a little slower than usual but we were'nt too concerned. We were discussing about the process to file ITR online and enjoying the good weather. I offered to drive as I wanted my friend to have a look at my form-16. Little did I know that it would turn out to be a costly proposition in the end. Then it started to rain at around 7:45 pm and we were happy to get some relief from scorching heat of Delhi.

We were moving slow but were pre-occupied with the discussion on filing ITR and did'nt bother about our pace. We slowly crossed DND flyway, south extension and AIIMS. We reached Motibagh flyover at around 8:50 pm. It had taken us 30 minutes more than usual to reach there. We thought another 20-25 min and we'll be home. By this time it was raining very heavily. Rain god was generous. The prayers of Delhiites were heard and rain god was showering his blessings.

Gaurav was tired so he took a little nap. Meanwhile, I was just admiring the rain. It was 9:15pm and we had’nt moved a bit. Most of the vehicles were turned off by now and so was mine. It was pitch dark and I was listening to sound of the rain. Just one of those things that soothes my mind. Lying there on middle of one of the busiest roads, driving for past 1hour 45 minutes, with no sign of traffic moving, and starting to feel hungry as well but I was’nt complaining. I was almost asleep listening melodious rain drops when I saw some lights flashing in front of my eyes. Traffic was ready to move, or so did I think. For next 45 minutes or so traffic moved at snails pace and we managed to cross significant 800metres of the motibagh flyover. It was 10pm and by now Gaurav was also awake. He offered to drive but since he was looking tired so I decided to stay in the driving seat.

Dhaula Kuan was approx 1.5 km or so from there and my home another 8 km from there. After Dhaula Kuan, Delhi cantt area starts and the road really widens out and we were hoping that there’ll be no trouble after that. However, there is a diversion from Dhaula Kuan towards Gurgaon which merges ahead into Delhi Cantt along Army golf course. We were very hungry and decided to defer the decision of choosing the route. We had a lot of time to think about it considering the pace of traffic. Gaurav left the car to find out something to eat. Ho got hold of some patties. The patties was totally soaked in water and it seemed as if stuffing inside had been pasted with gum. On any other day I would have definitely not eaten it but it was’nt just any other day. We ate gleefully. It was 10:30 now and we were still 1200 metres from Dhaula Kuan.

Distance was best measured in metres that day.

I had received numorous calls from home till now and there was’nt much to tell except that we’r still in Motibagh. Finally we reached the Dhaula Kuan at 11:30pm and Gaurav told me that we better take the diversion towards Gurgaon. I suggested that we stick to our usual route straight through Dhaula Kuan. There wasn’t much argument and we took the diversion. Good call in the end as we later found out that the other route wasn’t cleared until midnight. The way ahead was clean and we reached the home at exactly 12pm tired and exhausted.
Next day I heard comments of our honourable chief minister Shiela Dikshit that the rain had caused just a little trouble on roads for only two hours or so.
Gee!! Is that so ?