Malvika's Ramblings

Rashtrapati Bhavan

Last night my friends and I went to Rashtrapati Bhavan. The building is so huge and so intimidating that even though people are allowed to drive up to it, you will find very few souls in the area; just the guards.

 

Rashtrapati Bhavan is the Indian President’s residence and the biggest palace in the world. Although it was built for the British chief in India – the Viceroy, he hardly had the opportunity to live in it as the Brits were kicked out of the country soon after the palace was built.

 

We headed towards the palace from India Gate on Rajpath road. It was night and the area was bathed in twinkling orange light. The palace was completely invisible in the mist until we came close to it and its form emerged slowly. A lone ice-cream man sat at requisite distance from the President’s house. His customer’s came, made their purchase quickly and drove off. In the sky, we could see the moon swimming in vast, vast space. Maybe it’s the only place in Delhi where one can look from horizon to horizon.

 

We drove upto the gates very carefully; hoping that no one would mistake us for terrorists and shoot us DeAd. On reaching, we were told by the guards that if we had visited from 10 am to 8 pm, we could have gone even further (and perhaps given the President a tip or two!). Phillip destroyed me when we raced on the wide road. What a Maurice Greene! And then, we turned and went, happy to be living in the capital of India, the seat of POWer.