I remember so much better places that I've walked through. Obviously, because you move slower and commit to memory so many more things than you would notice otherwise.
I've always wanted to share the joy of a good walk, and I've been lucky to have been able to do so many times. A love for walking has often been the common ground from where some very precious friendships have begun.
Over six years in Delhi have been great, walking-wise. My first long walks were in Purani Dilli, where i lived before I moved to Hindu College.
It was hard to avoid the shared association of the walled city with other beacons of the medieval East that I'd read about, cities like Samarkand, Bukhara, Esfahan, Damascus; a clump of crowded residential areas alongside lanes radiating from a huge monument in the centre.
I'd read somewhere that the difference between an empire and a kingdom is often discernible from their monuments. Assuming the Mughals as my plane of reference, I can say I agree.
But the monuments are just where the charm of the old city begins. There is only so much that you can find walking around a mosque or a (once) riverside fort. The fun begins in the bylanes. There is a lot to say about that, and I will procrastinate.
Then there was North Campus. I still know of few places more suited to walking in the city, offering such variance across seasons. My undergrad days were my best days in Delhi, and walking was one major reason why they were that way.
I curse the inertia that his hitherto prevented me from sharing what I've always wanted to in the only way I can: writing. Fresh out of school in 2005, I'd thought life would be one long association with the written word, a good portion of it written by me.
Which is how it stayed for say, three years. Then of course, inertia took over.
I suppose it's never too late to begin again. Avast, Sloth! Let others curse thee.
I write most happily the things I think of when I walk, so there is a lot I owe to the business of walking.
To all those who read this, I crave the indulgence of your feedback.
I'll try keeping inertia at bay, because there's lots of places walked through, lots of people met, lots of things thought about, and an unfortunate sense of humour all thrown into the bag.
Walk with me, then.
