Traveling within a city usually tends to become a hassle specially if it’s far distance, you’re an outsider and you’re on a budget. Commuting in the capital was largely a delight thanks to the lovely colorful strands of noodles spread all over and even outside the city. Although the Pink line was close to my heart for more than one reason, I enjoyed the punctual Yellow line too. The older Blue, Red and Yellow routes run Bombardier rolling stock which have a very soothing warm lighting.

What’s more soothing were the dot matrix displays running serif typography. There was something deeply satisfying in watching the beautifully crafted letterforms glide across the displays specially when in comparison to the LCD panels in the more modern Hyundai Rotem rolling stock. Granted the LCD displays are much more functional, in displaying various kinds of information at the same time, being easy to customize and monetized but there is something about the carefully arranged dots in the serif display that just feels welcoming, warm and human.

The soft curves of the serif work better with the Devanagari script and the use of color seems far more deliberate.

Other stations also use the dot-matrix display boards but with Sans Serif blood flowing in them. I’ll leave it to you to decide which one looks better.

The LCD display onboard the newer trains can fit the entire route in one screen however, from far you’d struggle to read it properly.

Regardless of these chotu-motu pangey itthe-otthey, the system is super efficient, regular and well-maintained which easily makes it the backbone of Delhi’s public transportation system. Co-incidentally it has led me down the rabbit hole of well planned and efficient public transportation infrastructure of many other cities which hold enormous potential in moving people, reducing the number of cars on the road.

A few weeks ago on a chilly Sunday afternoon, I needed to catch some sun. The chilly air in the capital was getting to my bones and yours truly is more suited to tropical weather. So I walk to the nearby park and walked to a shady spot and start staring at the kids who are playing. Ah yes, textbook predatory behavior. In my defense, the group of old uncles playing cards and the couples munching on peanuts were rather boring. The kids on the other hand, reminded me of looney tunes, same reason you’ll see them here.

This guy had football studs on while his friends were running around in sandals and slippers. Needless to say, he dribbled a lot, passed less and kept yelling at his team mates.

This guy is an amalgamation of three brothers (probably) who looked fresh in their shiny shaadi sherwanis and glistening oily hair. Kind of unexpected that they decided to play some football, swinging on monkey-bars in that attire, while spinning their fancy fidget spinners.

This guy is an amalgamation of three brothers (probably) who looked fresh in their shiny shaadi sherwanis and glistening oily hair. Kind of unexpected that they decided to play some football, swinging on monkey-bars in that attire, while spinning their fancy fidget spinners.

Out of all the kids, this guy seemed the most delightful. He had come dressed like accidental Santa, laughed and played with the other kids and kicked up a lot of dust as he walked. Such joy!