Surajkund Mela 2022

 After the journey of Mini Qutub Minar, we were trying something new. You can compare our 'new' with the historical places that we had covered so far. It was one of my college friends 'Happie', who suggested me to visit Surajkund Mela for our next vlog. I told Khazan about this idea. Firstly, I read a blog about this fair, where someone wrote that there will be no entry after 9 am. Accordingly, I asked Khazan to be prepared for this. Later on, I checked the website and it was 12:30 pm to 9:30 pm. I told Khazan that we will take Faridabad metro as it was going to held in Faridabad. Later on, I found out that Badarpur metro station is the closest one. Khazan was already prepared this time, as he was used to take money from the shop on the same day of the journey. It added more than half an hour for our journey. I got up early in the morning, around 5:30 am. After a short workout, cooked something in the kitchen (Chholley). I was fully prepared before 8 am, as it was the pre-decided time. 

Khazan was late as he came after 10 minutes. Umesh received a penalty from a traffic police, for not wearing helmet and absence of license. He sent me the receipt on whatsapp. Khazan also told me about his incident. Last night, Khazan ordered a wireless mic as he was not comfortable with the mic with wire. It will be delivered on next day. There was a stain on my shirt, maybe from the wedding at Badkhalsa, Sonipat. Apart from the food and loud music, I do not like to attend the marriages. Khazan asked me to take the route of Mundka today, as the Kirari route become disaster due to the overflow of drain water. But I advised him that it will take more time from Mundka route. Now we were going towards the bus stand, and there was no space to take a step on the road. We used to live in an artificial Delhi. 

We took a route from the Sunday market and found the way through the road of Chanchal Nursing Home, got an e-rickshaw around 8:35 am. We reached at Nangloi metro at 9 am. There was delay in the timings of metro, Khazan told me that the timings has been extended until 12 am for all metros in Delhi. We listened to some songs, discussed about some poor ideology of people over the politics. There was a bad rush at the metro. We couldn't get any seat. After Inderlok, we boarded another metro for Kashmere gate and then towards the Badarpur metro. You can check out the route that we took. We left the metro around 11 am. Khazan said that we should visit Tughlaqabad Fort also, after the visit of Surajkund Mela.

After a quick nap time in metro, we were standing outside the Badarpur metro, and were looking for vehicle towards the fair. Someone told us that he will charge 80 Rs. The distance was around 4 km. We decided to walk on our own. Then we got a tempo, and the driver told us that he will drop us at a nearby location of Surajkund Mela, charged only 20 Rs. from us. He dropped us at Prahladpur police station, and then we took an e-rickshaw towards the Surajkund Mela. We reached at the border of Faridabad.

While going towards the destination, one of the policemen advised someone that he should return now because entry was allowed only till 11 am. Ignoring the advice, we were continuously walking towards our destination. The sun was trying to bring us down, but we were adamant to enjoy the journey. There were so many students at the fair, people have come with their families and some foreigners. I was hungry and Khazan didn't bring any food today. We were looking something to eat, and we found a dahi bhalle wala. We didn't have any option, so had it. Khazan booked the ticket online, it was worth 120 Rs. Most people were the locals of Faridabad, you can tell this by their accents. People were not allowed to enter before 12:30 pm, who booked their tickets through the online portal. We sat under the tree. Khazan made an introduction video for our vlog. 

Now, we were about to enter this Surajkund Mela, as the time was 12:30 pm. There was separate lines for the people as per their way of booking tickets. A foreigner entered before us, and we were guessing if the person belongs to Saudi Arabia. He was from Afghanistan, brought the dry fruits from his country. Uzbekistan was the official partner and the theme was Jammu Kashmir this time. Khazan suggested me to eat something unique. Now we were entering through a gate, gate was designed as per some symbolic way to represent the culture of India. Some people were dancing on the loud sound of dhol with music. It was like a stress buster for the people. People forgot their miseries after entering this crowdful place. We started to make the videos, Khazan put the mic on. We bought cold drinks and now we were roaming around the markets. I found out that most people were representing their clothes for marketing. In the first lane, we witnessed Afghani people as first foreigners. They were selling different types of dry fruits. There were dancers from Jammu Kashmir, Haryana, Chhatisgarh, West Bengal, karnataka and other states. We watched the dance of the Kashmiri People. Now we we were walking through the crowded lanes where people were representing their art in the form of different creativities like wood painting, oil painting, sculptures, carve painting and the most different ways that we were not aware of. Khazan was fascinated by one of the artist who was from Chhatisgarh with wood painting. That artist knew Hindi very well, and explained about his art in easy and simple way. Some people were taking rest under the tree, some were waiting for their turn to step on the stage. While making videos. we reached at a place, where something was built like a char Minar with white sandstone and other one was bulit with red stone. Our mobile phones were not happy due to the heat. It was not allowing to open the camera because of high temperature.

After taking so many videos and photos, we were going towards the food court. And we ordered Nadru Yakhni from a Kashmiri style,  I heard about this cuisine from the movie The Kashmiri Files. Now we were trying to make a time lapse video. From the first bite of this favorite food of Kashmiri people, we made different faces as it was not as good as its name. Maybe it was a quite different taste for us, but we didn't like it. Khazan found a fly in the rice. He went to return the food. It costed us Rs. 115, and it was not worth it. To make it better, we ordered Rajma from the Hotel Management officials. And it was our worst nightmare, they gave us Rajma like 5 spoons, 50 Rs. were now disliking us for this decision. Due to poor taste, we were forced to try something again. We took Rajasthani Pyaaz Kachori, which was more than perfect, fully stuffed with masale and other ingredients.Khazan shared his opinion that we liked it because the variety of food is almost similar in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan with our city. Mood was little upset because of our mobiles, overheating problem. Khazan said that he will buy a new mobile. 

Now we were about to exit, but we got a glimpse of foreign traders. People were trading from Uganda, Thailand, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan(official partner), Belarus and some other countries. Main attraction from Uzbekistan, was a girl, people were excited to click a pic with her. Her dance was good. The way she moved her body was enough to attract the audience. While going towards exit gate, we found the culture of Haryana, represented through a small room, where a Charpaayi was kept along with a hukka, some tools, mandaasa. 

We took the exit from this mela around 3 pm.

You can check our photos and videos to check out the full journey, and you can share your feedback with the blogger also.