Delhi and Delhiites

This may start a riot as it is against Delhiwalas. Not all of them but some. Some who make this city bad, so much that even delhiites themselves who have the opportunity of staying at other cities in India will agree. Why do I want to start a war of cities or a war of languages or whatever? Not at all. I am just angry. I feel anger inside me that such a lovely city should be full of such bad people. Who may or may not be a majority as I do know lot of people who are not like the others who give this city a bad name.

First 'Road Rage'. I heard of this word first time I came to Delhi. So what do I say? I will certainly give this city a bad name if this city is the first city which makes me learn this word. And what road rage!! People shoot each other over minor accidents and even parking. People do not know the art & etiquette of driving. They even shoot each other over parking. All these are there in the news so I am not making these up at all. You tell the chap parking his car in front of your house to park it elsewhere as you want to park yours, he will tell you it is public land so anybody can use it. So it means if he is doing it now I do it too- park my car in front of somebody else's house. Then there have been incidents of [even] well heeled people driving over people in fits of rage (you read newspapers, I hope) and cars will not give way even when they are driving slowly and the moment you want to overtake them via the other lane these cars would accelerate. Why cars? Even two-wheelers do not give way. That is all about boldness in Delhi.

People are very bold here. Now that may be a good quality when it comes to joining the army but sometimes boldness comes with a carelessness of the consequences of our actions. Hence we find more number of people here just jumping into physical fights with fists and guns because they believe 'everything goes' or that 'do not worry aboiut future.. we shall see'. So better be safe than sorry. Never pick up a fight with a Delhiwala if you worry about your future. Because he does not. And after all why do you want to die or get bashed up for some right on the road or parking space? Not worth it. So next time you see someone parked in the middle of the road and creating a jam do not ask him to move his car or even gesture your hand to ask him which direction he wants to go, because your gesture of hand will surely make him come out the car and shout at you. And if you shout back well.. be ready for a fight. A delhiwala never believes in losing a battle. They are brave people.

I have never understood why no delhi house has a car garage, when Delhi has more cars than all the other 3- metros - mumbai, kolkata and Chennai combined! Most households have more than one cars and yet not a single garage. I had to form my own opinion why. Nobody has yet corrected me [because believe it or not I have been saying these to my Delhi Friends offline too.]

Delhi tops the cities for snobbery. You have a big car and a big designation then only you have made it or else you will be shunned like plague. The bigger the car, house or your designation the bigger you are. People will ask you to come to their houses to show that they press their underwears and children will tell you that style comes first. No harm I would say. But then in the next breath they will ridicule the south indian who wears only a slipper when they go out or the neighbour whose house is too small. Then my hackles go up. I mean no harm if you want to live a good life. Why not!! You are doing good. You have made it in your life. You think money is everything. Fine. But why be a snob? You become a snob when you show off and belittle others who may not have money but may be far better human beings than you are. I am not going through my personal examples but I do want to tell you that ladies have told my wife that if one does not have some good furniture in one's house, then one cannnot face people 'Daman nahin bachega' Means it would be shameful not to have good furniture as one would not be able to show one's face in the society/ neighbours!! LOL !! GAWD!! I NEVER DISAGREE that a good house is lovely to see and live in, but I do not have to get good furniture to show off to others!! But that is Delhi for you!!

The ten commandents told us "Do not covet thy neigbour's wife' It seems that one of the commandment of Delhi is to covet everything that is the neighbour's - from parking space to flower tubs. The only saving grace is that if the neighbour is a Delhiite then he too will reciprocate, and so many times in the process the fights happen.

I once heard an old man say to another old man in his morning walk, that when he was young, his dad taught him that 'A' is for 'AAO' (hindi word for come), 'K' for 'Kamao' (hindi for make money) and 'L' for 'laro' (hindi for fight). On the lighter side this perhaps tells in one sentence the psyche of this city. Here they only believe in making money, fighting over everything and wishing everything around them to come to them. So when a delhiite bulds a house in Delhi he uses maximum land space he has paid for his house to make it look good (so that he can save face with his neigbours) and for his cars? Why public land is there to use. So he in effect uses more than he pays for. That is Delhi in short for you.

And why are they like this? My Delhi-friends themselves tell me that Delhiites are aggressive by nature because of the History of this place. This is one city which has always been ravaged by invaders (even before the city was in its present form) and so people around here have always been fighting and resisting and so have becomne aggressive by nature. And my own feeling is that weather too makes a lot of differences. A place which rarely sees rain and does not have natural water (like rivers and seas) and nautural greenery (like forests) and are only brick and mortar created there cannot be softness in the mind. Softness in the mind comes from being closer to nature. That is why you will find people from villages better, people from the hills simpler, people from rain affected areas softer. Delhi alas does not have any of these.

My fellow Delhiwalas will come after me with their guns (maybe) but let me add that I am not blind to the good points they have, that they are hard working and tough and have ambition. I believe ambition is good for the nation, because if the people have ambition to improve their lots, then they will do so and in the process India will gain. This is why economically speaking Delhi has the maximumn per capita income in the country. This is good!! But with economic growth came social degeneration. THAT IS BAD.

Being the capital of India lots of funds are constantly pouring into this city. It is perhaps the loveliest city in India in terms of road space, developmental work speed. If only people were a bit more warm and more humane it would be the best city to live in. But maybe that is wishful thinking.