ON DELHI - A CONVERSATION :
 This love-hate relationship with Delhi...?! I have been trying hard, for a few years now, to love the city ...

• Rushda Sid its an awesome place sreejit. its huge. its got the top brains, but the worst ones managing it. it shows exactly what india is all about. the middle and the upper middle class, looking for exit routes out of india... the middle class that has migrated to delhi is replacing the old noveau-rich .... it has the largest amount of grey money after patna... the poor will give you mind blowing lessons in survival .... all in all, if u want to know what the system is and how do u beat it....stay in delhi.
  
  
•  Rajeev Joshi The one thing that puts me off in Delhi...any one and everyone can get away with anything just by saying "tu janta nahi main kaun hun"!...
  
  
•  Sreejit Enartha Mavatton Rushda ...i am assuming that some of it was said in sarcasm My work brings me to Delhi for a few months in a year ( unavoidable) and I have been trying hard to convince myself that there must be something good about the city that i may have missed in all these visits ...and the more I try the more I am end up feeling depressed ...... My pet 'hates' in Delhi:
  a) Business men of Delhi esp those living /working in SOuth delhi who proudly flaunt big title/name plates out side their house ( 'The Behls' or 'The Sachdevas' )
  b) Jai Mata Di bhakts or the guys who sport red doras around their wrist, supposedly meant to show how pious and nice they are
  c) Aunty jis: a unique breed ...Often battered wives of the group 'a' mentioned above.. who bounce off their husbands rage and anger on the hapless chauffeur , poor shopkeeper , domestic help or the vegetable vendor
  d) Corrupt government babus esp when they are in their safari suits !!
  e) Pampered kids of rich parents who twiddle with their mobiles while they are driving ..frantically sending SMSes or calling their boy or girl friends leaving us pedestrians at their mercy
  
• Rushda Sid all ur points from a) to e) are what make delhi unique ...when a shopkeeper in delhi cheats, u realize a long time later u have been shortchanged... ny other city, u actually know then and there. .....the punju puppies, the rowdy arrogant misogynist auto drivers, the squinted driving population (notice how no1 drives in a straight line), the drunk cycle-rick walas who have their own union, the vehicles that is trying to drive into u in a 1way ..... i have yet to come across another city that is so bizzare. .... and yes my fav will always be the car drivers who decide to have their phone talks and eat in the middle of the road.
  
  
•  Rushda Sid Rajeev : u missed out on the 2nd part of the attitude ....delhi hai, yahan sab chalta hai. .... larki ko dowry k liye jala k maar diya (chalta hai); larki ko vilayat bhej diya naukri aur parhai k liye (chalta hai) .... nepotism (chalta hai); license/passport/ration card etc.. k liye ghus deni paregi (chalta hai); anti-corruption rally (chalti hai) ..... the more i see it, the more i realize.... this is the only thing where impossible is nothing.
  
  
•  Sreejit Enartha Mavatton I remember someone telling me during one of my visits that the rude behaviour is a manifestation of the 'partition compelx'... the feeling of insecurity post -migration ( where they had no means to fend themselves ) that gives way to rude behaviour ..misogyny is not the sole domain of the rick drivers.. it is class blind !! ..but then everything else is class blind too
  
  
• Rushda Sid the generation that faced the partition has moved on....the last two generations are migrants looking for a better life in this city.... i guess that migration insecurity is as terrible.........yes misogyny is class blind, but the auto and car walas do not bind themselves with class biases. if they spot a group of girls walking and not taking their auto, and the girls look upper middle class, they are bound to make a comment about the women being mean and taking away their livelihood; if they see women who look like lower middle class, they will comment on them trying to ape the rich.... they always try and from the wrong side of women car drivers and at every possible jam will try to tell other drivers ...aurat hai, gaadi chalani nhi aati magar sarak pe aati zaroor hai....
  
  
•  Rushda Sid mind u i have been called auntyji from the time i was in my teens ..... by guyz who were old enuf to be my grandfathers
  
  
•  Rajeev Joshi Rushda...you have a wry sense of humour...yes and I did miss out on this 'chalta hai' attitude...will I be wrong Rushda and Sree, if I say that this 'chalta hai' attitude has percolated from the ruling class?
  And Sreejit...would love to see you dissect Mumbai as well...
  
•  Sreejit Enartha Mavatton Rajeev..Oh..give me mumbai anyday... I sometimes wish we could swap the people of Delhi with those from Mumbai so that Mumbai people get to use the amenities in Delhi which are way better than Mumbai...
  
  
•  Sreejit Enartha Mavatton Rushda talking of attitudes of rick drivers et al, I feel misogyny manifest in many forms.. some are crass as you describe and some are disguised and have a sopohiticated sheen to it and visible only to a trained eye !!!....,... Even the development sector, where u would normally expect things to be shade better than the private or govt sector ( and where i work) itis pretty grim and often thge biggest offenders are people whom u can call as shudh delhiites
  
  
• Rushda Sid Rajeev : the 'patta hai mai kaun hun' is a top down percolation; the 'chalta hai' is a bottom up phenomena. saw it 1st in the jj colonies and then in the dtc, and then of course everywhere else. as soon as the people could form a group .... they could demand the legitimization of anything thing..... illegal power supplies, water supplies, gas connections.....everything.... just form a union, negotiate a deal with the babu concerned and everything gets done. it is all a matter of fixing the price.... hawkers on the roads get together fix a hafta and can choke traffic at peak rush hours.... petrol get hiked at speculation and the pump owners association will not be charged ....
  
  
•  Rushda Sid agree with u 100% sreejit .... delhi must the most gender biased city in the world. the highest amount of unreported harassment cases .... the rickwalas are just speaking what the other men are thinking or saying behind curtains/ doors....it is the logic and the intensity of the hatred for women that is striking.
  
  
•  Megan S Mills Khushwant Singh's "Delhi" -- forever a rough, elegant, violent city of Agents, louts, touts, MPs, too much/little money, and Don't You Know Who I Am-itis. Find hidey hole minus foreigners of objectionable kinds: start days at 5 a.m., appreciate how beautiful the morning Is; if female, carry Arsenal. (don't expect sympathy from Me if out past 10 pm alone, etc) fuss-fuss: notice personality hardening -- Now, deal w development-gundas. Feel tearful as honest dear tries to refuse tip, and again, when leaving city. Meantime, forced mental health marches as detail-conscious admirer of Lutyens; avoid alcohol, and be glad it is not May.
  
  
•  A.h. Ansari Do you know, Delhi is Capital of India ? why ?
  
  
•  Rushda Sid ...no idea y...but it fits the bill.
  
  
•  A.h. Ansari there are many secular lives in Delhi, who respect all religious and person .. so Delhi is Capital of India but there are many RSS mind type people lives in Gujarat who are doing only fighting to Muslims and do riots ....
  
  
•  Sreejit Enartha Mavatton But there is also a Bukhari who stays in delhi who plays havoc in the lives of Muslims A.h. Ansari ji!!
  
  
•  Rushda Sid there is a gamut of them sreejit .... bukhari, salman khurshid, shahnawaz hussain .... mayavati and mulayam only join the bandwagon.....
  
• 
  Sreejit Enartha Mavatton yes i agree ..i would add congress to that list...bunch of guys who play havoc through their acts of omission ...Shahbano case !!
  
  
•  Amitabh Shukla be-dil dilli...
  
  
•  Sreejit Enartha Mavatton Amitabh..it is no-dill Dilli...be-dill hone ke liye dill tho chahiye