Delhi - A Memory

Delhi

Hot, Crowded And Dirty

Thats how i described the capital to my mom on the phone.

I came to delhi on a fine warm June morning to begin a new chapter of my life - MBA

A sweet smelling albeit humid 7am morning, i saw the capital thru a haze.

Thru the haze of Connaught Place...

Thru the haze of The India Gate...

Thru the haze of The Rashtrapati Bhavan

I thought to myself that its only India TV that makes Delhi seem like a hideout of rapists, murderers and kidnappers.

For i saw the capital differently

It actually thrilled me.

Then Ber Sarai happened.

A paradox if there ever was one.

Ber Sarai is a small so called village right beside a place where all the middle class children are slogging and aspiring to be - IIT Delhi

Indian Institute of Technojargon Delhi

I must tell you if you that if you are from some place which is deep in the bowels of India, Delhi wont remain a strange place.

It will be a like a dismal mist that shades your senses and gnawing at your enthusiasm.

Ber Sarai is a place that was specially designed to accumulate filth, dirt and dust.

Every morning I wake up and look out of my window i can swear that the buildings move a few inches closer to mine.

Contributing to the narrow, winding gulleys of this "village".

Its as if they want to squeeze our sorry existence out of them.

SORRY is a word denoting regret or an apology. In Delhi SORRY is a Civilization Lost.

WARMTH denotes mild heat or sharing feelings. In Delhi WARMTH is what you get when you drink a hot tea or a piping cuppa coffee.

Here i'm tempted to quote my friend Prabhat, "Everything in Delhi is extreme" He said it.

I felt and experienced it.

The rain, the heat, the cold.

Thankfully i was forewarned about the cold at least.

Here the cold doesn't chill you.

It penetrates into your being.

I am not exaggerating. Delhi's winters are famous.

One word that comes into my mind as you move from place to place is Capitalism

Such extreme disparities in cultures, wealth and mindsets. Its like an ever expanding rubber band.

How i wish it would just snap back and render equality in Delhi.

I just stand on the road at 7pm and look in the distance.

Endless people in endless cars in endless directions.

All oblivious and honking away to get home.

Only to rush back and honk some more.

Delhi to me is like a movie on fast forward.

Where nobody wants a REWIND or even a PAUSE...

That is why i called it Delhi- A Memory...