Traders on Warpath
Violent clashes and massive roadblocks by city traders brought the national capital to a standstill yesterday as protests against the sealing drive intensified. Most of the major markets remained closed for the day with around 500 different trade bodies participating in the strike.
For the past few years, the citizens have not quite understood the urban laws of this city that have grown defeating all rules. But were there any rules, one may ask. Maybe there were, but a host of options were graciously made available provided you were ready to 'pay' for them. Once in a while a cosmetic drive was undertaken but to no avail.
We see the best of a city when some outsider strikes it (like we saw in Mumbai a few months back) and we see the worst of a city when its own people strike it (like we saw in Gujrat a few years back and in Delhi yesterday).
Today, in the prevailing confusion no one knows what will happen. I just know one thing that many small shop keepers earn a day to day life, and if deprived of their income, they will be deprived of their bread and their children's school-fees.
Laws when broken with impunity land you in situation when picking out the honest from the guilty becomes an impossible task. But one must remember that when it is a question of livelihood, seemingly placid people can turn violent. The French revolution is a sad reminder of that.
But I have a very disturbing question lurking in the back of my head. Are those people with masked faces whom I saw yesterday on news really the traders of Delhi? I saw them thrashing the glasses of DTC buses, jumping on top of the cars and roaming around with sticks and glass bottles in their hands. I heard in news that one such bus was carrying deaf and dumb school children in it. Would the traders of Delhi behave in such an uncivilised manner or its the hooligans of Delhi and adjoining areas taking advantage of this crisis and having a field day??
Two children died in yesterday's firing, but would their death solve anything or will they become a sad statistic in Delhi's history. We all know that justice, the symbol of justice is a blindfolded lady, but can we beseech her to open one eye and see with her heart before more children become sad statistics.
All the shops of a big market (Madhu Vihar), near my house, brought their shutters down a few days ago. The shopkeepers were selling their goods at almost half the rates to clear their stocks. Its very disheartening to see Madhu Vihar in such a state. As far as I am concerned, all this sealing drive means to me is- no samosas and jalebis on every saturdays from Singla Sweets, no fresh cookies from Sapra Bakeries, no yummy birthday cakes from Unique Pastries, no window shopping in its endless shops.....the things that I have loved doing here in the last 12 years is endless....I hope everything comes back to normal. Stuck in the traffic jams caused by these shops is much better than walking through it's deserted streets.
Violent clashes and massive roadblocks by city traders brought the national capital to a standstill yesterday as protests against the sealing drive intensified. Most of the major markets remained closed for the day with around 500 different trade bodies participating in the strike.
For the past few years, the citizens have not quite understood the urban laws of this city that have grown defeating all rules. But were there any rules, one may ask. Maybe there were, but a host of options were graciously made available provided you were ready to 'pay' for them. Once in a while a cosmetic drive was undertaken but to no avail.
We see the best of a city when some outsider strikes it (like we saw in Mumbai a few months back) and we see the worst of a city when its own people strike it (like we saw in Gujrat a few years back and in Delhi yesterday).
Today, in the prevailing confusion no one knows what will happen. I just know one thing that many small shop keepers earn a day to day life, and if deprived of their income, they will be deprived of their bread and their children's school-fees.
Laws when broken with impunity land you in situation when picking out the honest from the guilty becomes an impossible task. But one must remember that when it is a question of livelihood, seemingly placid people can turn violent. The French revolution is a sad reminder of that.
But I have a very disturbing question lurking in the back of my head. Are those people with masked faces whom I saw yesterday on news really the traders of Delhi? I saw them thrashing the glasses of DTC buses, jumping on top of the cars and roaming around with sticks and glass bottles in their hands. I heard in news that one such bus was carrying deaf and dumb school children in it. Would the traders of Delhi behave in such an uncivilised manner or its the hooligans of Delhi and adjoining areas taking advantage of this crisis and having a field day??
Two children died in yesterday's firing, but would their death solve anything or will they become a sad statistic in Delhi's history. We all know that justice, the symbol of justice is a blindfolded lady, but can we beseech her to open one eye and see with her heart before more children become sad statistics.
All the shops of a big market (Madhu Vihar), near my house, brought their shutters down a few days ago. The shopkeepers were selling their goods at almost half the rates to clear their stocks. Its very disheartening to see Madhu Vihar in such a state. As far as I am concerned, all this sealing drive means to me is- no samosas and jalebis on every saturdays from Singla Sweets, no fresh cookies from Sapra Bakeries, no yummy birthday cakes from Unique Pastries, no window shopping in its endless shops.....the things that I have loved doing here in the last 12 years is endless....I hope everything comes back to normal. Stuck in the traffic jams caused by these shops is much better than walking through it's deserted streets.
posted by Sangeeta at
1:03 AM
1 Comments:
now that u have asked me to comment on ur post rather than u, i actually had to read the whole crazy thing:-)
its well written with the heading stolen from TOI. hai naa????:-)(chal i wont tell anybody)
and the last part, arart from being a little mean, is also not true. closure of madhu vihar is not the only thing that affected u. u even had to change ur way to college coz of tension in vikas marg and had to "parade" to ur collg coz u didnt go in ur u-special. so there r many other ways that things like these affect us apart from having to buy our b'day cake from a different shop.
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Anonymous, at 1:09 AM
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