Yesterday, on my mom’s birthday, I went to Pacific Mall with my family for dinner. It was not the first time that I saw Delhi as a city of people who spend too much on food and clothes and drive their vehicles dead set on homicide. But I have lived in Delhi for enough years not to summarise my city in so little.
Delhi is a beautiful city with even more beautiful people. It is a city that celebrates the idea of today. I thought about it for a while and reached at the conclusion that it is maybe because Delhi has nothing of it’s own. Delhi is many cities that live in polythene separateness from each other. It’s dominant culture today represents it’s latest invasion. It is true that while Delhi is home to many, it is native place to only a few.
In a way it has helped that Delhi was a city that belonged to no one. Like many capitals, administrative Delhi was full of transient people who came here to use it. They lived in small colonies, lusted after the quarters of their entitlement and discussed politics, cricket and bosses on India Gate lawns during office hours.
Today Delhi cant be ignored because it is a city that has learned to become one. The process is in no means complete but Delhi is truly a city in the modern sense as it sees as an object in the process of being constructed rather than a piece of history sitting flatly on a map.
Much of Delhi is uneducated but it is trying hard to learn sophistication. It feels good to watch a city grow up. By 2010, thanks to Commonwealth Games, I expect Delhi to become a world-class city in every sense. One shouldn’t bet against it considering how it has managed to become the fashion capital of India, something too horrible to imagine a few years ago.
I hate Delhi for many things such as considering tombs as places to build traffic roundabouts, monuments as backdrop to build park and chat shops and educating it’s sons in a way that they molest women as a matter of habit and kill somebody for reasons as simple as losing a bike race to them. But the reasons I have to love Delhi are many more. I love Delhi for its ‘never day die’ and ‘ never say never again’ spirit. Delhi knows how to get up each time it falls; be it the terrorist walking into the city and bombing it or MCD sealing off its markets.
So at the end I am very tempted to defend my city saying- what if people spend too much on food and clothing… they not only know how to earn money but also how to spend it!
Delhi is a beautiful city with even more beautiful people. It is a city that celebrates the idea of today. I thought about it for a while and reached at the conclusion that it is maybe because Delhi has nothing of it’s own. Delhi is many cities that live in polythene separateness from each other. It’s dominant culture today represents it’s latest invasion. It is true that while Delhi is home to many, it is native place to only a few.
In a way it has helped that Delhi was a city that belonged to no one. Like many capitals, administrative Delhi was full of transient people who came here to use it. They lived in small colonies, lusted after the quarters of their entitlement and discussed politics, cricket and bosses on India Gate lawns during office hours.
Today Delhi cant be ignored because it is a city that has learned to become one. The process is in no means complete but Delhi is truly a city in the modern sense as it sees as an object in the process of being constructed rather than a piece of history sitting flatly on a map.
Much of Delhi is uneducated but it is trying hard to learn sophistication. It feels good to watch a city grow up. By 2010, thanks to Commonwealth Games, I expect Delhi to become a world-class city in every sense. One shouldn’t bet against it considering how it has managed to become the fashion capital of India, something too horrible to imagine a few years ago.
I hate Delhi for many things such as considering tombs as places to build traffic roundabouts, monuments as backdrop to build park and chat shops and educating it’s sons in a way that they molest women as a matter of habit and kill somebody for reasons as simple as losing a bike race to them. But the reasons I have to love Delhi are many more. I love Delhi for its ‘never day die’ and ‘ never say never again’ spirit. Delhi knows how to get up each time it falls; be it the terrorist walking into the city and bombing it or MCD sealing off its markets.
So at the end I am very tempted to defend my city saying- what if people spend too much on food and clothing… they not only know how to earn money but also how to spend it!
posted by Sangeeta at
2:01 AM
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