pyar tera dilli ki sardi!

Delhi is a massive metropolis with an enormously enchanting past. It has been the capital city for so many of India's rulers that every bit of its landscape speaks of a glorious past. It is indeed the city that symbolizes India's myriad and turbulent history.

Sometimes Delhi evokes nostalgia even if you have been away from the capital for a long, long time. Delhi winters are special. Designers love to flaunt their fall winter collections and that makes Delhi a special place to showcase the designer stuff for the fashionistas. Delhi is also very much a city for the common man who has enough money to buy food, have a shelter, and access to basic amenities. It has a large heart. The chics are awesome irrespective of the fact that quite a few are 'Behenji' types as Mumbaikers love to call them. There is no gainsaying the fact that their beauty gives others an inferiority complex. It is not good for those afflicted with Venustaphobia (the fear of beautiful women)! But for the die-hard romantics Delhi is just the right place to live in. One can enjoy the warmth of Delhi in the airs. The ancient monuments are reminiscent of the Raj and also of the romance surrounding the city of djinns.

This is how wikipedia describes Delhi:

Delhi (Hindi: दिल्ली, Punjabi: ਦਿੱਲੀ, Urdu: دلی, IPA: [d̪ɪlːiː]) sometimes referred to as Dilli, is the second-largest metropolis in India, after Mumbai, with a population of 11.5 million, and with an extended metropolitan population of almost 22 million. Located in northern India on the banks of the River Yamuna, Delhi has the political status of a federally-administered union territory known as the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), which in itself is part of National Capital Region. A constitutional amendment in 1991 gave Delhi a special status among the Union Territories; Delhi has its own legislative assembly with limited powers. The National Capital Territory of Delhi comprises nine districts, 27 tehsils, three statutory towns viz. Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB), 59 census towns and 165 villages.
Delhi is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Having been the capital of several empires in ancient India, Delhi was a major city in the old trade routes from northwest India to the Gangetic Plains. Many ancient monuments, archaeological sites and remains of national importance have been erected in its history. The Mughals built a section of the city (now known as Old City or Old Delhi) that served as the capital of Mughal Empire for a long period. During the British Raj, New Delhi was built as an administrative quarter of the city. New Delhi was declared the capital of India after India gained independence from British rule in 1947. As the seat of the Government of India, New Delhi houses important offices of the federal government, including the Parliament of India, making Delhi a powerhouse of Indian politics.

Delhi has grown up to be a cosmopolitan city owing to the immigration of people from across the country. Like many other large cities of the world, Delhi suffers from urbanisation problems such as pollution, traffic congestion, and scarcity of resources. The rapid development and urbanisation of Delhi and surrounding areas coupled with the high average income of the populace has largely eclipsed socio-cultural traits that used to represent Delhi until a few years after independence. Today, Delhi is a major cultural, political, and commercial center of India."

Every city has a character. It has a form and a vignette of its own.



Small wonders that a novel City of Djinns (1994), which is a travelogue by William Dalrymple about the historical capital of India, Delhi, proved to be a bestseller.

Whose Mumbai is it anyway?

We never knew that a cosmopolitan city belonged to any particular community. Mumbai's ugly face showed in yesterday's violence when Raj Thakeray's followers went on a rampage mauling several North Indians (specially Purabiyas) and went on to gut several shops in fire. Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena is taking potshots at Samjwadi Party (read Purabiyas) and vice-versa.
The city that never stops is witnessing a bandh called by Uttar Bhartiya Vikas Manch. Strange are the ways of metros.
It was a bizzare spectacle yesterday. What does it have in store for future?
Now this may lead the punjabis in Delhi to think that delhi is being undone by the Biharis. Ergo, they must be thrown out. They too will forget how dependent is Delhi on the Bihari migrants. Who will run the PCO's? Who will pull the rickshaws that provide succour to the rich ones in smeltering Delhi heat? Who will work as the security guard? They have several vocations which cannot be done with elitist notions.
It is strange what premium we give to migration just for the heck of it at times. After all, what is the shame in carrying a similar voaction in your familiar surroundings? metros are El Dorados for quite a few but not for those who are at the bottom of the pyramid. The society has given a nod to migration per se, which leads to forced migration at times. At the macro-level some work is being done on reverse migration. At the grassroot level it scores a zilch. Why cannot we stay put in our familiar surroundings with heads held high? It is paradoxical but true that we have created our own nemesis.