Dilli – enchanting and horrifying are two words that i would say, best describe the capital of the country. Its ironical that such antonyms are used to describe the same thing. It is certainly a breathing and living creature with such extremities that it sums up the nation, that is India. Widely believed to be the legendary capital of the pandavas, then known as Indraprastha, it has been the seat of power for hundreds and thousands of years.
My first fascination of Delhi started with the stories that my parents narrated about, from their 6 year stay in Delhi. For a lower middle class South Indian family which moved from an unheard of tiny village Karkala (udupi district) in Karnataka to the national capital in the 70’s, it was a giant giant leap of faith, courage and fear. From the tropical humid climate of Dakshina Kannada

with moderate temperatures all through the year and thunderous downpour from time to time, they were thrown into a cauldron which went from boiling hot in summer to down-right shivering cold in winter. My mom used to narrate with an ever present sense of wonder that Connaught Place alone contained more people at any point of time than all the people in the neighbouring ten villages around Udupi. The undeniable love for food of the Delhi-ites, from the lip smacking paranthas with tons of butter, the hot jalebis, the golgappas with their inimitable taste and the hundreds of paneer and chicken items that were dished out, made Dilli a wonderland of food. The beautiful women with spotless complexion and sharp features shopping all the while with glee, the sardars who looked like they could bring down an elephant, the loud, obnoxious, care-free chatter in the neighbourhood. The festivities celebrated with gay abandon throughout the year, the colourful holi, the loud diwali, the Ram Leela celebrations, the republic day parade and innumerable such festivals made it a truly amazing riot of festivities were the most enchanting memories that my parents brought forth in front of my eyes time and again.
This image was further enhanced by ‘Delhi 6’ – a masterpiece of a movie, romanticising the concept of old Delhi like no other. Shot in the narrow by lanes and shallow rooftops of Chandni Chowk, it had incredible cinematography to make one want to live right in the middle of this bustling city. The lyrics from the title song of ‘Delhi 6’ summed up the attitude that encompasses Delhi.
Yeh dilli hai mere yaar
Bas ishq mohabbat pyaar
Bas ishq mohabbat pyaar
And yet, 30 years after my parent moved out Delhi, when i first moved to NCR last year to join HP as a 25 year old MBA grad, it was with a great sense of fear and anticipation. Coming from the cool climes of Bangalore, the first gust of hot wind that hit my face when the airplane door opened at the IGI airport at Delhi in the month of July, made me even more sceptical about this place. My first taxi ride from the airport to the guest house in Gurgaon was full of fear of being looted, kidnapped and killed. Today i have once again moved back to NCR’s Ghaziabad which is even more notorious for such activities. So, what has really changed this city in these 30 years? Is it the sheer pace of growth? Or is it the farmers around NCR who become overnight crorepatis with property prices skyrocketing? Or has anything changed at all? I think only a Delhi-ite whose lived in this city through these changes can answer this question...
“Dilli, dilli, dilli... dilllliiiii.... Mera kaat kaleja dilli... meri jaan bhi leja dilli...” – the song from the movie ‘No one killed Jessica’ is a testament to the dark side of Delhi. A Delhi that even the most hard core Delhiites dread. Women getting raped, people being robbed at gunpoint, firearms going off at the slightest of insignificant triggers, tempers flaying all the time, gaalis flying left right and center – i dread to live in this city.
Not all is lost though. A vast majority of this city consists of beautiful souls, people who care, people who empathise but ones who are innately selfish like the rest of the country. But, it is the minority who have such a strong hold on the psyche of the majority which is driving this majority to be defensive, self-centered and helpless.
A comment was made by the home minister some time back that it’s the immigrants in the city of Delhi who are driving up the crime rate. Even though that might be partially true, it is the very essence of a cosmopolitan culture. Every city and country in this world is a melting pot of people moving cities. It certainly doesn’t justify the crime rates. The lack of prosecutions, people
with political or bureaucratic connections almost always getting away with the crime, corrupt police are large enough holes for pretty much all criminals to get away from the net of law.
There was this ‘kala bandar’ in the news a few years back which had terrorised