Delhi, the capital city of India with a population of a few crores which is a mixture of cross-cultures and cross-ethnicity. One can witness the extremes in Delhi…. From the very poor to the very rich. The economic disparity is perhaps more marked in metropolitan cities than anywhere else today.
A trip around the city of Delhi would bring forth the fact very strongly that there are major developments going around in the entire city in order to accommodate for the thousands of foreign nationals who will come for the international games that India hopes to host. And there is evidence that the un-authorized shops and complexes are coming under the MCD hammer. The middle class has also risen to enforce some action on long pending issues like the pending trials in court of justice. But despite the developments there are points of concerns that still exist.
One of the major points of concern is that Delhi-ites are no longer motivated enough to exercise their power to vote their own representative. Given the state of politics in India as a whole, the citizens of Delhi quietly protest by showing their lack of support simply by not going to the polling stations to vote. But is it the right way to go about doing so? Shouldn’t it be a better idea to make use of the ‘Right not to vote’ to show their protest? But how many citizens of Delhi are actually aware of this right? Shouldn’t the people demand to know the financial, criminal backgrounds of the candidates that they chose not to vote for? ADR is an organization which could help them do exactly that. But are the people aware?..... More importantly do they want to make themselves aware?
There are thousands of maids working in the household of the lakhs of people in the city. How many upper class Delhi-ites actually take interest in the upbringing of their own maids’ children. It is very easy to discuss the need for literacy among the lower class people to bring their status up. But how many of us actually take the first small step and ensure that our own maids’ children gain literacy? …. Not many. Recently, an act has been enforced banning child labor in certain sections of professions. But how many of us actually report the use of child labor when we see it… not many of us I am sure. Ever seen a child beg on traffic signals? Ever seen them selling their meager wares to earn a few rupees on the same traffic signals? Have you reported the existence of child labor to the concerned authorities? If the answer is NO, then are you really concerned about the welfare of the citizens of Delhi and want to make Delhi a successful city?
All of us groan at the filth in and around the city. And at the filth of the government offices. But aren’t we also responsible for contributing to the same? Yesterday, while I was traveling towards Karol Bagh, I read a quote on the wall….’Ek Gadha Yahan Pe Moot Raha Hai’. Do you think it deterred the offenders from doing exactly that? Nooooooo…… Some perverted fellows take ‘pride’ in doing exactly what they are not supposed to do. They willingly do not use the public toilets that have been erected around the city in order to same the city from this kind of filth. Apart from that the roads are littered with a lot of other things too. It makes fun of the dustbins that some thoughtful shop keepers have kept outside their shops. And this is one thing that the MCD has done…. Placed dustbins all around the city. But do we use them….. Mostly not.
Delhi-ites have to battle with peak hour traffic every day. The easiest way to cause a traffic jam is to park a bus or a tempo on the road-side. And within an hour one will have miles and miles of traffic jam. Everyone wants to act smart with the vehicles that they are driving and to demonstrate their skills of driving they cheerfully make fun of the traffic rules that they need to follow. I wonder who is it that they are trying to impress? Or is there a race going on…. The first one who is out of the traffic jam wins a prize? Due to the ‘smart’ driving of a few handful of drivers the others have to suffer too. How about following the traffic rules to make life a little easier?
There are lot of other things that I can enumerate and write about to question the concern factor of Delhi-ites….like feeling a sense of pride in fooling a cop to escape being challaned by paying him less bribe than the cops was asking for. What is not realized that a bribe is a bribe ir-respective of the amount and it is illegal. But are we concerned about the legality of our own actions? I could go on. But somewhere I need to stop and ask…… are we concerned enough and giving back enough to the society… is it wise always to criticize the government and other officials…. Aren’t we guilty too? Shouldn’t we change too? Time to give it a long hard thought… isn’t it? Its OVERDUE.
A trip around the city of Delhi would bring forth the fact very strongly that there are major developments going around in the entire city in order to accommodate for the thousands of foreign nationals who will come for the international games that India hopes to host. And there is evidence that the un-authorized shops and complexes are coming under the MCD hammer. The middle class has also risen to enforce some action on long pending issues like the pending trials in court of justice. But despite the developments there are points of concerns that still exist.
One of the major points of concern is that Delhi-ites are no longer motivated enough to exercise their power to vote their own representative. Given the state of politics in India as a whole, the citizens of Delhi quietly protest by showing their lack of support simply by not going to the polling stations to vote. But is it the right way to go about doing so? Shouldn’t it be a better idea to make use of the ‘Right not to vote’ to show their protest? But how many citizens of Delhi are actually aware of this right? Shouldn’t the people demand to know the financial, criminal backgrounds of the candidates that they chose not to vote for? ADR is an organization which could help them do exactly that. But are the people aware?..... More importantly do they want to make themselves aware?
There are thousands of maids working in the household of the lakhs of people in the city. How many upper class Delhi-ites actually take interest in the upbringing of their own maids’ children. It is very easy to discuss the need for literacy among the lower class people to bring their status up. But how many of us actually take the first small step and ensure that our own maids’ children gain literacy? …. Not many. Recently, an act has been enforced banning child labor in certain sections of professions. But how many of us actually report the use of child labor when we see it… not many of us I am sure. Ever seen a child beg on traffic signals? Ever seen them selling their meager wares to earn a few rupees on the same traffic signals? Have you reported the existence of child labor to the concerned authorities? If the answer is NO, then are you really concerned about the welfare of the citizens of Delhi and want to make Delhi a successful city?
All of us groan at the filth in and around the city. And at the filth of the government offices. But aren’t we also responsible for contributing to the same? Yesterday, while I was traveling towards Karol Bagh, I read a quote on the wall….’Ek Gadha Yahan Pe Moot Raha Hai’. Do you think it deterred the offenders from doing exactly that? Nooooooo…… Some perverted fellows take ‘pride’ in doing exactly what they are not supposed to do. They willingly do not use the public toilets that have been erected around the city in order to same the city from this kind of filth. Apart from that the roads are littered with a lot of other things too. It makes fun of the dustbins that some thoughtful shop keepers have kept outside their shops. And this is one thing that the MCD has done…. Placed dustbins all around the city. But do we use them….. Mostly not.
Delhi-ites have to battle with peak hour traffic every day. The easiest way to cause a traffic jam is to park a bus or a tempo on the road-side. And within an hour one will have miles and miles of traffic jam. Everyone wants to act smart with the vehicles that they are driving and to demonstrate their skills of driving they cheerfully make fun of the traffic rules that they need to follow. I wonder who is it that they are trying to impress? Or is there a race going on…. The first one who is out of the traffic jam wins a prize? Due to the ‘smart’ driving of a few handful of drivers the others have to suffer too. How about following the traffic rules to make life a little easier?
There are lot of other things that I can enumerate and write about to question the concern factor of Delhi-ites….like feeling a sense of pride in fooling a cop to escape being challaned by paying him less bribe than the cops was asking for. What is not realized that a bribe is a bribe ir-respective of the amount and it is illegal. But are we concerned about the legality of our own actions? I could go on. But somewhere I need to stop and ask…… are we concerned enough and giving back enough to the society… is it wise always to criticize the government and other officials…. Aren’t we guilty too? Shouldn’t we change too? Time to give it a long hard thought… isn’t it? Its OVERDUE.
1 comment:
I have seen a marked demarcation over the years among the conscious of Delhi-ites. The upper middle class is the most prominent section of the Delhi social class. The oppurtunites presented by the city have made them wealthier and they have shown that they have a heart. The consious of Delhi is DEVELOPING. Delhi has regular donation camps for various natural and man made traumas that the country goes through in which the people contibute in massive amounts. The various homes are getting benefitted too - people are making contributions to organizations like CRY, donating their time and labour to children homes and old age homes. In short, the middle class people are making the 'Dil' of Dilli very large indeed. This is in sharp contrast to the lower class whch still does not know the meaning pf hygiene, and common healthy means of good living. But the city is picking up irrespective of the what the local government is doing or not doing. All things considered - there is still no city like Delhi which is a very happy mix of hip crowds and places like Mumbai and lazy, laid back crowd and places like Kolkata.
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