A Delhi thing!

Delhi! The wonderful, beautiful, powerful(not because it has many gyms!) and these days scary, chaotic! I have spent close to 20 years of my life in NCR - Noida/Ghaziabad/Delhi. Even though, Noida and Ghaziabad fall in UP they are influenced by Delhi's culture with Noida being more prominent. 1993 was the year, when my family shifted to Noida. It was a jungle then - trees, water bodies, parks and natural landscapes. I've seen Noida grow and spread. I've seen how the trees were cut down to make way for roads, residences, offices, malls and recently a stone-age park(quite literally). 
I've seen how the ring road in Delhi, which had traffic lights at almost every kilometer being converted to a signal free 87 kms road full of flyovers. But, why am I saying all this? Well, yesterday I was coming from the IGIA to Noida and it took me bloody 3.5hrs. The wide, signal free roads gave in - all routes were jammed. Blame it on the ongoing protests or ill equipped police, I had a horrible time yesterday. While sitting in the car, a thought came into my mind - I love Delhi - as a city, as a place to grow up, as a place to hang out with friends, as a place to work. But that doesn't mean I don't hate it - I hate it because the 'dil walo ki dilli' has become a 'hooligans ki dilli', I feel bad for females, I feel bad when people say Delhi is not a place to live anymore, hope you get what I am referring to. Staying in a tier II city makes me miss Delhi more. There are certain things to which you get so used to that you actually start missing them even if they aren't directly related to you, for me they are:

  • Food! Aaloo tikki, gol gappe, chhole bhatures, soya chhap, sarso da saag! 
  • Calling a policeman a 'thulla'
  • People shouting 'bhains ki eyes!' ; 'Kamine, gaadi chalani nahi aati kya'; 'Abe side mei se nikaal le' 
  • Roadside vendors on the footpath - giving you a good training for cat walk - zig zag path.
  • Ladeejj screaming ' aree Mrs. Gupta ki beti bhaag gayi'; ' Mrs. sharma, khaana kya bana rahi ho' ; 'mummy shaadi nahi karni mujhe '
  • Moms scolding their children in public - ' tum bahar jaake bigad gaye ho' ; 'apna dhyaan nahi rakhte ho' 
  • Random, haphazard parking on the road and then shouting 'baap ki road hai kya'
  • Dogs barking at night, running behind cars.
  • Ladeej checking out Ladeej and then making it a topic for kitty parties
  • How drinking can be injurious for your bones, leave apart Cigarette smoking is injurious to health.
  • You'll realize that the morning starts at 6 and not at 11 - thanks to the municipal water board.
  • Clear skies less the stars! 
  • If you happen to be in Delhi during winters, then Fog is something which will be there to greet you every morning and night.
  • The usual chit chat of drivers 'thodi si toh lagi hai..sorry' ; 'Dilli mei gaadi pe nishaan na ho toh nazar lag jaati hai gaadi ko'
  • Students gossiping about teachers flirting with students and then abusing those teachers 

There are many things which I miss about Delhi when I'm in the ghostly town of Northern Maharashtra, but then I have a different life and a heterogenous family over there. I am sure, in another 3 months I'll start missing everything about that life and family members..  But then, All endings are also beginnings :)

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