Delhi and the Delhiite!!

Delhiites say that ‘dilli ka hawa pani different hai” and I agree. Once you move to Delhi, you neither like to stay at the place for long nor are you able to stay away from it. Because, for someone who has moved from any place of the country to this most rapidly growing and fast moving city, the experience is nothing less than ‘bliss’. Families have stayed here for generations and have seen the ever-changing city right from the time when Raisina Hill or Lutyen’s Delhi was the sole recognition of the capital. With the changing times, malls and multiplexes have taken the place of museums and monasteries and have changed the people’s perception of this historical city. There has been a rapid growth in the number of crimes in the capital (I must remark here that the criminals are getting more and more ‘innovative’ with each passing day!!) and probably this is the most unsafe place for women in the whole country, but still thousands of people migrate to this place everyday. The Delhiites love their city!

A Delhiite is anyone who is a part of Delhi. But my definition of a Delhiite would be someone who has lived in the city and has ‘loved’ living in the city.

Delhi has housed my grandparents and so I have been visiting Delhi since I was born. Two years back, I came here with a purpose: ‘education’ and that meant my first long duration stay here. Although (and because) I was at a very ‘strict’ hostel, I had plenty of opportunities to go around the city and explore it. The other day, my mother asked me, “Why are you so eager to go back to Delhi? Why not any other place?” and I literally had no answer to this seemingly simple question. That was the moment when I started wondering, “What is it about Delhi that attracts me?” And of course, I couldn’t think of an answer!!

Over the past two years, my personality has surely undergone tremendous change. I am now no longer the shy mamma’s boy who at a time was nervous to even talk on the phone! (Mind you, I have spent at least a thousand bucks on phone calls in the last 3 months!!) For me, coming to Delhi has been surely a great advantage, academics is not everything after all! In the end it’s one’s personality that matters!

I have been to most of the tourist destinations in Delhi and have been around the city a lot and have seen how the busy people live through the hustle-bustle of the city. Delhiites get stuck in traffic jams for hours but still are ever-ready to take their BMWs out on the road; public transport is only for the poor here. Although the requirement might be available at the local shopping centre but Delhiites would always go to DLF and Ambience for shopping. The traditional one-hall cinemas are things that the children in Delhi have never heard of; it has always been PVR, DT or FUN Cinemas. Well, I am not commenting on the lifestyle of Delhiites, but yes, this is the truth. And somewhere I feel that even I have been a victim to this posh-life of the ultra-modern city that is Delhi, and so, I am not complaining!! (I know that if a true Delhiite is reading this, he/she must be thinking what all ‘bullshit’ I have written! Forgive me for the language, but that is precisely the language that the Delhiite would use!!)

Now it’s college time for me. I would be spending at least my next three years in this city (which I love without a known reason) for my graduation. And I am now wondering… how much more capability does this place possess to build my personality? How much more can it change me? And will the changes, if any, be for good or bad? Nobody can provide me with an apt answer to these questions, I know that! Only time will tell. But there is one thing I can say for sure- It’s now no longer possible for me to not call myself a Delhiite and I fit in my definition very well!!

P.S.: I wrote this entry just because I wanted to write a new entry and I chose Delhi as the topic because (1) at the moment I am in Delhi, getting bored while waiting for my admission and (2) Delhi is easy and interesting to write about!

P.S.2: This is for the second time that I am writing an entry on some ‘topic’ (the first was about ‘3 Idiots’) and so I would love to hear from you, your views and comments on what is written and what you think. And every Delhiite must reflect upon this and say if anything that I have written is wrong!!

Hope you had a happy time in reading this entry!

Sayonara!