Titbits from Delhi….

For most of the folks who have been brought up in Guwahati. Delhi is not something to be charmed with. Girls and boys from villages or small towns might be swept away, but the life-style is no different from a medium-sized city like Guwahati. Infact, I have only a few square feet area to call my 'home' in this metro (far less than the spacious room in my home city).

At times, I feel I am in Delhi only when I go for walks in Central Secretariat, the area near India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhawan et al......otherwise most of the areas are like any other locality in any medium-sized city like Guwahati. Infact, in many places, there are no proper footpaths....yes, the capital Delhi, this is it.

Here in Vijay Nagar where I am staying is near Delhi University,.......so many NE students, and so many from Assam ; I never imagined !

I enjoy standing next to Assamese boys and girls in this area and listen to their conversation.....bad manners this is.....but I feel at home listening to my first language.

However, most of the boys use the dirty slang 'k***', which sounds so bad......every sentence ends with it ; these are the students who have come to the 'hallowed' portals of Delhi University!

For me, the most amusing part is that they never know I am from their home state.

I have been here from Sept 1 last.....and till now I have seen only 2 wine shops.....not that I want to gulp some, but this shows how nasty the situation of Guwahati is compared to Delhi. I needn't say more.

Delhites are bad, rude, crude. This is what I have been hearing all along. But there are some pleasant experiences too. I remember the aged ‘paaji’ auto-driver who went round and round to locate my place of interview. One should have seen how he stopped his auto from one shop to the other and asked people about the whereabouts of the office. It’s so nice to think of the Muslim family from Chandni Chowk who let me squeeze into the auto alongwith them the day I was stranded on the road for an auto at eight in the evening. The term ‘Bhaiyya’ means a lot. The most crude Haryanvi softens when you address him by the word. And, how can I forget the chisel-sharp, pretty Jatni, the boisterous Sardarni at my hostel, the chatty dusky beauty from Kerala in office ; these people who have accepted me into their fold as if I have known them from school…

As for the infamous tag of Delhi being ‘unsafe’ for girls, this is more relevant in areas like Gurgaon (Haryana) and NOIDA (again in UP). There are reasons though. Land tillers and graziers became millionaires overnight ; selling off their lands for crores to MNCs--- a lavish bunglow, shiny cars….money did come, but not education…the nouveau riche. Anyways, the best thing for a newcomer is to maintain a modest profile (though that is not the solution always). Whatever be it, it is not a wise thing to carry the same manners in varied places like Dubai and Boston. Always remember; You have to fit in, not they.

One should move out to a metro, not for permanent settlement, but, at least for a few months or a couple of years........we can see more of the world and meet for people.

People say Delhi is bad, people are bad. But, I think Assam and North-East is no better. Infact, North-East has become the hotbed of ethnic politics and numerous oppurtunistic tribal agenda........people can no longer think in a cosmopolitan manner........there is no Unified Agenda among the people out there. At times I feel, its not Delhi, but the attitude of the people of Assam (and other NE states) which is holding the region back.

Till date I have not met bad fellows out here till now. There are good, very good, bad, thugs, wicked.......all kinds of people in this metro........there lies the beauty of a big city......but, the good holds back the bad....that's helping Delhi march ahead.....