Ye Delhi hai mere Yaar..

Been to Delhi last week for a short trip!! Loitered on many streets in and around Delhi..!!

Its an endless city, which seems to have no boundary limits. I wonder how do people commute in such a big city, especially earlier when the metros didn't exist. Still lots of places yet out of reach from Metro, and multitude are traveling from one part of city to another using government and private buses. One can travel one end to another for 4 hours and yet not be able to cross Delhi limits (in vertical or horizontal direction). Well 4 hours might seem to be some big time, however when you consider Delhi traffic which is growing at constant rate, inspite of Metros, it seems to be very feasible.

Metros is no doubt an excellent example of public transport services that any government can boost of. A well built metro with stations built in major crowded places like Chandani Chowk, Kashmiri Gate, etc is worth seeing.

Chandani Chowk, now the famous Delhi 6, is one of the most busy street of Delhi. The main road has got splendid shops and constructions which coverts the old city of Delhi. But if you enter any of the galis, viz. Parathe vali Gali, Maliwara, Nayi Sarak, etc, you get to see the real Delhi 6. Here one feels he is roaming in the main market of any UP/Bihar city. All small lanes, with no space for a car to enter, for the matter of fact even bikes are not permitted inside those lanes. The shop keepers here are running their ancestral businesses. Roadside small shops, like a cubicle where the shopkeeper is sitting at the entry of the shop waiting for customers. One might think that these shopkeepers are just trying to sustain themselves. But actually their business model gives them profit better than those of malls, shopping complex and well to do shops of Delhi. You enter these shops and you are treated with some tea, cold drink and if you are lucky than even with Chat Items like Dahi Balle, Sev Puri-Dahi Puri, etc. These area also caters to some chatpata delicacies of Delhi. You will also notice lack of civic sense among shop owners. Most of them do not keep a dustbin and all their litters are found loitering in front of their shops on the street. And this makes you wonder more if you are really in some tier 2 Indian city.

Well litter is a major problem of most metros and Delhi is no exception. But however to imagine a dumped stinking area near the Famous Red Fort was a blow to my expectations. Down straight the Chandani Chowk I found Red Fort. I walked down the street for about a kilometer to find that it remains closed on mondays (the day being monday). However after a look at its facet I felt being at one of the tourist place of India. The horizontol crossing street was one of the major street of Delhi and beared heavy traffic. So I decided to take the Red Fort subway to cross the road. I was shocked to see the pathos condition of the subway filled with litter and poor dwellings. It was unbelivable to see the area of so importance being so filthy. Even the other end of the subway-outside on streets, did not give a happy feeling. I felt as if all the litter of entire Chandani Chowk Area is dumped so near to the Red Fort.

Now coming to the fastest developing part of Delhi, viz area of South Delhi. With 90 Kms around Delhi being declared as NCR, cities like Noida(UP) and Gurgaon(Haryana) has bloomed extensively. Noida is now a city of Shopping Malls and Educational institutions, while Gurgaon, the most benefited one from NCR status, houses most of the Indian and Multinational Corporate Offices. The entry of Gurgaon from Delhi Expressway is such a splendour visit, esp at night, that one feels of traveling in one of the best city of world, viz. New York, London, etc. All fancy illuminated buildings and lanscapes and the state of the art infrastructure. I think now Haryana Government should declare Gurgaon as the state capital (at present day Chandigardh shares the common status of state capital for Haryana and Punjab.)

NCR has been developed with the view point of providing the modern amenities to people residing outskirts of Delhi so that they need not travel to the capital and hence the herding problem during business hour can be controlled. But today with such a fast, efficient and continous development of these(NCR) areas, it seems soon Delhities would be moving to the NCR for their day to day work.

Well to conclude I would say Ye Delhi hai mere Yaar.. Bas isqh mahobat pyaar.. Dilli dilwalo ki!!