Where art thou my dear Delhi !

Ok this is one blog that I been wanting to write for years now.Its about the then-not-so-crowded city called Delhi.The Delhi that I new.The city that is so so different from how I have known her.A Delhi, that has known me for 35 years and yet seen me only for the first 18 of these.Like a mother who despite living far away waits patiently for years together for her children to return home (atleast for a short while).Who tries to give them the picture that things are exactly the same as they were when they parted ways.

The thought of those hot summers and excruciatingly cold winters bring back so many memories.Where summer holidays were eagerly awaited despite the knowledge of the fact that there would be absolutely nothing to during those long dreary afternoons.No so called hobby classes,no piano,horseriding or swimming lessons.Things which kids nowadays take for granted.No cable telivision and absolutely NO computers (these machines were unheard of then..)When every house had a minumum of three (if not more) children and all that they could do was sit under shadey trees or under the musty landing of a staircase which stared dimly at a locked door or gossiping about non existent creatures or people.Holiday Homework was actually something to be researched and completed painfully albeit in fits and starts throughout two long months rather than something that is outsourced to someone much elder sitting in a swanky office.No coolers and obviously no airconditioners were used in those days.The only respite from the heat was a slow moving humungous grimy fan and some cool water from a swan necked surahi.

 

Winters on the other hand meant huddling under thick razais and blankets and sipping hot chai.Waiting for the beautiful festival of Lohri to sit surrounded by the warmth crackling fire, popping every now and then with the corn and the nuts being tossed carelessly into it.Of the sweet strings of the a veena playing out the Thirupavai or a murphy radio siting warmly at a corner of the house broadcasting the intonated voice of Amin Sayani.

 

Then came the monster of development, slow moving initially and then large,loud and all persavive. While modes of communication improved , money and a false sense of superiority increased distances.Metro made distances shrink but tore apart the heart of the city. It brought in the mad rush which was known only to Mumbai.Flyovers made people zip past places that they would normally want to stop for a while and observe.Crime and lawlessness skyrocketed but no one bothered.Visits to temples / concerts were few and far between because the only religion and hobby that one learnt was the art of making more and more money.

People no longer wanted to look eye to eye.Family gatherings became less and less frequent and all one heard was a son or a daughter leaving the city or the country to earn or study in some other unknown strange land.A place that they would initially not like. a place where they get bouts of tummy upsets and  pangs of separation.But a place where they would slowly make friends and start calling their own.A place from where they will come back again and again after some so-called "quality time" with parents.Parents who are growing old but keep their empty nest fresh and ready for the kids to come back again and again in the hope that one day they would settle down with them for good.......but something that may never happen.Never happen because its too painful to adjust in a system from which one ran away in the first place.So there would always be an excuse of bad infrastructure, kids schooling, pollution and low mindset.Till one day in the middle of the night one would be woken up by the shrill ring of a telephone sitting in a cold dining room.A long distance call one would not want to take but a call that would change your life forever.A call that brings bad news that you have no one to share with or cry over.So all you do is stand on those unstable feet and look outside from your house's warmth onto the street outside slowly being flooded with distinct flakes of snow.Feeling that life has just passed you by as you too could be one of these falling flakes...............one day.