Its almost five months now that I landed in this capital city of the country and one can’t just ignore or stay oblivious to the observations that is likely to be witnessed during this period. So I do have an observations, a list of them actually which I am sharing it for sure. But before we probe further into it, i have a line about observation that says “If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk”
Now this explicitly implies that observation is a good thing despite the stuff that one observe and off course the impact on the thought process is unlimited. It can either trigger your thoughts or even drift you away to the land of imagination where coming back would seem difficult or even impossible.
Now lets get back to our observation shall we? Where should I start….??Hmm I know where to start- Let me list it below as pointers
1.The buses in Delhi and their conductors are the Boss- Unlike Mumbai where conductors have to take a round from the start to the end of the bus thumping their stapler with the poles shouting for tickets or people who haven’t got their tickets. In Delhi, the conductor sits comfortably in one of the seats and the passengers have to go to him, take a ticket and grab a seat.Now, both in these two metropolitan cities, and both being public servants, the level of effort put forth by them seems to differ a lot. I really do not have any idea about their pay scale though.
2. Next is the fare or the ticket amount when you travel by bus. In Mumbai, the conductor take his rounds, you tell him your destination and he tell you the price of the ticket. You pay him the money and he give you the Ticket. In Delhi, you get inside the bus, look for the conductor.When you see him sitting somewhere in one of the seats, you approach him, ask him for a ticket- not mentioning the destination but the amount for ticket you want to purchase. So, you see the difference? In Mumbai, you say your destination and in Delhi you say the ticket amount. Thus we come to the conclusion that the chances of people taking lesser amount ticket irrespective of their destination is higher in Delhi than in Mumbai.
3. Nehru Place- Nehru Place, someone told me its like the dirty version of New York Streets. I am not sure how true that is but one thing i am sure is, it is crowded as hell! Proudly proclaimed as Asia’s biggest IT market, it houses a lot of IT showrooms, repair shops and you name it. So much so that you have to hop from one shop to the other to get the best price.And you should know one more thing, no shop in Nehru place offer the same price for the same product. I remember the last time, I visited the place to buy an internet modem, me and my friend had to hop here and there and bargain for the best price. What we found out was that they don’t offer same price for the product we were looking for. So, we have to check out more than 6-7 shops until we came to the shop which offer the best price. So my advice- don’t jump into buying what you need at the first shop, try some more if you have time and save some bucks!
4. In spite of the wide roads, highways, flyovers and lanes, the roads in Delhi seems to be crowded every single minute. With jams almost all time of the day. Even at 5 in the morning, the road to domestic and International Airport already is busy with traffic. Correct me if I am wrong but I think there is no traffic time in Delhi. Usually in Mumbai, the traffic signal works from 8 in the morning till 12 midnight. That means between midnight and 8 in the morning, you don’t have to necessarily follow the traffic signal. But that is not the case in Delhi, the traffic lights works throughout and surprisingly drivers follow it too. That’s quite impressive though. I am not sure how prone or how much difference is there in the data of accidents or roads mishap for both the cities.
5. Now is my favorite part, the autowallahs of Delhi. Now, as per my personal observation, I have come across 3 types of autowallahs or auto drivers in Delhi. They are listed below.
a. The Oblivious – These are normally the type of drivers who pays strict attention to the roads, what they do and they are not concern at all about what you do inside the auto. They will take you where you want to go and seriously, I like these type of drivers.
b. The Chatterbox -These type of drivers are fun at times, but not every time because they will not just stop talking, they love to act smart and pretend or claimed they know everything. They will keep chattering about each and everything. The climate, the people, the other drivers and you name it.They are really good for fun and entertainment, but its better to avoid them or ignore them when you are in a hurry or in tension/bad mood.
3. The Boss- These are the drivers who act like they are the boss, like actually the boss. They drive like they own the roads, they will drive in style, sometimes with one hand. Sometimes one leg on the seat and sometimes even without holding the handle at all. They don’t fucking care about the speed breaks or bad roads. They will just take you for a ride as if you are sitting in a rollercoaster. They love the energy and the fun of it too- well, maybe!
Now, another thing I observed about Munirka-my second home is that it looks like the inherited property land of the Tokas family. Everywhere you go, Tokas family name are surely there. and what can I say about everyday markets in Delhi. There is everyday market like Sunday market, Monday market, Wednesday market, so on and so forth.
Okay, so, with the unpredictable rains in Delhi, the huss puss of college admissions and cut offs and the food bill being proposed to be implemented, I think I should end this part of the observation here for the time being. Will surely come up with some more observations in the near future 😉
Living at the Edge 