Back to Delhi

India does not need a Disneyland proclaimed Pallavi as our bodies were thrown out of the seat again. Landing back down on the seat of the car I looked at the road ahead scared with holes, as if small explosives had been dispersed over a period of time with water filling the gaps slowly evaporating in the heat. The ride was filled with such bumps as we would move at average speeds only to be stopped in long bouts of traffic that refused to move.

I was back in Delhi and doing some shopping. In colourful Punjab I gave retirement to the floral attire that helped me blend in the country, thus prompting a need for more shirts. Travelling in Delhi has exposed me to the various changes that both the city and country are undergoing. I am able to converse flawlessly speaking in with the typical Hindi dialect as spoken by the locals. For entertainment I enjoy Tata Sky service at my friend Shruthi's place where I am staying. And it is a welcome change with every second channel is playing an Amitabh Bachchan movie from his long and illustrious career.

Another bump and my mind is back on the road and away from thoughts of the Bachchan movie I would watch later in the night. Since the early nineties, the ascendancy of global capitalism has made the market the new orthodoxy for many people. Entering the mall I pass by the recently created nouveau rich it amazes me by the way in which they flaunt their baubles: driving up in flashy red sports car, wiping themselves with branded Kleenex, wearing huge rings on their chunky fingers, and most depressing of all, dropping big names like dandruff. Sure they may have arrived but they can’t stop jingling their moneybags and getting the world to take notice.

Like anyone in my place I get worried. It’s okay though, for it is the way the country is changing. Earlier I used to get disturbed about these things, and now I try to do something about it. Like me there are many others who work for NGOs and attempt to bring change from the grassroots. These are the young people who give up cushy corporate jobs to start NGOs, the few who question corruption, the handful of genuine politicians, college students who visit old age homes on Sundays and treat injured animals on roads, fearless journalists and the list goes on.