I
got up at 5.30 a.m. in the morning today, not for the daily morning walk or
physical exercise but, to be in time at the nearest Mother Dairy/Safal outlet
to fetch a kilo of onion, at Rs. 40/- a kg (this is the maximum quantity they sell to a single
customer), lest I am left out again. During the last few days, I had been going
to the outlet at 7.00 a.m. and had to come back empty handed, as the stock of onions
got exhausted quickly. Onion has become a precious item in national capital
these days. This is the third year of my stay in Delhi and I am now used to
this scarcity, so much so that I advised my wife (who like many other advice of
mine did not heed to this either) in July itself to hoard the stock for the
next few months before these gets hoarded by the big players of the business. Inflation
of such nature created artificially by hoarders, causing the price of a simple
commodity like onion to sky rocket to Rs. 80-100/- a kg, has become an annual
affair. If DELHI were to be given an
acronym “H” stands for Hoarding followed by “I” for Inflation. Hoarding has
come to be practiced in the city in such a professional manner that the
government of the day appear hostage to such hoarders. The hoarders remain
immune while the Government doesn’t have any antidote.
I
now come to what other letters in the acronym DELHI stands for. These are a few
events that repeat itself annually with a dreary regularity. After the rains,
Dengue outbreak is regularity in this metropolitan. This annual recurrence of
Dengue is the letter “D” of Delhi. All the preparedness of the Government goes in
vain while the Dengue mosquitoes have a field day for at least three months
beginning July right up to September. This is the season when hospitals and
doctors make their earnings for the whole year.
Nursery
“E”ducation admission comes to haunt the people of Delhi annually without fail
like a disease. The education mafia have a field day right from April to June when
they make huge earning by ensuring admission under EWS and other quotas, while
the Government watches in despair. Even the directive of the apex court is not
heeded by these mafias. Thus annual concern for nursery “Education” and
Admission is the letter “E” of Delhi.
While
letters of the city DE(L)HI describes the annual events of Delhi, the letter
“L” was deliberately left out as it is central to the city’s problem
(literally). This is a season not confined to a few months but its effect is felt
throughout the year. The letter “L” of Delhi describes the state of “Law &
Order” which is central to the entire problem that the metropolitan faces
today. It is this factor which the citizens of the city dread about. I have
lived in a number of cities- right from Jhumri-Telaiya to Jamshedpur and Ranchi
(all Jharkhand), Kolkata and Barrackpore (West Bengal), Shillong and Guwahati (North
East India), Port Blair (Islands of Andaman & Nicobar), Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
and host of other cities- big and small- but nowhere I had to take such precaution
for the safety and security of my family members as I do at New Delhi. My wife puts
locks to the doors virtually (and each door is locked at three places- top,
middle and bottom), as there had been incidences of dacoities even in this
densely populated areas where I live. Delhi is unique in the sense that control
over its “Law and Order” administration instead of improving the law and order
situation has become the bone of contention between its various stakeholders
who claim to be ruling the city. In the process the common man is left to fend
for himself. In such a situation my belief in God has increased manifold. God protect
me.
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