Is Delhi taking its toll?

I have been commuting frequently between Noida and South Delhi off late, and taking the DND Flyway is really convenient. Apart from the little stop at the toll plaza, the drive is smooth and enjoyable, the distance is shorter and it saves a lot of time. I always thought that the DND people were doing a nice service to the nation, even though they charge a little exorbitantly. They actually made a Net Profit of 659 Lakhs in the quarter ending December 07, which is up more than 100% year on year. Great. They even publish a code of ethics and stuff on their website. Nice.

My opinion about the company however took a U-Turn following 2 observations. I was driving towards Delhi, and nearing the Toll-Plaza when I saw an Ambulance approach in the same direction, with its siren blazing and emergency light on. Now, I have noticed that in the last few years, people have become conscientious enough to give way to Ambulances, even at the cost of slowing down or stopping on the side. Most of the cars did just that, they tucked the cars into the extreme side of the lane, and gave enough space for the ambulance to proceed to the Toll Plaza first. Then, at the toll plaza, the guy handling the booth decided to have a lengthy conversation with the ambulance driver, and this lasted atleast a minute. It takes a normal car about 10 seconds to pay and pass.

I was obviously not pleased with the conduct of the guy incharge, and I chose to vent my anger at the guy handling the booth in my lane. This is the conversation that ensued:

Me (Angry) : "Bhaiya Ambulance se bhi paise lete ho kya?" Do you even charge ambulances?
Booth Guy : "Sir Patient hota hai to nahi lete.." Sir we don't charge them when there is a Patient inside.
Me : "to itni der kyun lag rahi hai" Then why is it taking so long.
Booth Guy: "Sir gaadi ka number note karna hota hai" Sir, we have to note down the registration number of the car.

I pay and leave, as disgusted as can be.

The next day, while going to office, I see this:


a new redlight has been put up for turning right towards the new toll plaza meant to service the Mayur Vihar area. NTBCL made sure that the traffic was smoothly controlled when the overbridge was being made over the toll road, and none of their customers was inconvenienced. They even waited long enough for everything to be perfectly complete (in their area of course) before opening passage in this direction (The opposite direction had been opened earlier as it did not require the ovebridge). Net effect: A new red light on Noida Link road, in the narrowest (2 lane) part. I had been expecting a traffic jam at the light the day it opened, and that is just what happened. Unfortunately, drivers in Delhi have a habit of forming 2 lanes to turn right. This leaves just one lane on the extreme left for cars to move towards Noida. Moreover, 007's will take the leftmost lane and cut across to wait infront of the 2 right-turn lanes, and stick their ass out to block all traffic. POOF.

Now, there should have been a slip road in place before opening the traffic. Turns out that there is a plan to make that slip road, and I'm not sure who is making it. There is a large concrete wall in place that will most probably hold the landfill in place. But who is doing it. If NTBCL is doing it, why were they allowed to open traffic before completing the slip road. If MCD/PWD is making it, why were they napping all this time?

End result, the DND Flyway is causing some nasty traffic snarls outside their territory. I hold them responsible!

And are toll roads the answer? Anyone who has travelled to Gurgaon on the new toll road recently (after the opening of the toll plaza) will probably give you a nice long lecture about how useless it is! Do images speak louder than words? I'll leave you with this image..





It takes upto 1 hour to cross this toll plaza. Delhi to Gurgaon in 10 mins?? I guess the absurd toll of 16 rupees is to blame. How can you expect people to shell out 16 bucks and move on quickly. Why is it not 17.25 then?

Labels: Economics, Life, Politics, Society, Travel

Brothers in Arms

Do we ever feel strongly about any social issue unless it affects us directly? I went to protest with my peers when students protested against the Reservation bill. Our presence there was a sign of solidarity with the idea, with the people who were leading the movement. We went to reassure them that we were there to support them. Yet, I lay in bed watching the news when MCD sealed the shops of so many people in Delhi. Their shops were their only source of livelihood, and yet, I was not concerned.


I remember when I visited the 'War Memorial' in Seoul, I went around admiring the realistic reconstruction of war scenes and the Viking style warships, the guns and everything else on display. It was like a pleasure trip for all of us. We visited the souvenir shop and I bought a Korean army Dog Tag (Which was later stolen by the infamous Kleptomaniac of DCE!), and a little medallion with the War Memorial building on one side and a figure of 2 men hugging, on the other.



We went on to have a sumptuous lunch, something I have to write about in detail someday, and moved out of the complex, and started taking pictures. There I noticed a huge statue of the 2 men hugging each other, complete with their accouterments. Won (Our guide, not the currency!) told us that the statue represented a real life incident, wherein during the war between North and South Korea, two brothers from opposite armies met on the battlefield!
Suddenly, the war memorial meant a lot more. I stood and admired the statue, the position of the two men, the way their bodies leaned on each other, as if their knees had given way, their grief apparent by the mere position of their bodies.
The globe on which they stood was cracked from between them, symbolic of their world torn apart. We even caught hold of a little terrified (by us!) kid wearing a 'be the reds' t-shirt, and made him pose with us in front of the statue :) . Apparently, quite a few of us felt the same way about the war between the two parts of Korea. I say this because that night we came back to the university and laid out huge sheets of paper and left messages of peace.


We signed our names, made India's flag, and wrote a peace message in Hindi and in English.

Sometimes you just need to be in the eye of the storm to realize its futility. I felt the same way at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. The wall obviously wasn't there. Just a slight depression in the ground where it once stood, and panels with photos and descriptions of the time it was there. It's really hard for me to explain, but I'll try. Potsdamer Platz is now a wide open area right in the centre of Berlin's business district. The DB building, all the financial giants, Sony center are all a stones throw away. The Berlin wall divided this area right through the center into half. It would have been like dividing the heart of a city. Train tracks were blocked, the city was divided into half and walled. There was a little ramp onto which people were allowed to climb to see the goings on on the other side beyond the wall. I stood there with one foot on either side of the wall, and took a snap. Then I just strolled around the place feeling the pulse of the city. Among all the cities I visited in Europe, Berlin was the one that was 'Alive'. It was exciting just to be there, just to walk along the streets. Something or the other was always going on.


It felt great just to be able to cross the places where the wall once stood, especially at the Brandenburg Tor. There was also a photo exhibition depicting the Tor after the world war, in a rather debilitated state, and we took snaps there and 'Crossed' the Tor to head toward the Live 8 concert going on between the Siegesäule. Just to think that you would have been shot down if you tried to cross the place 2 decades ago.

The only image of the Berlin wall I ever had before this trip was the one created by the Scorpions music video, "Wind's of change". In the last part of the video, there are images of the Berlin wall being brought down. After I returned from Germany, this song had an entirely new meaning for me. Having talked to people who were present at Potsdamer Platz when the first piece of the Wall crumpled, and also people who hid in their house for days fearing some sort of riots would break out, the Wall was not what it used to be anymore.

Some parts of the world are not as fortunate as Germany though. Back home, I went to watch the gate closing ceremony at Wagah recently, and after the ceremony, people are allowed to walk around the fence, touch the border post, and at one point, Indians and Pakistanis are a couple of feet away, separated only by 2 cords of barbed wire. Its amazing the way you feel looking at people across the divide. There is no ill-will, no enmity, just a weird feeling, like we are caged. They probably felt the same way. I held the gaze of quite a few people, longer than necessary, just to see how their expressions changed, but they didn't. There was no trace of malice in their eyes. They were looking at us in an incredulous manner, just as we were looking at them I'm sure.

We drove back to Amritsar discussing that maybe the aggression apparent in the gate-keepers actions should be toned down a little. There are two sides to the coin as always. At one end, we are trying to spread a feeling of mutual trust and understanding, and this demands that these proceedings be toned down. On the other hand, it is a rather good location and setup to instill feelings of nationalism in people. Gradually, the discussion changed to where our next meal should be. Incidentally, in Amritsar, all you manage to think about is food! Having tried all the street food on offer, and all the famous dhabas, we settled for Crystal, which was recommended by the owner of the Jutti Shop my mum and sister ransacked.




I kept toying with the thought that maybe someday cars will be allowed to cross the Wagah, and we will be able to go to Lahore and eat a better preparation at the Food Street. Someday soon perhaps.

Labels: Food, Life, Politics, Travel

Dinner time conversation.

D : Mama is there a spare blanket at home?
M : What happened?
D : Ohh, there is this old lady who lives outside our house. She looks like she belongs to a nice family, and her kids didn't want her. She just stays there all day, and has no possessions of her own. People pity her and give her food sometimes. P and I feel really bad, we even went and bought her a pair of slippers last week. I don't know what to do for her. She stays out there even when it rains at night. I don't know how she manages.
M : Buy her one then……(cut short)

By now, I could completely empathise with the old lady. Isn't her mental agony of being kicked out of home enough, that she has to go through all these hardships as well? I could picture her on cold rainy nights, sitting under a protective branch, with her meager belongings. Then it struck me, that there are millions of homeless people in our country who don't have a shelter, why then have I never felt this bad for them? Is it because they have never known a better lifestyle, and this lady probably did have a better lifestyle and a house to live in? I suddenly regretted telling all the beggars to move on. Some of them may have been genuine. So, should I empathise with every homeless person I see from now on? Should you?

Mr. Karunanidhi has promised to give a Television and rice at Rs. 2/kg to every household in Tamil Nadu. There is a catch. "Household". What about the poor people without a family or a place to live? Should they not be the primary target for rehabilitation. Come to think of, shouldn't rehabilitation and employment opportunity score over sources of entertainment? I completely agree that a TV can go a long way in awakening the masses, and also educating them, but does it not sound like petty vote bank politics, a new techno savvy variety, because saying "We will provide drinking water and electricity in all villages, and connect them with metalled roads", seems to be an unfulfilled and clichéd promise made by politicians in the 70's.

I looked up some statistics, and I summarise here.
"We also count people in India". Really, I thought you were in charge of dogs only. Source : Census India

Labels: Economics, Politics