The City Of Anger - Delhi

There is so much that can be said about Delhi and it has such a rich and long history that the more you reveal, the less it seems you have touched upon. There are various facets of the city and various ways one can approach when he/she talks about what Delhi signifies to them but in this day and age there is an unmistakable pattern of rage filled incidents in the city. And this seems to me a way of fight for survival and assertion of various groups/ classes within the society.

Gone are the days when logic or common sense were expected as a norm. This is the age of the absurd. Logic or rationality have been appropriated by blind self-righteousness. Let me illustrate this with an example, a personal experience I was privy to recently. I went out in my car accompanied by an acquaintance and his wife and daughter of 9 months old. It was raining and the roads were quite chaotic with no sense of order. Just when I was about to take a right turn a man and a large family of nomadic looking people started banging the hood of my car and started shouting expletives saying, 'it's a red signal, can't you see, will you run us over?', while the fact was that they were obstructing the view and there was no way to know if the signal was green or red. It is easy to get provoked when a random stranger starts hurling abuse at you but I was unphased because I knew he was not worth my time and he was accompanied by 10 - 12 people. Also, the guy in my car worked in the police department and he held me back because he sensed and told me immediately that those people looked like criminals, the kind who work in gangs and ultimately want to steal or rob people one way or the other. When they moved slightly away from the car I got out and called him out. These kinds of criminal elements need to be told that no one is afraid of them. This is why I got out of the car on my own terms and did not indulge in violence but did not back off either. But it made me think a lot until I came across plenty of articles that this is indeed a way in which many gangs function and yes they use women and children too to carry out their nefarious deeds.

Criminal or not, it is apparent that the city is losing its cool pretty quick and it's almost a warlike situation on roads where if you follow the rules, you're doomed, if you don't follow the rules, you're doomed. Where is my country heading :( This way society would become another Syria. Government can only do so much, when will people realize they have responsibilities towards the nation as well. And what does violence solve? Nothing! But Delhi can't accommodate the influx of people from nearby states anymore due to sheer lack of space!

This is Not a Rant.

I take out my bike in scorching summer and head out on the road. It's been barely 2 minutes and there is a red traffic signal. I  switch off my bike and wait the signal to get green while observing endless melee of riders jumping traffic signals from all directions. There was a time when I used to get infuriated and angry when I saw people throwing trash on the roads, defacing public property in various ways or just inconveniencing other people with least regard for fellow citizens. But I was naive and optimistic that some day things will change. Year after year passed but those who cared about country eventually turned their attention to their own lives away from the endless chaos that India is and those who got a chance to move abroad did it without a second thought.

The traffic light turned green and I moved on, only to find myself stuck on another stop light. But on this one I see 2 motorists fighting, one on bike and another one on scooty. Both of them had co-passengers. The fight ensued because the young blokes on scooty were pressing horn despite there being a red traffic signal and the  guy on the bike was with his family but argued that he wouldn't move as the signal was red. When the light turned green I caught up with the imbeciles and asked them why they weren't wearing helmets and whether the guy on the bike was being unreasonable. They said it doesn't matter, we do what we want. I told them politely that they wouldn't don the same attitude if the traffic police caught them, they smiled and said our fathers are in police, rules don't apply to us. My father is also in police and I was never taught to act like this. But it seems a large number of people have a botched value system. Perhaps it was my father's excessive honesty that led me to be labelled naive in real world as I assumed this is how people genrally are and those who raise hue and cry about corruption and other issues are cynics with little touch with reality. When I went out in society away from the protected world of university I came across various facets of society that parents guard children from and it involved among other things renting to abusive, uncouth and not surprisingly feudal minded landlords to bribe takers and traffic rules breakers.

I used to believe in many idealistic things but it seems that each society has certain theoretical values that they claim to uphold and then there is the real face of society where it actually practices certain things which hardly has anything in common with what society imagines itself to be. But there are few points and things that can be generalized. It's true that no society is entirely corrupt and there are honest individuals with good values but a society gets labelled on the basis of the behaviour of majority of people and it is sad as well as unfair for those individuals who are different from the 'sheeple' of their country. The developed world has a large number of its citizens following certain rules and norms because they understand what it means to be human and where their interests lie. But sadly in the developing world a large number of people are driven by anything but education. Their sentiments can be swayed by fake news, provocation, religion, community, gender , class etc. They fail to understand that in order to have a better future for a society as a whole people need to look beyond just their selfish interests.

It's quite ironic that 'collectivist' societies criticise 'individualism' without even understanding its true meaning. Individualism is not selfishness and those societies which claim to think of the nation and community are most often found to be practicing selfish actions. India needs to radically change its modus operandi if it has to progress and get rid of hypocrisy for having a real shot at joining the league of the first world. If it needs to take strict action it must be taken against backward practices and mentality and we seriously need to rise above religion, whether it be of minorities or majority. Societies can be moral without following inane practices of religions and instead just embrace good teachings. If that is done, the people would not reply on being questioned of brazen behaviour ; 'we do what we want'. 

A guide for the lost

The solutions are simple and problems complicated.  Ever thought about that ?
Well, it's  such a cliched statement.  Real life is no fairy tale but to not believe in fairy tales is being too cynical . Being pragmatic and to still believe in your dreams is such an arduous task to achieve .

But in my 30 years of existence I have seen miracles happening and witnessed tragedies as well. It was painful to realise that whatever we encounter in life is more or less attracted by us . Let me rephrase it : most of the things in our life are attracted by our choices made out of ignorance or awareness . It is a little hard concept for people to understand and arguably so it is complex as there are so many external factors at work in the world . And the old debates of nurture vs nature are never ending . But I personally found that there are two distinct things in life that must not be confused : first is the material world , society and it's machinations and the other is your own spirit, choices you make and perhaps universal law.

Is there a perfect job or a perfect soul mate?  Should a job be taken up considering the pay cheque or the work atmosphere ? How about commuting time and holidays ? You can create an entire check list of expectations and use logic and rationale in choosing a particular job but it won't matter if your heart isn't in it ! Yes , again a clichéd statement but whether we accept it or deny it , the fact remains that the people who make it "big " in life are usually those who enjoy what they do . Yes , hurdles will still crop up and it won't be necessarily a smooth ride ,as is life . But would one progress in a field where the work or the atmosphere is distasteful ? This is why the great men /women emphasised on the value of setting goals . I know a lot of the aforementioned things are easier said than done but even if we find ourselves entangled in the cruel reality of physical world and challenges of finding the "perfect " way of leading the life , we can still set little goals . Setting a big goal without the needed discipline and persistence is pointless . If we could start with setting small goals and achieving them , we could build the needed self confidence,  trust and discipline to move forward and also understand what it takes to bring a change in life and not merely fantasise about dreams .

As long as we strive to move forward and make use of our time , we would have hope and if you have hope ,anything is possible provided you are willing to pay the price . Also , utilising our time is a way to be grateful for this life and humans make mistakes so utilising time shouldn't entail anxiety and stress . Do your bit but take it easy .