You don't really know a city by just seeing the tourist attractions.
Going by that principle I stuck to never saying anything when the Delhi Bombay debate kept raging in college.
But I knew by all that was said, that Delhi was a city I had to know a little bit about.
Finding an excuse, I found myself in New Delhi in a quest to "Discover Delhi".
SUPER FAIL.
I mean, its cool and all that ad it definitely has the most amazing roads I've seen ANYWHERE in India, but really after living in bombay for 19 and a half years of my life, so far I've found Delhi considerably girl-unfriendly.
Khan market, CP, Dilli Haat, Chandni Chowk, Akshardha- wherever you go, its just can't compare with how Bombay makes you feel.
The chauvinistic, judgmental eyes that follow you around, the curfews the girls have here plus how unsafe you feel on the metro is unbearable for someone like yours truly who doesn't have a problem getting around her city alone at 10 pm.
Police officers are leching and you see barely any women smoking because no one wants to invite unrequited attention.
You feel an odd curtailment of your independence in Delhi.
It's a boy's city. Its a man's world here.
There's no question here of being able to get chocolate milkshake and pav bhaji at 2.30 am at the seaside (Or the yucky yamuna here) in Delhi. Bas, its just not that kind of place.
And I just keep seeing human rights and women's rights violations everywhere.
But Delhi, too, has things I loved.
Khan Market, the shoes i've seen around the place, the BEAUTIFUL people (all largely dumb), the wide streets and the beautiful buildings.
The life at Chandni Chowk and the "feel" of Hindi.
The stately power and awe you feel walking down the road from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.
Stunning really.
But once a Bambaiyya, always a Bambaiyya.
And after giving it a real chance, Delhi failed.
Like it did at the Commonwealth games. =P
But I have 3 more days.
Maybe Delhi will surprise me with more than a hint of awesomeness...
8 comments:
Home sweet home, I think there is one topic on which I'll always be biased.
Neither Mumbai, nor Delhi, I'll say, for me it's Shimla.
Oh and I remember you liked Stupid people, is that why you liked people in Khan Market? :P
Cheers,
Blasphemous Aesthete
Aah...i wish you were in college with me, everytime i start with my 'bombay is better than your city'..all these stupid delhiites think they're too cool, just because they have good infrastructure and the freedom to letch at women...
:)
"But once a Bambaiyya, always a Bambaiyya."
True.
I LOVE YOUR BLOG :O
i do not belong to either of the two cities, so perhaps i'm in a better position to give an impartial opinion. I think, Mumbai deserves all credit for the cool attitude of mumbaikars (nver seen anyone lose their temper even in the almost inhumanly packed local trains). However,the city does not live up to its fame as far as maintenance and cleanliness is concerned. (I fell in love with marine drive, but even there the sea water isn't worth touching!). On the other hand delhi surprised me, becoz after seeing mumbai I didn't expect such well-maintained, well-planned roads and beautiful buildings, (not to 4get the impressive metro trains)anywhere in India. As far as chauvinistic, lecherous eyes are concerned, has it not more to do with sexually repressed India, than with Delhi?
I agree with the whole male chauvinism present in Delhi.
Or even here, in Hyderabad. :/
I think it gets a little biased considering that you've lived in Mumbai for 19 and a half years.
And you've not seen and felt the REAL Delhi. Next time you're in, give me a chance to show you the real 'Dil' of Dilli.
Although good, but I have to say that this would offend quite a lot of people who belong to Delhi. :)
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