Sunday was supposed to be hectic with loads of work on my platter and then comes an unexpected call form my sister that I need to accompany my niece to a birthday party. WTF! I mean why me? Your baby, you take her (obviously I did n tell her this. These were my internal feelings..jaise who hota hai na hindi daily soaps mein..) I agreed. Did I have an option?!
We started from home at around half past eleven. We were to go to Indian habitat Center (IHC). This was an advantage I had. I was getting a chance to visit one of my all time favorite places. We decided to take the route via AIIMS. I don’t know but somehow I felt that there was a lot of cleanliness on the roads. Probably it was because sun was shining bright after a lot many days or was it because the rains washed away with it the bad and the ugly of Delhi? New steel and peppy stands replaced the old, rusted and broken stands at the bus terminals. Pavements were polished, street lamps were new. Lots of decked up police force (Delhi always had loadz but now they were visible to Delhites!), DTC bus drivers in new uniform. In a nut shell a very jazzed up Delhi.
Whenever I crossed Prithviraj road, I always thought that why can’t the other road in Delhi be so neat and clean. Why can’t they be so green? My my my my!!!! Here I was. Near the ‘India famous’ Nehru stadium. It looked good. Looked beautiful. Lots of watch dogs, armed personnel, buses and cars in their lanes. All in all delightful 10 mins of drive. Suddenly my niece says, “Massi, rainbow”.
“WHAT? WHERE?” I asked here.
She pointed out to a beautifully colored huge arc. I smiled. “yes darling! That’s a rainbow”, I told her.
Thought to myself. That’s a rainbow of the leftover of foot over bridge. That’s the rainbow of the taxpayers’ money, that’s the rainbow of every Indian’s expectations. That’s the rainbow of every Delhite’s hopes. That’s the rainbow of the oppositions opportunity lost. That’s the rainbow of the government’s failure. That’s the rainbow of international pressure. That’s the rainbow of emergence of India as a superpower. My thoughts were cut short with an uncontrolled brake. I gave a nasty look to the driver. He was about to drive into the CWG lane. Till now at the mention of these lanes, I felt like a harijan who was barred from entering a temple. But at this point this seemed like an LOC which I desperately wanted to cross. But thankfully I controlled my emotions and I also saved my wallet from being picked by the traffic police (2000/- is the challan!).
We reached IHC. It felt awesome to be back in those auditoriums, to be surrounded by those painted walls. The party was to be in Eatopia. We entered the hall and boy! Who said it was a kids’ party? Munni badnaam playing, bachcha party imitating Salman and Malaika..Only missing was booze! I left my niece there and left for an inspection of this Delhi that has recently attended some image makeover classes. I went around and one thing that I want to say is that things are good. Definitely! But the question is this facelift for CWG or its common people? Is it going to be same bad old Delhi after these games are over? After the ’82 Asiad we had a lot to take home. We would definitely hope that this time also we have our hands full with the betterment and development.
Keeping fingers crossed!
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