Yesteday, I spent my first all-nighter at work. It was also the first time in 6 months (since the time I passed out of college) or maybe more that I have been up the whole night (and day) and required to work. So it was momentous in a small way, but that’s not the point of this post. Among other things, my team-mates (which basically consisted of 2 other people) & I would lapse into conversations on various topics (not completely related to work) everytime we’d feel the need to take a break to stay awake and mentally alert. During one such conversation, one of my team-mates was talking about what Delhi meant to non-residents like him & I. And this was what was interesting. Since then, I have replayed that conversation in my head (once I had taken a nap and was in a better state to process things, of course) and realized how the same city can mean such different things for people with almost similar circumstances.
For him, Delhi was associated with freedom, booze and live-in relationships (among other things that I can’t quite remember at this moment). And he claimed this to be a generalization. Maybe it was in the social circles he was in. But what I found interesting is how none of the people in my acquaintance have come close to associating this city with similar things. In fact, for me personally, Delhi per se does not give me a sense of freedom. Of course, I have the freedom that comes with being away from home and being answerable only at a very macro level, but that would be in any place that was not my “home-city” or “home-cities” in my case. I am yet to get used to the fact that in this city my “freedom” is curbed by my self. For the first time, I have begun to consciously think and be aware of where I am going and at what time of the day and then consider how to get back. For instance, if I go for an evening show of a movie over the weekend with Tanvi & PK we always end up reminding ourselves of when the show is likely to end? Will we find autos at that time? Will the autos go to the places each of us have to go to? Is it safe to take an auto at that time of the day to that part of the city? And so on.
This, I find contrary to my concept of absolute “freedom”. Maybe it’s a trivial consideration and one can argue that the same is with any city, but atleast with all other cities you’re not psyched out and made to be wary long before you even reach the city. Having said that, I haven’t had an out and out unpleasant experience so far…touchwood. But still I just found it interesting to note how people could think so differently about the same place.
For me, Delhi is about comfort and taking a back seat and being lackadaisical. Unlike Bombay, I don’t get a sense of being rushed here. In Bombay, everyone seemed to be racing against time everywhere and at any point of time in the day. It was also a place where I kept feeling this innate need to constantly prove yourself. For me, it was a city that signified chaos and flux. Delhi, on the other hand, feels sedentary.
I am yet to understand why the association with booze & live-in relationships though. I was told that’s very prevalent in Noida. Unfortunately, the conversation was interrupted in between by some work that came up so never got around to figuring that one out. I guess it was one of those times when you mix with people different from your usual circle of friends and hear or discover something new.
3 comments:
Aaaah yes- conversations that get interrupted by work- one of my pet peeves! But then again, if they didn't, mine would go on forever! ;-)
You know, Mumbai is a city where people have gathered from all over to achieve things, to make a living. Delhi, on the other hand, always the favoured city historically- being the political and thus power capital- has had everything given to it, along with a promise of it never being taken away. Therefore it has this sense of complacency, of just being, and reveling in whatever one has. That complacency is perhaps the cause of its somnambulism, and the main reason Mumbai with its aggressive can-do spirit outruns it today.
mentioned guy must have taken delhi on a more serious note then it actually is,or his experiences here must have added more dimensions in his juvenile thinking,actually it is not like that things are always the way we see them, for ex. we avoid many bad things, but this does not mean that those things doesnt exist, basically it must be the impact of those bad things which resonates in his mind questioning to himself that y this happens, and in serach of finding the right answer may be that same guy had to keep his D drive (D=Dimag) on sharing till he gets answer for that.
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