When Delhi gets humid...

...it reminds one of Bombay - right from getting soaked in the rains, wading through puddles of water to make it for social engagements, to never-ending serpentine-like traffic jams, everything in this wet wet city so closely resembles the maya nagari that I for one forgot to miss my adopted city for a full one week! Seriously!!

Achoo! Yup, that's part and parcel of the monsoon special. And a broken red umbrella (twas my fave, sobbbbbbbbbbbbbbb) and 2 perfectly nice pairs of chappals down the drain, literally!

But the rain Gods rained home this scary truth; we truly and honestly are so not ready to host the Commonwealth games, not yet. Controversies, scams, and public shame notwithstanding, the capital's infrastructure is under serious threat of collapsing, probably bang in the middle of the arterial Ring road! And since I am no celeb, (not yet ;D), I can unhappily note this without the fear of having to retract from "mis-quotes"!

It saddens me. A nation on the cusp of being inducted in the coterie of global superpowers, the world's largest democracy, the second-fastest growing economy powering the world's economic engine and gang-raped, heckled and abandoned by its own leaders - political, bureaucratic being the active agents and business leaders who by accepting such a state of affairs, abet this passively.

We are a nation of "jugaad" - I am sure we will somehow manage to pull it off, the balloon show notwithstanding, is it enough to always just pull it off? In the post-games euphoria of having managed to pull it off despite the recalcitrant rain-Gods (Yay us!), will we this time around too go back to status quo? Arre bhai, kaam toh ho gaya na! Is it enough to always, just be "enough". How about "exceed" or "out do" or "stupendous"? Why can we not expect to go beyond expectations without exception? Why can we not aspire, inspire, perspire? Why do we take the easiest possible way out and do just the bare minimum? With our nation, ourselves, our lives? Why are we "blessed" with such a self-assured-santusth-I-will-not-move-my-a*-unless-I-want-to attitude? Why do we accept? One billion people on the streets, protesting against being taken for granted, can move mountains, literally, policy passivity and inaction or limited action against "those entrusted with upholding the secular, democratic traditions of this nation with honesty and integrity" who are still just mere mortals toh can still be reformed.

But we accept. The ones who realise that is an unhappy state of affairs either run, away, or weep, silently. Then they too accept. Sab chalta hai. Siwaye public transportation (especially banned during the commonwealth games which have brought the ordinary citizen nothing but misery because of callous and incompetent fools responsible for "implementation"), water (the taps run dry despite "extraordinarily excessive" rains) and roads (which don’t last beyond one season), sab chalta hai yahan.

Hiss!

Notes

Maya nagari is a popular term that refers to Bombay:-)

'Jugaad' is colloquialism for quick-fix improvisations.