Dilli mein sub chaltha hein!

It’s not that every day in your life that a cab driver would ask you to drive the car while he enjoys his can of Kingfisher beer! The night before yesterday, I ended up driving a cab in the rain from Karolbagh to Delhi Cantonment. It was not just the trust the driver showed in me, but the ease in which I took charge of the car for an hour-long journey that surprised me the most. Spiced with stories of the young man who introduced himself as Amit, I drove through streets of Delhi, scared of being hit by vehicles and pedestrians and cows from all sides.



We had noticed that Amit was quite a special person when we went to Gopinath bazaar looking for a taxi that will ‘ferry us’ through the water-logged roads to Karol Bagh. When rest of the taxi drivers refused to come, Amit volunteered and ‘fixed’ 400 Rs for the return trip and while starting the cab made a statement;”can’t stand those guys who don’t take their duty seriously’. As we were busy with some discussions, we didn’t give much thought to his statements.



However with the steering wheel in hand, I had not much option than to hear out Amit. He showed me photographs of his wife, daughters, younger brother and shared with him his journey from being a martial artist, to a dancer and to being a driver. While sharing all this, he kept on giving me directions and couple of times even ‘corrected’ my driving style suggesting that I am driving like a ‘phoren’ person and probably too sophisticated for Delhi roads. Great.! All I was doing was to recheck that I was not driving on a one-way in opposite direction. Of course I was and he said, “Saab, ye Dilli hein, idhar sab chaltha hein”. Considering that there were policemen and traffic wardens present who didn't care about what we were doing, I had to believe what he told me. That, “this is Delhi and everything is alright here”.



If I had an option I would have drove around the whole night just to hear the stories and experiences of life that Amit was sharing with me. From the 18 girlfriends he had while being an instructor to them at driving schools, to the responsibility he finally took to look after his family, and his ability to speak 12 languages, ( at least he could speak smattering English, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu!), the stories seem to have come straight from his heart. There was no other way than to believe him, as it didn’t come across to me as a lie, or something he was trying to show to impress me. In any case I have no clue how he was trying to impress me by asking me to drive his taxi while he was enjoying his beer! How can I not mention that he was also a dancer at the Woogie Boogie?!



Once we were out of the maddening traffic, he commented that I am a ‘good driver’ ( he seems to have forgotten already how much I was struggling while he was ‘sheperding’ me through the traffic by moving inch by inch to ‘occupy’ any advantage we could get over others on the road!). The best part of the drive was when he asked me ‘How the ‘gaadi’ was?’. It was actually a good vehicle, and when I said I was enjoying driving it, he said, “99 ka hein! CNG, Mein bahuth pyar se chalatha hum!”. It was obvious that he was driving it with 'care and love'.



If everyone would do their job as passionately as Amit ( and of course, not handover the taxi for driving to their customers) and engage their guests with real life or spicy stories like this, I guess even a crowded Delhi traffic pass like a cool breeze! My only regret of this adventure is that I couldn’t get a photograph of Amit and his car!



May be this is the local interpreter The Blue Yonder has been looking for in Delhi!

New Delhi

The first impression of Delhi more than a decade ago was the chilly January, smoggy city, unbelievable crowd on railway platforms (not to mention of those who all considered it as their literal spittoons), arrogant auto drivers, road rage of green line buses and filmy policemen. Introduction to a largely corrupt NGO sector completed the full circle of Delhi. The only positive thing other than some fantastic friends I made in Delhi looked like the small “KIT KAT’ eatery that served the best Paneer mutter masala and Bhurji in South Ex market!



This was soon after I moved from corporate to the development sector. Over the period of last ten years, occasionally I got introduced to some wonderful people ranging from politicians to bureaucrats, social entrepreneurs, activists, cultural stalwarts, writers and some page 3 personalities. From my first visit till now, Delhi has grown by couple of million people, increasingly choked roads, more stupid looking and inefficient policemen, a good metro that partially connects the city and less polluting vehicles that ply the choked roads.



Couple of weeks ago when I came to Delhi once again to launch some new initiatives, I was still weary of the city. Profusely cursing the sweltering heat, I went on praising the cool climes of Bangalore and wonderful Monsoon of Kerala. While listening to my rants on what I am doing in this City, some of my friends patiently reminded me that the easy way to handle any city is to accept it as it is and find my way around.



Two weeks in the city is bringing me closer to it and teaching me to look at the many positive sides it has. There might be a reason why 14 million people might be living in this city. Right?