Monday Musings - 22

As I alight from the State Transport Bus from Delhi to Gurgaon, I am greeted by a shriveled-up, middle-aged man on a cycle-rickshaw. He takes me from the bus-stop to my area of residence, ten minutes away, for twenty rupees. I hand him thirty. Riding a cycle with a passenger and luggage, is no easy task. But these men have no other means of supporting their families. And, Gurgaon has no other means of public transport.

A city of paradoxes, is Gurgaon. Tall, looming, oddly-shaped glass buildings that bow down to sprawling concrete roads. Old rickety state transport buses that collide with paper-fragile cycle rickshaws. Cows that lazily align its highways. And delicately crafted, over grown houses...with small families. I cannot tell, if I like this city.

I cannot tell if I like Delhi too. If I like it for the police-man who lends a phone, when there is no other way to make a call. For the auto rickshawala who makes an honest, dishonest deal. For the pot-pourri of cultures it so beautifully holds. For the Koreans, the Chinese, and the English it welcomes. For the North-East Indians who crowd its marketplaces.

Or, the young students who find their streak of rebellion in its open spaces. Political enthusiasts, feminists and wastrels. I have encountered them in hordes. I cannot tell if I like Delhi for its men who whisper sweethearts in its winding lanes. And, I cannot tell if I like it for the parathawala who dishes out oily paneer parathas to hungry minds through the night. Or, the debauched who crowd its air with their greed.

Young, naive, wide-eyed girls who lie gazing into nothing in its bars. Old, white-skinned men watch on. I cannot tell if I like Delhi for the lust that hangs in its air. Amidst direction-less college going boys. Amidst high-heeled women falling to floors. And, young couples who just tipped of a bar-man.

Perhaps, I do not like it for its deceit...when a scoundrel asks for parking money in a no-parking zone. Or, for its anger that smokes out of fights in cars, and fights on roads. And, perhaps, I like it for its warm, friendly smiles. For its houses that are open, at all times. For its large heart, that often drives out silence.

And, then brings it back again. For humanity too, is laced with paradoxes, I reckon. Humanity is utterly disappointing. And, completely fascinating. People are wretched, and people are beautiful. And, I am thinking of them this Monday.

I am thinking of the smiles they bring, and the voids they leave. The tears they pull out, and the fulfilling they sing...


[More Monday Musings here ]