The Chill This Winter & An Intrusion

The buzz around Delhi these days is primarily about the weather and understandably so. The chatter is also about a new vehicle spotted on Delhi roads and that statue under the India Gate canopy. The chill this winter seems to be getting into one’s bones thanks to high precipitation in the atmosphere in and around Delhi. It seems that this spell of winter is something that Delhi hasn’t seen for the last 122 years or so. This is not something that this blogger is claiming but it is the Met Department’s claim. This blogger’s attention, primarily, has always been on the citizens of Delhi, Dilliwalahs, and their life in Delhi. Yes, cold politicians who go about their lives as if all is hunky dory in the world do creep into these StateOfDelhi blogs. One would like to believe that to be an intrusion that serves only as a takda to spice up the entire serving. Our man AK and his band of followers may want to dispute this but then what the heck! For evidence take this blog where he doesn’t feature at all. Thankfully!

The high moral ground that our politicians take is so ridiculous at times that that one doesn’t even feel like doing a satire on it. Dilliwalahs too have become cold to most of their doings and undoings – and no, you can’t blame that on the weather. Dilliwalahs have structured their lives in such a manner that the acts of these politicians have a minimal impact on them. Of course this is till such time when suddenly your own money is declared invalid currency. Or when you are asked to withdraw cash from ATMs. Even when these machines aren’t synchronized to dish out the new currency notes because of change of the bill’s dimensions.

Besides the chill, Dilliwalahs are talking about a beast of a vehicle that will be seen in and around Lutyen’s Delhi. It is, after all, one of its kind and the rider of this foreign-made vehicle is none other but the protagonist of Aatmnirbhar Bharat. The government imported a 12-crore Mercedes Maybach for the supreme leader recently. And that’s something that’s not gone down too well with even with some of his hard core followers. Wonder how do those guys driving their Maruti WagonRs or Balenos, Mahindra XUVs or Boleros, and Tata’s Nexons or Safaris feel about this? This blogger can only offer you an empathetic shrug of shoulders while saluting you for supporting Aatmnirbhar Bharat. Well done guys! You can draw some solace from the possibility that that even the supreme leader may not be too happy. May be he is embarrassed being driven around in his imported Merc. This could be the reason that he hides behind his Maybach sunglasses. Not again! Well, pardon him for it seems he hasn’t heard of Fastrack or for that matter even Lenskart!

India Gate has been inaccessible most of the times during the last year or so as there was civil work going on there under the Central Vista Project. Now, it has suddenly popped up in to news because of two decisions of the government. First the government put off the eternal flame that has been burning underneath India Gate as Amar Jawan Jyoti. It was merged with the flame at the National War Memorial. Dilliwalahs are still grappling with the issue and do not know what to make out of it. Secondly came the announcement of installing a statue of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose under the canopy at India Gate. Now the confused Dilliwalahs are trying to make sense of this appropriation of yet another iconic leader of the Congress by the ruling dispensation. First it was Sardar Patel and now Netaji. Is Nehru next? Boy! That would really be something.

StateOfDelhi Suggests: Get on to the Outer Ring Road and move towards Burari in North Delhi. You will get to Coronation Park – the venue of Delhi Durbars. The last Durbar was held here in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of George V. That barren India Gate canopy was originally meant to have a statue of King George V underneath. This statue now stands without a canopy at Coronation Park that was redeveloped in 2011. Along with other British era statues you will also find an obelisk erected here to commemorate the Durbars. Interestingly, it was here in 1911 that the British emperor announced the shifting of India’s capital from Calcutta to Delhi. So get you Atmanirbhar car or two-wheeler out and go for a spin!

We had earlier featured the Coronation Park in our StateOfDelhi blog of November, 2017.