Republic Day in Delhi: January 26 and the commuter

I try to be fair. I try to see both sides, I try to rationalize their actions and tell myself a dozen times that all the inconvenience is GOOD, because it keeps us SAFE.

But in the run up to January 26, Republic Day,  despite my best efforts,  I find myself knotted up with frustration at the elaborate traffic ‘tied-downs’ and ‘this-route-closeds’, not to mention the traffic jams and slow-moving vehicle columns.

Delhi is like that – every year there are times when the threat perception of ‘terrorist activity’, ‘security concerns’ and god knows what else peaks – January 26 is one such time.

That’s when the mortals who must inhabit the city feel the heat. Barricades every few metres, scores of policemen, traffic diversions… a commute that takes three-quarters of an hour on a normal weekday can stretch upto two hours. It is nerve-wracking, and only music keeps one mildly sane.

But as I said, let’s be positive about this. Let’s spare a thought for the police agencies. They have a tough job on hand. If they do their designated duty of keeping the citizens safe, they are bad; if they don’t do it just so nobody is inconvenienced, then they are super bad! So, logically, they opt for doing their duty.

They have long shifts they must get through on the road, and that can be torture. Delhi weather is majestically brutal in all its avatars (more on this in my next post here).

The policemen keep their tempers, and through vehicle snarls, the occasional abuse hurled at them by passing uncouth drivers, they stay calm.

It’s part of their jobs, most people say. I say, they come very close to being supermen and superwomen.

Watch an average Delhi driver on the road through a nasty commute and you will see that driving on Delhi streets is a blue-hued cocktail of motor skills (pun intended) and verbal facility with epithets of the most colorful nature in a variety of Indian languages. The combination is hair-raising.

The policemen on the street is the favorite punch bag; others follow – jaywalking pedestrians (pedestrians have no understanding of either traffic rules or their own safety, and therefore, ‘jaywalking’ is an alien concept); slow moving vehicles in front; a friend who borrowed money. It could be anything – or anyone.

Over the years, I have tried to get around this problem in various ways – working from home, declining invitations for dinners and bonfires, working on a plan to buy a helicopter.

I’ve had varying degrees of success with these self-inflicted suggestions. (My excel spreadsheet and bank statement tell me I can probably buy a helicopter in the next 46 years! My boss assures me that if I work this much from home, I should think of working for the home…). What are my choices, for goodness’ sake?

But for the last couple of years, the Delhi Metro has been my shining steed… it works… it gets me to work on time. It is safe, comfortable – and I can read ten pages of my current favorite author.

Does it get any better than this?

Not in Delhi. Ask any Delhi-ite.

Here is a post I dedicate to the Delhi Metro. http://wp.me/p2t5c7-G