NEW DELHI – A CITY OF CRIMES OR A THEATRE OF DREAMS

Delhi, Dilli, Saddi Dilli, Delhi Meri Jaan and the list goes on. There are numerous names of this wonderland and we all are no less than Alice. This city has seen it all ; from the glorious past of the Mughal empire to the devastating times of the British invasion. Apart from these, Delhi is also vested with the honour of being the national capital. To continue with, the city have some of the architectural gems in the form of Red fort, India Gate, Lotus Temple, Akshardham Temple, Civic centre and many more.

This is the place where the control panel of the country which is the “ Parliament” is situated.  The first ever Commonwealth Games and Asian games of the country were held here and this is the city where for the first time in the history of India, our countrymen will hear the roaring sound of the Formula 1 engines.

A localite will tell you that the inhabitants of this Utopia celebrates Durga Puja, Eid, Muharram, Christmas, Ganesh chaturthi with same zeal n vigour as we do on Holi and Diwali. But for some years now, some high profile crimes have dented the image of Delhi immensely. Incidents like Nithari case, Rapes, Eve teasing , and a couple of murders have been the order since Delhi bagged the rights to host the Commonwealth games. One might say that Delhi has suffered the side effects of growing at a fast rate. An economist would comment that as a place develops and grow, the inflation rate also increases but I would say that with development comes an increasing crime rate, though the correlation between the two is difficult to prove as in the case of inflation.

Delhi F1 Track

 As I think more about Delhi’s rising crime rate and insecurity, I am reminded of what happened in Godhra, where a train was set on fire , a strong labour protest pushing Tata’s Nano project out of Singur, The Telangana issue is forcing bandhs regularly for many months now, a social unrest and terror strikes in Jammu & Kashmir for so many years, and most recently a terror attack in Mumbai costing innocent people from within and outside the country their precious life’s.

Well Delhi is not all about crimes , it has been a theatre of dreams too. To take a leaf from Delhi’s diary of Dreams, this city was home to many big personalities before they earned their fame on the big stage, like Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan, Mirza Galib, M.F.Hussain and many more. Also one of the most memorable event in Indian cricket’s history came on the turf of Feroz shah kotla when Anil Kumble took all 10 wickets in an innings against arch rivals Pakistan on this very ground.

While writing the article, a news channel playing in front of me was telecasting a show and the anchor asked a question that “ Is Delhi Safe for women” ? and almost simultaneously I answered yes its very much safe. Why do people forget that this is one state where a female Chief Minister is playing her trade for more than 10 years  and this is the city where a women takes her seat as the President of India everyday.

The idea here is to convey a message to the public that crime can happen in any city and it does not have anything to do with any city, province or state.

On a closing note, I would like to say that Delhi is called the heart of India. So when your mind stops working, have faith in your heart.!!