We are trying to get the unfinished business in our kitchen (since the last four years) completed. The showroom of this company is only 5 kms from the President's residence. It's called Kalkaji, after a rather famous temple in the area. It also has another famous site - the ISKON temple - the Krishna Consciousness people. The first time we drove there - about a month ago - it was quite a challenge - very busy and congested and it was hard to find a parking place.
Yesterday, we took a different route, which was more manageable. We got a parking spot across the showroom. We were listening to a rather nice ghazal in the car and my husband suggested we wait till it finished. As we sat, we looked at what was ahead of us. Right at the tip of the car headlights, a tea shop run by a woman with about six men seated around, drinking tea and chewing tobacco. Beyond that was a string of clothes drying - several pairs of jeans, blouses and shorts. Beyond that, a mound of rubble mostly of construction material - bricks, stones, etc. And, beyond that, homes, with people of the roof tops.
Among all this, was a stench of urine. We were also surrounded by rickshaws - a three wheeler transport, a bicycle with a seat for two people with a canopy, used by a driver in front of the rickshaw. They are the poor person's vehicles, and in a city like Delhi with faster moving traffic, they move slowly, being one cause for traffic jams. About 50 of them were scattered around the rubble heap, almost parked there, but also in various stages of repair.
Looking around I felt sad - that India - which is claiming to be the next superpower, with its 9 per cent economic growth - cannot even keep this eye sore from happening. I also felt angry that the people responsible for maintaining the city would allow this to happen and not carry out its commitment to basic sanitation and hygiene, which then creates problems with water borne diseases. There are few to almost no community toilets. Indians and non-Indian alike complain when people use public space as a private urinal or toilet. What are they to do?
Sometimes I think that when the eye can see so much beauty, why do we have to see the seamier side of life?
When people ask why I came back to India after living in North America and Europe for so long, I say it's because I wanted to and one of the things I like about living in India is being face to face with the contradictions of India - rich and poor, built and unbuilt, well fed and hungry. But, I say this knowing I am on the winning side. What if I were poor, hungry, roofless? Would I still feel the same?
My husband and I had a long discussion about this driving away from the place. Mostly it was an angry and disappointing discussion about what could be done and what isn't done. We drove by the annual Surajkund Mela - a fair held from February 1-15, attracting thousands and showcasing craftspersons from the Southasian region and other countries. Everything for the Mela looked perfect. There were police on the roads, guiding traffic. The parking lot had several hundred cars, parked perfectly. There were no jams, no back up, no garbage. When we want to do something we can.
In retrospect, I am glad that the eye sees so much. With beauty, it also sees the darker side of life.
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