Del-O-Phobia

I was recently reading a small article about the Aarushi murder case by a lesser known columnist from New York. The article moved from the murder story towards Arvind Adiga’s novel, The White Tiger.

Aarushi murder case throws new light into the clichéd stories (read fear) of the capital city of India. The fear of domestic helps being one such. It doesn’t need much effort to understand why the cops zeroed in on Hemraj as the killer of the fourteen year old Aarushi; he was the domestic help; a Nepali and was missing. The cops blatantly overlooked all known basic drills of investigation, like following the blood stains that led to the terrace (a retired cop discovered the partially decomposed body of Hemraj days later) and for that matter, taking photographs of the murder scene. The TV screens have changed with time and it speaks no more about Aarushi.

But what is it like to live in this city? With the risk of being labeled as an achluophobic person or of being agoraphobic, I have drawn a list of Delhite’s most common fears:

1. Domestic Servants: Anyone in Delhi can afford a domestic servant as long as one can provide the servant a space to sleep and food to eat. A spate of murders by domestic servants and disappearing with cash and jewelry – has blotted the recent history of this city. Many new laws have come up to reign in the indispensable domestic helps. One such is to fill the ‘verification form’ of the domestic helps.
2. Taking lift: From the deserted routes of outer Delhi to the soulless expressways, waving down a car for a lift is not a frequent phenomenon on Delhi’s roads. Newspapers are littered with stories of robberies on infamous bus routes, to looting passengers after giving lifts. And quite fascinatingly, it works the other way around where people take lift and loot the driver. Replace the word ‘loot’ with abuse, murder and rape and the statement still stands true. Google ‘Billa Ranga’ to know where it all started.
3. Being a woman: One needs no orientation to know what it means being a woman in Delhi. Some call it the CRIME CAPITAL OF INDIA and others have their own words to describe Delhi. But essentially a woman in Delhi is considered fortunate if she gets away being groped and pinched on public spaces. And unless nothing more happens, the cops won’t be eager enough to entertain your complaints. Around a year ago a TV journalist was shot dead when she was driving back home at night from work. The Chief Minister, who happened (happens) to be a woman then commented how the deceased was being adventurous.
4. The three wheelers: I know many, who bought cars only to avoid haggling with the immoral, foul mouthed auto rickshaw drivers on Delhi’s roads. The Delhi Government introduced tamper proof electronic meters to make life easier for the commuters. They even introduced help lines. But nothing changed when it came to fares and the haggling. If he responds by scratching his head when you ask for his fare – beware he is going to come up with a three digit number! And don’t get shell shocked when he audaciously tells you, “Say we are going by the meter, if the cops ask,” resetting the meter.
5. Bluelines: I would leave this one unexplained and urge my readers to take a ride in one of the privately owned city buses, before they are completely phased out.
   
   Note: If you see the driver smoking a bidi under the hand painted sign, “no smoking,” just poke your head through the window for some fresh air.

Tagged as: Aarushi murder case, Bluelines, Crime capital of india, Delhite’s most common fears, Fear of domestic helps, Menace of three wheelers, Taking lift in Delhi, Unsafe Delhi