Who Is Proud Of Delhi ?
Yesterday, Gaurav(Sabnis) raised an interesting question in his Blog. His question, to paraphrase, was that while every one criticizes various aspects of Delhi, there is absolutely no Delhite who stands for the city and counters this claim. The alleged absence of any pride is what baffles him.
Though, I myself no Delhite, I still placed my opinion. Then I thought, since I had made a detailed comment, I would re-organize them and put it as a post. Here are my views.
There is no doubt that Delhi these days makes news, usually, because of wrong reasons. Still, I believe, we as the Indians should be proud of this city, and Delhites should be even more.
It has been the un-official and official capital of the country since the time of PrithviRaj Chauhan, or in fact, Harsh Vardhan. If one believes, even the Pandavas' KhandavPrastha was not far away. Almost every decade, it has faced some sort of foreign invasion, be it Mahmood Gaznvi, Mohammad Gauri, Nadir Shah, Ahmed Shah Abdali, or even Babur. Britishers too didn't spare it.
Most of these invaders were barbaric looters, and the city has always played the first front. People have been plundered, maimed, and killed brutally. Before Mughals, even the rulers kept changing every 30 years. Mohammad Bin Tuglak and Akbar even tried to change the capital.
The last nail in the coffin was stuck by the partition. People arrived and left in HUGE numbers(The largest exodus ever in world history). There was not a single family who did not lose some dear one in that mass exodus and killing. A complete generation was scarred for life. The violence and immigration which Mumbai has been suffering from past 15-20 years, Delhi has been suffering from it for more than 1000 years now. We are lucky that we have been living in it's hinterland.
This amount of relentless turmoil can kill the basic fiber of any city. World history is proof of that. Most of the ancient kingdoms sites have disappeared. But despite of all these adversities, Delhi survived. It's people always rose from the dead like Phoenix, though, this might be a reason for a degree of mistrust amongst it's denizens.. After partition and English rule, people were left penniless. But by sheer survival instincts, grit, and hard work, they are prosperous and happy.
The current bane is also age old. The power center. All the crooks, today, embrace politics, while the enterprising ones stay away from it. The clan of the politicians is large, and their habits are infectitous. The misdeeds of these people and their like minded cronies gets highlighted, while the true essence of this great city remains hidden.
So for rest of us Indians, it's very important to change our perspective, I guess. From our vantage point, things might appear different than they actually are. That city is heart of our country, and our second shield after the great Himalayas.
My Last Post On Cities - City Specials
Though, I myself no Delhite, I still placed my opinion. Then I thought, since I had made a detailed comment, I would re-organize them and put it as a post. Here are my views.
There is no doubt that Delhi these days makes news, usually, because of wrong reasons. Still, I believe, we as the Indians should be proud of this city, and Delhites should be even more.
It has been the un-official and official capital of the country since the time of PrithviRaj Chauhan, or in fact, Harsh Vardhan. If one believes, even the Pandavas' KhandavPrastha was not far away. Almost every decade, it has faced some sort of foreign invasion, be it Mahmood Gaznvi, Mohammad Gauri, Nadir Shah, Ahmed Shah Abdali, or even Babur. Britishers too didn't spare it.
Most of these invaders were barbaric looters, and the city has always played the first front. People have been plundered, maimed, and killed brutally. Before Mughals, even the rulers kept changing every 30 years. Mohammad Bin Tuglak and Akbar even tried to change the capital.
The last nail in the coffin was stuck by the partition. People arrived and left in HUGE numbers(The largest exodus ever in world history). There was not a single family who did not lose some dear one in that mass exodus and killing. A complete generation was scarred for life. The violence and immigration which Mumbai has been suffering from past 15-20 years, Delhi has been suffering from it for more than 1000 years now. We are lucky that we have been living in it's hinterland.
This amount of relentless turmoil can kill the basic fiber of any city. World history is proof of that. Most of the ancient kingdoms sites have disappeared. But despite of all these adversities, Delhi survived. It's people always rose from the dead like Phoenix, though, this might be a reason for a degree of mistrust amongst it's denizens.. After partition and English rule, people were left penniless. But by sheer survival instincts, grit, and hard work, they are prosperous and happy.
The current bane is also age old. The power center. All the crooks, today, embrace politics, while the enterprising ones stay away from it. The clan of the politicians is large, and their habits are infectitous. The misdeeds of these people and their like minded cronies gets highlighted, while the true essence of this great city remains hidden.
So for rest of us Indians, it's very important to change our perspective, I guess. From our vantage point, things might appear different than they actually are. That city is heart of our country, and our second shield after the great Himalayas.
My Last Post On Cities - City Specials
posted by Unknown at 9:30 AM
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