Blog: Delhi's elite mafia is making the city cry

To be an ordinary citizen in Delhi has become a humiliating experience, writes Nilanjana Gupta.

What makes a city worth living in? A solid infrastructure? Convenience and ease of commute? Less crime rate? Plenty of job opportunities? Delhi is or isn't all of the above, it surely isn't the city of joy, blame it on its people - rude, impatient and arrogant.
The city doesn't have a definitive identity. It lost itself in a phase of transition as the crowd from all over the country moved in creating a conundrum and took over its charm it once had.
Words like "Thank you", "Please", "Excuse me" have ceased to filter down to its people. They clamour to get in first into a bus or the metro and are desperate to push others out. Pushing, shoving, abusing, beating, threatening, even killing is what arguments have come down to. Everyone here is a who's who. Even though they may not even remotely have a political connection, there's always a way to threaten to harm someone. Everyone refuses to back down and waits for a fight. And when they do get embroiled in a fight, just wait and watch how the two parties pull strings to get the better of each other.
I don't live in Delhi anymore, but I do visit sometimes to see my family. It was a rude shock to me when I visited a parlour in my neighbourhood (Prince and Princess in Chittaranjan Park) on the day I was leaving the country. The staff messed up the appointment timings and I had to bear the brunt in a tremendous way. An unruly lady in her 40s - walked in with her loud, boisterous voice and demanded that she be dealt with first because she was an 'extremely busy' person. The staff like a meek lamb conceded, left me with half-done hair and went on to serve her first. I committed the cardinal folly of telling the staff that's unfair and that everyone is busy after all -little did I know it would trigger the beast in her and would land me in an utterly embarrassing and humiliating situation.
"How dare you talk to me like that? I have bodyguards waiting outside who can just throw you out from here. I'm a very influential person, you bloody b****," she went on with her verbal abuse as the parlour staff silently watched and did nothing. Later when I regrouped myself and confronted the staff for their mismanagement, they apologised. But can that ever compensate for the ridicule that lady put me through? Of course not- being rude comes easy to many in Delhi! It's second nature. Either develop a thick skin to deal with it or have the guts to take it head on.
I found out later that she wasn't remotely linked to anyone influential, as she claimed. She was a paediatrician. Made me wonder - Aren't doctors supposed to be nice? However, she was right in many ways, everyone is busy in Delhi. And that means you should muscle your way to the front of the queue; jump traffic lights; drive on pavements; step on other people's toes; and knock down pedestrians. If someone protests, make him the latest victim of a road accident.
This is just an isolated incident, not a representation of how the secret mafia rules the city. The other day a lady driver put on her brakes suddenly as a speeding van raced by. As a result two men who were on a bike fell down on the road unhurt. Crowd gathered and one of the guys suddenly slapped the lady driver. Shocked and disturbed as she was, she continued to talk to the men calmly, when someone from the crowd finally stepped in and dispersed.  
It's appalling how my favourite city I grew up in has descended into this soulless, vulgar, filthy and uncivilised state that it has. Not to mention its soaring crime rate, notorious rape culture, poor public services - Living in Delhi has become a punishable offence. To be an ordinary citizen here is a humiliating experience. I know my Delhi friends will call me a "typical snobbish NRI" who doesn't even live in Delhi to make it better. It is not me who has become snobbish, it is the city whose 'sophisticated' elite I can't handle anymore. I am not talking about the illiterate taxi drivers here, but the well-educated ladies, and suited-booted gentlemen, the sorts who lecture others on how to talk to people. Somehow the city has lost its soul or I simply struggle to recognise it.
This was a city which I once took pride in for the gentle rhythm of its daily life. I don't know what it has come down to -- the taller the buildings the lower the morals. And humanity is the biggest casualty.