"Delhi's sum of all fears"
As time has changed, we all need to adjust to them. I have lived in Delhi for the last two decades. Coming from Shimla, I still think I am a small town girl. But the way Delhi has changed since last decade is alarming. I live in a posh colony which has improved in the years. It is greener and I must say that the roads are pretty well maintained. But one feels a danger lurking everywhere.
For the first time in my life there is fear in me, I am actually scared of stepping out alone or being in the car which is not locked from inside or going to a market place where I have to look over my shoulder all the time to see whether there is a chain snatcher who can attack me. I go to sleep every night after making sure that all doors and windows have been bolted, I never did that five years back. I had it done by the help of the house. Today I don’t trust them too even though they have been with me for decades.
I have a middle aged maalish-waali who came to me crying last week. Her chain was snatched by a goon at Lajpat Nagar and in the process she bruised her neck badly and sprained her hand trying to save the chain. The other day at the Lodhi red-light right in front of my eyes I witnessed that a Maruti in front of me which had the windows open, a man rushed out from the bushes put his hand into the passenger’s seat and ran away back into the bushes with the lady’s handbag. There was nothing that one could do. My friend’s son who was driving his jeep and was assaulted by hijackers when he stopped to ask for some instructions to a colony. They caught him by his arm and pulled him out from the driving seat and drove away his new Fortuner. In Nizamuddin East where I reside, one night at a friend’s double storey house, robbers came into the ground floor took away curios and other stuff while the owner was sleeping in the first floor. Thank god, they did not get up or they would have lost their lives too.
These are some of the instances that I narrate here which have got me to look over my shoulder all the time. It is obviously a case of hunger, survival or could be easy money too for the culprit. But is it fair on the resident of the city to be always fearful of what may strike them any moment? A woman fears for the safety of her husband and kids when they go out and suspiciously looks at every person who rings the door bell of her front door whether it is the postman or a vendor. When will we get used to this way of life? It will become a part of our living. Sad, but true. The cops and administration help as much as they can. These are very minor crimes when one has to deal with rapes, murders and now Khap honour killings. One fails to understand if one is going forward backward in this day and age.
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