The Quintessential 'Delhite'

All of us tend to associate ourselves with a certain clan of people around us. It is nothing but natural, specially for a person being brought up in a country as diverse as India. This uncanny knack of segmentation, although may be attributed to the rich diversity to a justifiable extent, but a more sophisticated social will not differ when I say that it has been passed onto us from our forefathers and to them by theirs and so on. Now that we do accept this reality (and I am sure that you do too), it is not queer if I remark that all of us have been met with the question "where are you from". A simple question for many yet a complicated one for few, including me.

I'll not try to portray myself as an iconoclast but traditions and values are something that are being treated as lip service in the present times. I, for one believe that there is no inane culture that a child is born with. Rather, it is her surroundings and the dynamics around her that define what thought process she develops and what culture she wishes to prescribes to.

Incoherent as it may sound like but the above two thoughts have forsaken me to explore the culture of Delhi.

Though I wasn't born in Delhi, I have spent a very significant part of my life growing, exposing myself to its vagaries and witnessing the ever evolving face of this cynosure. Being the national capital of a nation home to a billion, one would expect that the most opportune times and conditions would exist in this city. Perhaps, this is the pivotal reason for why there are hundreds and hundreds of new faces flocking the city every day. And here lies the root of my dilemma!

What constitutes the culture of Delhi? Who is this elusive but quintessential Delhite? Where would I find this pristine soul?

To answer my first question, for a city which witnesses its borders expanding faster than the speed of light and enlightening hopes in millions that have to come to call it home , the city is aptly called the Mini India. From the Punjabi Baghs to the CR Parks, from the Shahdaras to the RK Purams and from the Chandni Chowks to the CPs, the city has witnessed all there is to see in the entire country - you name it and you got it! Starting from the A for Architecture to P for People, Delhi will give you a varying face of India for every alphabet that the English language has to offer.

As I move on to my second question, I have a series of thousand faces that is running in my head and yet I cannot affix anyone of them to as the 'Delhite'. My rendition of a Delhite ranges from that young child who is resistingly getting on his school bus, the teenager who is practicing hard at National Stadium to get in a cricket team, a college going boy and girl who meet everyday in the DTC (and hopefully now the Metro), the office going folks snailing their way restlessly for hours in the gruelling Delhi Traffic and the unforgettable Dada's and Dadi's taking their evening walks. Yet this Delhite remains elusive.

Last but not the least, as I yearn to conclude this post, I am left with the most difficult question of all to answer - where to find this soul? Its been 18 years in search of this answer. By the looks of things, may be another lifetime will not suffice. May be because that this person is everywhere, in each one of us yet it happens to be light years away from being conspicuous.

Perhaps, it is that person in the mirror or may be the one reading this...I don't know.
Finders keepers.

and yes you, the Delhite, yes you there, I know it is Dilli and not Delhi!!! After all, I am a Delhite too...