Correspondent's Notebook

New Delhi’s charm

6 November 2009

Australia Network’s South Asia correspondent, Michael Edwards takes a look at New Delhi and it’s preparations for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

There are big question marks over New Delhi’s ability to host next year’s Commonwealth Games.

For the most part they’ve been about the facilities. The fact that many are well behind schedule for completion has been the subject of many stories in the local Indian media.

But the other major problem facing New Delhi is less tangible. It concerns the ability of Delhiites to welcome the tens of thousands of visitors it’s expected to receive in October next year.

New Delhi has a reputation right across India and even among its own residents for being a rude and aggressive city.

Games organisers want visitors to be left with memories of the games running smoothly, hosted in a city which is almost unparalleled in its historical depth.

But it’s the less savoury things that visitors might remember from their Commonwealth Games visit.

What organisers fear is that visitors will take home memories of piles of rubbish, rickety public transport, men urinating publicly and rude taxi drivers.

Newspaper columnist Santosh Desai says the problem stems from partition.

He says then  very few people in New Delhi have a sense of ownership. Partition has made it virtually a city of refugees. And with that comes the bad manners, the spitting and the general lack of maintenance.

Santosh Desai makes for great copy.

But for the organisers of next year’s Commonwealth games, these are more than just pithy remarks.

They encapsulate what could be a major stumbling block for success.

It’s a common view amongst commentators and historians that ‘Partition’ destroyed part of Delhi’s soul.

The city may be thousands of year’s old but it’s modern incarnation began in August 1947.  The year British India was divided into India and Pakistan.

During ‘Partition’ the entire social fabric of the city was virtually torn to shreds.

Most of the city’s highly educated Muslim elite moved or was moved to Pakistan.

In their place came hundreds of thousands of displaced people from regions such as the Punjab and the Sindh which are now in Pakistan.

Many say the entire social topsoil of New Delhi was almost entirely washed away.

Many of those left were poor and uneducated scraping out an existence in the rapidly decaying Old section of the city.

Santosh Desai says it’s common for Delhiites to treat the city as their rubbish bin.

From my observations even some of Delhi’s best areas are littered with filth. It’s hard to ignore the fact that this city which has a wealth of historical treasures is treated very poorly by many of its inhabitants.

Why use a bin when you’ve got the streets or a park? 

The same attitude often applies to toiletry habits.

The sound of men spitting is everywhere. And it’s not just a quick little gob. No, real men spit out torrents of paan.

And no prisoners are taken on Delhi’s roads.

I’ve seen drivers literally almost kill themselves attempting to block someone else getting into traffic.

Western women often complain about being groped I’ve seen it with my own eyes many times in Old Delhi.

If there were odds for New Delhi winning the gold medal for charm today then the bookmakers would be giving it 1000 to 1.

But the city is really trying to shorten those odds.

It has launched a range of programs. Signs urging people not to urinate in public can be seen around Delhi. People now face fines for spitting and there’s also a seemingly futile attempt to get drivers to stop honking their horns.

Asking a Delhiite to not use their car horn is like asking others to not breathe.

Delhiites are also being taught not to stare and especially not to grope.

And self-improvement courses are going through the roof. English academies report skyrocketing demand for their services. As do hospitality schools and educational institutes for trades such as beauticians and florists.

The aim is to have people ready to help showcase Delhi’s natural charms of which there are many.

What other city has been around long enough to have been rebuilt eight times? I come from Perth. It’s a big deal when they rebuilt a median strip there.

That ramshackle wall  probably housed a nobleman’s harem. The apartment block which looks like it should be pulled down, probably once home to a Mughal general.

Your taxi driver. He may have a blank stare on his face as he navigates Delhi’s crazy traffic. But get talking to him and he probably has a story about his family surviving partition that would make for an epic novel and Bollywood movie.