Gurgaon is no longer dirty

It has taken seven days – one whole week – but Times of India has finally realized that Gurgaon is not ‘dirty’ and ‘stinking’ like it is made to be. It may be a bit mismanaged. And no apology or ‘by the way’ but, then, working with government officers for so many years does make the skin grow thick proportionately.

The Times of India has taken a stand like the examiner table marking papers in a board examination – giving marks and saying ‘failed’. But many people, infact most of the cross section of the public that I interacted with are more inclined towards the media behaving more like a ‘class teacher’, checking mistakes but at the same time correcting them and, more important, treating the class like a family, checking for faults and pre-correcting them.

TOI has raised a question – should all authorities controlling Gurgaon be centralized into one single office? So that for any problem or official work (which should not be a problem!), a person has to go to a single office and file in an application!

I have talked to a number of people, including the officers mentioned in the advertisement carried by TOI Gurgaon and the reply everyone gave was – NO. While the whole world is going towards decentralization, we cannot be going against the tide. It is well impossible for one single office to look after all the complexities of a town the size of Gurgaon, maybe even a smaller town. The ‘single window service’ being talked about will only act as a post office and forward all requests and applications to the requisite department. But, then, actions are likely to get delayed in the ‘post’.

What has come up as a suggestion by most people is that most, if not all, offices having public-dealing be situated in a single building or a single complex so that the citizens, if they have to go from one office to another, do so in minutes (if the lifts work).

I would request all to send in their comments and also to send in their views about this issue to toi.gurgaon@timesgroup.com because if this is a referendum then we need to be counted! But, while sending the mail to TOI Gurgaon, do send your latest passport size photo because all the comments I have seen about this in the paper are accompanied with photos!

(c) Dr Rajiv Bhatia

TOI - She stoops to conquer

It is a known fact that what actually counts in Journalism today is the readership and not professionalism or ethics. It is also a known fact that dirt sells. But the TOI has ‘literally’ raised a stink to increase its readership.

The 'Dirty' Gurgaon - by Times of India

For the last few days I have been waking to a ‘dirty’ photo of a ‘dirty’ Gurgaon daily in an ad carried in the TOI’s Gurgaon edition and asking for readers’ response on an email id. Today morning, after my wife left for school I took my bike and went scouting for this ‘stink-hole’. And found it! Outside one of the well maintained colonies of the town and the oldest mall in the city. But the photo that I took of the site tells altogether another story – well laid roads, clean environs. The photo used by the newspaper is an atleast three year old one salvaged from the hard disk of an old old computer.

The actual 'Not so dirty' Gurgaon

Alongside the ad are well worded responses from readers along with their ‘smart’ photos. But what really baffles is, did the readers send in their photos with the responses of did the newpaeper send their photographer to their (email) addresses?

Three days back I had also sent in a response on the same email id asking, ‘Are you REALLY INTERESTED?’ I have still not got a reply! Maybe they haven’t opened their inbox as yet!!

Food for fifty, Dreams for free

Hungry kya? In this city of steel and concrete when both stomach and pocket are almost empty, where to go? – that is the question. A trip back in memory lane – and a look at the watch before heading of into the lane, or the lanes of Gurgaon – for some ‘pet puja’ .

Early in the morning, 7 or 8 and the place to visit is Jain Kachori Wala, opposite the Girl’s school in Jacumpura (or Jacobpura). Ritu Verma is there all the way from Sohna Road, digging into hot bedmi sabzi, the traditional food of banias but now enjoyed by everyone. Also on the menu are khasta kachori. All this lasts upto 12 noon when the shop downs its shutters till tomorrow. But the regulars do not wait for tomorrow! Monu Jain does not go long back into time – just about 15 years back when he opened in a khokha just across the road and has now shifted to a pucca shop. His brother sells chat from a rehri just nearby. Ask him the reason for his success and he says, “Don’t ask me, ask my customers”.

11 in the morning and still hungry! Time to head to Baljees in Sadar Bazar, near Sohna Chowk, and the hot samosa chole or the pindi wale chole bhature or their speciality – paneer pakora! Raj Kumar, the courteous owner sits behind the till reminiscing 1970 when his elder brother Bal Krishan opened shop in Gurgaon. From then to 1998 was a long journey when his favourite samosa got the first prize in the food competition at Netherlands. Belonging to the erstwhile Dera Ghazi Khan in now Pakistan, he says that his pindi chole are the original recipe from that region. A contented man, he has no plans of opening a chain of fast food joints across the city and dropping his standards. Customer satisfaction is his aim and he knows he will achieve it with personal attention at only a single outlet.

1 in the afternoon and time for something sweet. Saunter on to Sardarjee Jalebi wale in Sadar Bazar, just opposite the Bata showroom, and one finds a crowd jostling for space in the shop where hot, piping, dripping with syrup jalebis are being dished out from the kadahi. Jagmohan Singh sits cross legged, handing over the packets – a kilo here, 250 grams there, another order for 20 kgs!! This shop goes really back into history – back to 1947 when his grandfather, Ram Singh, started the business in Gurgaon. He was dishing out hot jalebis to the people of Sargodha before. Jagmohan remembers coming to the shop after school and helping his father since he was in the 3^rd standard. Honesty, customer satisfaction and a lack of hurry are the three mantras for the perfect taste of his jalebis and his success.

5 in the evening and time for some snacks. Behind the post office in a shop in Janta Market is Gandhi Ji Pakore Wale. Started in 1948 by Pehlad Gandhi, just arrived from Dera Ghazi Khan in a shack near the post office, it is now home to the best pakoras this part of the country. Asked to comment of the secret of the tasty pakoras, Kiran, the grandson says that the pakora is a food item unique to India, unlike other fast foods. Homemade masalas, a traditional recipe and pure mustard oil to fry the pakoras, that is what makes them special. Along with his son now working in the shop it makes the fourth generation running the shop. They do not employ any workers in the cooking, preferring to cook themselves. And no hurry please, customers in a hurry are not served there.

11 at night and the hunger pangs are again gnawing the innards. But Gudgawa is all asleep. Emerge from the sands of time and into the Gurgaon of today – just opposite Park Plaza hotel Jai Parkash, all the way from Bihar is frying parathas in the brrrriting cold. Here for the last three years, he and his two helpers start their business at 8 in the evening and are open till about 2 – 3 in the morning. Aaloo pyaaz, aaloo gobhi, egg – fried parathas dished out in front of the patrons. And he has increased competition for himself – by opening a branch just across the road! Customers come in big cars, small cars, bikes, rickshaws, call centre cabs, anything. And go back satisfied.

6 in the morning – well, it’s another day!

Does the media have the moral right to crucify the police?

When Radhika Tanwar was murdered, that too on Women’s Day and also with the murderer nonchalantly walking away from the site, it was a God-sent for the media, which clambered one on top of the other to hitch on to the band wagon – yes, this is the copy that sells!!

The fact that the Delhi Police took its own sweet time to respond with confusion about a gun shot and a mobile bursting and, as usual, were and are still totally clueless is another point.

But even in face of all the blundering by the Delhi Police, does the media have any moral right to crucify them??

I would say NO!

And to prove it I have a story and a story about a story which was not published because there were so many advertisements that there was not enough space to carry the story.

On 15^th December I was on way from Gurgaon to Defence Colony when I experience firsthand the inefficiency of Delhi Police – and the set of personnel were the same – the same DCP Dhaliwal, the same DCP PCR, the same set of circumstances – Delhi Police not responding even after half an hour of placing three calls to ‘100’.

I wrote a story and sent it to the editor at Delhi Times – the story was ‘excellent’ and ‘well appreciated’ and ‘will be published in a day or two’  (‘as soon as we get some space free from advertisements’).  But the day or two have turned into more than a month and two and still we are waiting for some ‘space’. In the meantime Radhika conveniently gets murdered and lo and behold – space, the opportunity, and the means of crucifying the police and selling papers!! Wow!!

I am placing below the story which was not published – read it and decide for yourself that when the media could have taken action much before and did not and maybe is morally equally guilty in this whole episode, does it now have the moral right to crucify the police?

q.e.d.

THE UNPUBLISHED STORY

'HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT TAKE DELHI POLICE TO RESPOND TO '100''

Time      :               8.45 PM

Date      :               15^th December 2010

Place     :               MG Road, near Sultanpur Metro Station.

City        :               Anyone can guess after reading the story.

A doctor on way to Defence Colony finds a jam of vehicles blocking the MG Road. A group of motorcycles are parked by the roadside and the cars just idling, their drivers, passengers and owners glancing out of windows as if some street show is in progress. A man is lying motionless on the road, his clothes all splattered with blood.

The doctor stops his car and rushes to the victim who by this time has been subjected to all sorts of therapy by the onlookers –  made to sit up, shaken, pulled up by his hands, everything not to be done. Had it been a spine injury the man would surely die, if not from the accident, then surely by the administrations of the Good Samaritans.  The doctor stops all this quackery and lies the victim straight, checks his pulse and breathing and dials the Police Control Room.

The time is 8:45 PM.

Most of the motorcyclists stop, get down and come over to offer advice – ‘someone call the PCR’, ‘dial 100’, but none want to actually dial the number, maybe afraid of the nemesis. All cars stop, look and go.

The doctor makes another call to the PCR – “which police station does this area fall under?”, he is asked. “My dear”, he wants to tell them, scream at them, “that is your job, not mine”. “A PCR vehicle is on the way – we know there is an injured person there”.

The time is 9:01 PM.

The crowd peters away, then reassembles. The motorcyclist involved in the accident is waiting with bated breath. The doctor is waiting with even more bated breath – had it been a severe injury the victim would have been dead.

The time is 9:10 PM. Someone comes up with a unique idea – it really happens only in India – the victim is hauled up on the motorcycle and taken away somewhere – to some hospital, to be thrown away by the road side anywhere, no one knows.

The doctor gets into his car and drives away.

The time is 9:15 PM.

Delhi Police with the slogan ‘With you, for you, always’ has an excellent website which starts with the commissioner’s name and email id and promises ‘Easy accessibility and availability of officers to public’ and has a ‘contact us’ page with the email id’s and phone numbers of all senior officers and states ‘Now, if you face any problem at any police station just fax or e-mail your grievances. For immediate redressal’.

Emails were sent to the DCP (South) and DCP (PCR) on 16^th December and 17^th December and numerous phone calls were made to both officers.

The response – no response.

The moral of the story – Only two popular slogans need to be reworded ‘Dilli lal batti waalon ki’, ‘Dilli meri badnaam’.

Theodore Roosevelt rightly said – The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.

 

This happens only in India

This is the story from a great country – in fact a country so great that its history stretches more centuries than any other. This is the story of a great police force – in fact a force so great that even though deficient in men, money and material, still finds resources enough to give ‘special protection’ to few politicians and their sons and sons-in-law. This is the story of a great leader – in fact a leader so great that people die on the roads when he travels.

This is also the story of a little girl, all of 14 years old, an adopted child at that, who wanted to become a world famous spy. So she hatched a plot and came to our capital city along with her 41 year old visually handicapped brother and 83 year old mother. First they pretended to get the brother’s eyes checked at one of the premier eye-care institutes, then they hired a cab and visited all the tourist spots. Then, when the driver of the cab was driving past the residence of our great leader, she clicked few photos with her mobile phone.

The forces guarding the residence came to know of this great espionage attempt and the Delhi Police were immediately informed which sent PCR vans to ‘intercept’ them. The ‘spy in the making’ was caught along with her ‘accomplices’ and ‘grilled’ for three hours. The pictures stored in the mobile phone were deleted and the life of our great leader was saved!

Lesson for the young espionage agent: Next time try for the smaller leaders who live in white houses and palaces across the ocean. They are not so worried about their own security and do not mind people clicking photos of their residences. In fact they are so careless that thousands of visitors are encouraged click photos of their residences! Also in case one has a compulsion for such big leaders, all information along with the latest photos can be downloaded from Google. No need of travelling from one corner of the country to the other.

Kudos to the police force for saving the life of our leader. But there is on small downside – on the day this news item appeared in the papers, they were so busy congratulating and back slapping each other that a murderer walked away from a crowded FOB on a crowded road – and everyone is clueless!

Indeed – ‘This happens only in India’

Gurgaon - My Gaon - Hong Kong by night, swamp by day!

Fifteen years – not a ‘life time’ but much more than a ‘life term’, even without the exclusions of paroles and time out for good behavior. That is span out of my existence that I have spent in this Gaon, now My Gaon – Gurgaon. 1^st January 1995 – I still remember driving down from Vasant Kunj, where I was staying, via the now NH8, then only a single lane road, stopping every few minutes, asking for directions to ‘Sohna Chowk’, now ‘Rajiv Chowk’, turning right to Pushpanjali Hospital.  I also remember stopping at IFFCO chowk to buy a clay idol of Ganeshji from Ami Chand whose wife became my first patient, and later the whole community of potters and all the members from their village used to troop to my clinic.

I saw the ugly duckling of yesteryears transforming into the young emerging kid with braces, smiling and trying to hide her smile and then into the ravishing beauty sashaying down the ramp. I remember getting stuck at Ghitorni in a ‘chakka jam’ and only phone in the whole village. Ghitorni then turned into the latest in fashion with MG1 only to be reduced to rubble and then slowly scrambling back onto its feet. Time was when one had to book a trunk call to speak to someone in Delhi.

As the town grew, so it grew on me – and today, though maybe not the true blue dyed in the wool gurgaonite, I can speak the lingo with gusto and many people recognize me on the road.

I have seen the vast open lands convert into matchbox flats and also into luxurious flats, infact so luxurious and so costly that they are better and costlier than any bungalow. The single lane NH8 being subjected to a survey to assess the traffic flow, all the trees of both sides being chopped down to be transplanted – where is anybody’s guess, huge pillars coming up on the road, traffic diverted here, there, everywhere – all with a promise that soon commuters would be able to zoooom through Dhaula Kuan to Rajiv Chowk all in a mind boggling 12 minutes – infact I covered the issue in an article for Times of India – ‘Dhaula Kuan to Rajiv Chowk in Three years twelve minutes’ – three years for the project and twelve minutes for the zooming. But, alas! The project took much longer and the zooming and zipping is now reduced to a crawling – from Dhaula Kuan to Rajiv Chowk in more than an hour!!

The malls came and the nice quiet MG road was soon the ‘Mauled Road’ of Gurgaon. With a mind boggling 104 malls coming up, Gurgaon is slowly and steadily being mauled. The Metro reduced the speed on MG Road to a trickle and many a times it took me more than two hours to travel to Vasant Kunj. The Metro came, but it did not. Just like giving a lollipop to child in kindergarten to keep quiet, similarly a stretch from HUDA City Centre to Qutab Minar was commissioned just to placate the masses – ‘ab dilli door nahin’. And when Gurgaon was connected to Delhi  via the metro, it came with all attended complications – delays galore, rush like in the Bombay (sorry – Mumbai) local and eve teasing like in the streets.

But still, with all its difficulties, the potholes and the cows, the rains and the jams, it is HOME.

Being a typical Gemini – two of everything, hobbies, cars, etc!! and etc!!! – I got into writing from a very early age – dabbling in small publications etc. and atlast ending up as a small cog in the wheel at Times of India.

And while my thoughts do reach the people, though late, but also maybe a bit garbled, just like the computers of yesteryears where the input was all binary and the output was garbage. So this blog!

And typical of everything which is Gurgaon – here are two photos of leisure valley – which looks like Hong Kong by night – but in the day is a swamp.