The Hindu : Inside Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Inside Delhi

An ordeal

The Bharatiya Janata Party and its supporters might be "feeling good", but for many motorists who pass daily through Ashoka Road, where the BJP headquarters is situated, the journey is turning out to be an ordeal.

Ashoka Road is one of the main arterial routes being used by those travelling from East Delhi to Central Delhi and West Delhi besides bearing the load of traffic moving from South Delhi to Central Delhi.

However, the presence of BJP office on this main thoroughfare is proving to a stumbling block in the smooth flow of traffic. With the BJP gaining in popularity, its supporters have also increased tremendously over the years and they make regular visits to the party office. As there is no parking space inside the office premises, they park their vehicles on the road often causing massive traffic jams.

Interestingly, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), the civic body governing the area, converted the pedestrian walkway on both sides of the road into parking lots, but this experiment has also failed due to the sheer volume of vehicles. Interestingly, adding to the problem are the OB (outstation broadcasting) vans of different satellite channels that are parked right on the road obstructing traffic movement.

"We try our best to regulate traffic on this busy route, but the haphazard parking of vehicles often results in traffic jams. Though these days it is the election rush, but throughout the year there are functions being organised in the BJP office that attract huge crowds. Managing traffic on this route as well as at the two roundabouts - at Windsor Place and Man Singh Road crossing -- has become a challenging task," said Delhi Traffic police constables deployed in the area.

"We cannot even use cranes here to remove vehicles parked in a wrong manner or issue "challans" to erring vehicle owners as everyone is closely associated with those in power and any action against them could bring trouble for us," he added.

Indians `bowled'

There is little else that people can talk about these days. The ongoing India-Pakistan cricket series has even the non-cricket fans applauding when Kaif makes the "fastest fifty'' or cursing when Tendulkar lets down his fans and quits the field on an unlucky seven.

But there is more than just action on the field that has found common ground between Indians and Pakistanis. Experiences of Indians across the border have overwhelmed even those who did not experience it.

One such Delhiite who travelled to Karachi for the first one-day match was amazed with his experiences across the border. From being offered a 40-50 per cent discount at most shops to most restaurant owners not accepting any money, the visitor was taken aback by the warmth and hospitality across the border. "Even a `bhutta' seller refused to accept money when he realised where I was from,'' says this Delhiite.

According to others who crossed the border to cheer the Indian team, the atmosphere in the stadium was surprising. India-Pakistan flags were stitched imaginatively together and, when India won the first match, the crowd gave the winning team a standing ovation.

"People actually came forward and invited us to come to their homes for food! And these were people we had never met before in our lives! I don't know what kind of reception the Pakistanis would get if they had come to India for a similar series. This is one experience that has taught me that perception and reality may be different,'' says yet another Delhiite.

Forget Track II diplomacy, it is "cricket diplomacy'' that has facilitated the maximum people-to-people contact. And the hospitality and warmth reflected among the people has helped break down many mental and psychological barriers.

Satta rumours

For cricket lovers, the India-Pakistan cricket series is turning out to be an exciting one, but for the betting market -- "satta bazaar'' -- the result are already out.

Satta bazaar experts say the outcome of the matches has already been decided upon: while the five-match limited-over series would be won by India, the three-test match series would go in Pakistan's favour.

In fact, rumours from the satta bazaar are so strong that many cricket lovers believe that the matches have been fixed. So much so that participating in a television programme on Sunday, the former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, Imran Khan, referred to the remarks of his driver who said that Sunday's match at Lahore was fixed and India would win.

However, most cricket-lovers here do not believe that matches can be fixed. "It is just incidental that results of the matches are as per the prediction of the satta bazaar. If the match was fixed, then why did the Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq score a century? Why did his bowlers take four Indian wickets before they could score 100 runs?" asked one cricket buff soon after the match was over.

By Sandeep Joshi, Anjali Malhotra and Lalit K. Jha

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