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Tuesday, Jun 03, 2008
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New Delhi

Inside delhi

End of an era

With both his beefy hands on the Indian Premier League trophy over the weekend, that lovable reprobate Shane Warne signalled the conclusion of not just the first edition of cricket on steroids but also left a void in the lives and living rooms of millions of Indians across the country who have already started to feel the incipient lurches of cricket withdrawal.

Accustomed for the better part of two months to returning home to a televised broth of breathless entertainment, evenings post-IPL now are likely to be anticipated with a gnawing dread. There is no maddening countdown to the first ball, no minute calculations of run rates to fill metro rides with, no in-stadium eye candy to provide respite from the action between overs, and, most tellingly, no team on whose fortunes one can hitch one’s expressions of elation and grief.

While cricket zealots struggle to render some meaning into their now vacuous existence, television channels dishing out more placid, time-tested fare can finally afford to heave in gulps of relief. With IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi snipping proposals of another league later this year in the bud, social imbroglios of conventional middle class life can return to the centre stage. It’s time for the scheming “saas” to conspire against the rebellious “bahu” again. French Open, anyone!

Kunal Diwan

Taken for a ride

Despite several warnings about pickpockets being displayed at crowded public places, the metro rail and buses, one can never tell when one will end up becoming an unsuspecting victim of the act. A case in point is a recent experience of a friend.

Aboard a crowded bus, the friend observed a tall old man getting into the bus and — not finding a vacant seat —deciding to stand near the front door. At the Mayur Vihar bus stop, a group of half a dozen men boarded the vehicle.

With the bus bursting at the seams, a scuffle broke out among the group of men. Lasting just a few seconds, the scuffle captured everyone’s attention till the group got off together in a hurry at the very next bus stop near Akshardham Temple.

The bus resumed its onward journey and everything was going on fine till the old man screamed his lungs out that the Rs.45,000 he was carrying had been picked from his hip pocket.

Overcome with shock at his colossal loss, the man simply collapsed on the bus floor. Regaining his senses a little later, he called up acquaintances to inform them of the loss and share his grief.

Later the conductor explained to the man sitting next to him how several notorious pickpockets operating in groups boarded crowded buses and distracted passengers with a mock scuffle while their accomplices cleaned their hands off other people’s wallets.

Manisha Jha

Rogue at large

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation feeder service with its fleet of new, specially designed mini-buses was initialised to provide better connectivity to people from far-flung areas intending to use the metro railway. While these were being run by private operators who were allowed to ply their buses only after due scrutiny, a few private operators have now encroached upon these routes to rake in some money.

This Monday, a friend noticed a rickety RTV at the Vikas Marg-Akshardham intersection plying on a metro route covering various areas of East Delhi. Perhaps to lure passengers, the RTV had the Delhi Metro signage as well as Route 253-A painted on the body.

Dilapidated as all the RTVs in town tend to be, this one was packed to capacity with the door swinging precariously from the hinges.

With the Capital’s citizens increasingly coming to expect a high standard of service from DMRC, it would be better if the authorities concerned take note of such practices and ensure they are stopped.

Prashant Pandey

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