Recently all the articles coming about 100 year celebrations for New Delhi made me think that for the past whole year while living in Delhi I have never had a single opportunity to like it.
I just recently moved to Delhi from US with absolutely zilch expectations after hearing and reading news articles about Delhi’s security, people and weather. I though with zero expectations things would just look up ; but I was wrong. My expectations went negative and I still haven’t reached the bottom I feel.
Lets start with security. With tremendous migration from the neighboring notorious states of Haryana and UP the crime rate is the worst. Drunken brawls; road rages (which have started resulting in shooting);rapes and child abductions have added absolute shame to the Indian capital. Even if we discount the migrants the extravagantly rich community and the political class with their blatant disregard to law and connections at high places have resulted in lawlessness in Delhi. I don’t see any light at the end of this tunnel
Continuing with the weather Delhi has an extreme summer ; exceptionally humid and hot monsoon and severe winter. If we end up using the Air Conditioner during summers or heaters during winters due to exceptionally sound (ridiculous)wiring and electricity connections provided with absolutely no load distribution through division of phases we frequently have blowouts. And this is not in downtrodden colonies this happens in the so called upscale and posh areas because residents here end up using 3-5 Air conditioners/heaters per apartment. Except February and March there are no pleasant months in Delhi. Sanitation is pathetic . Delhi has the maximum cases of Dengue,malaria,encephalitis.Also the so called superbug has been detected in Delhi waters .
Facilities: Delhi has no provisions for residential parking’s. Most of the people park on roads which adds to the traffic snarls. People drive and park in the Service lanes and jam them too. Water facilities are pathetic too with most of the buildings having motors/pumps directly connected to the pipeline from corporation. Rather than letting it collect in an underground sump from where it can be pumped the people here use cheap tactics.
Traffic is another problem. With over 20 lakh people (2 million) daily traveling by the Metro train ; still the traffic snarls are the worst in the country. Delhi boasts of the best road infrastructure in the country but with 65 Lakh private vehicles (more than any other city in India) it is of no use. Road rages resulting into shooting or running over people have been popping up in news on a regular basis. And the smog affects everything moving affecting and delaying flights trains etc.
All of these problems can be addressed at some level but the worst problem is the people here and that cannot be changed. With a severe disparity between the migrants and the rich /political class there are several hate crimes . Delhi has never been as welcoming to migrants as compared to other cities like Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai (the MNS , Shiv Sena threats are not as bad as they are projected to be). People here can never be trusted. As the old saying goes ” Promises made my Delhiites are as unreliable as Mumbai rains”. Right from the technicians (plumbers, electricians, workers) to the highly effluent business class all can be branded as thugs. Their disregard to law during wedding parties or celebrations which run till early mornings violating all noise level rules scares me.Food adulteration in milk; cottage cheese ; sweets brings forth your worst fears . The doctors here are crooks who right off blind prescriptions for heavy antibiotics . Where do I stop?
The only good thing that Delhi has is Delhi metro. Soon that will be over crowded and will loose its charm.
I tried my level best to like something about Delhi but till now nothing seems to be coming. Hope at least I reach the bottom so that finally i have something to look up to.
risingbharat 
Sosha
December 20, 2011
Nope, you’re never reaching the bottom of the pit, my friend, not with Delhi!
AlphaTauri
February 8, 2012
Yup, poor infrastructure (water supply, power supply, municipal garbage collection, countless defunct ATMs), insalubrious weather, people who are intrusively or embarrassingly over-friendly and those are plain arrogant, rude and boorish. I can go on and on.