The Great Delhi Public Transport System!! and the Public it transports...

So our sprawling metropolis naturally caters to a population larger than that of the Vatican. It is an amalgamation of rich diversity, of people of cultures as socially apart as the moon is from Pluto. The best thing about the Delhi Public Transport system is that you can sample this intense richness and unparalleled diversity while traveling to college everyday.

Its not just culture you get to sample but the very essence of humanity itself, be essence i don't just mean the nice things. One gets to see chivalry as a man offers his seat to a woman, one gets to see compassion & respect when a young person relinquishes the same for an elder. There is a deeper bond than even religion and culture that you can see in this transport system that is a part of so many of our daily lives. Humanity, even if it is the squabbles over one or two rupees for those living on the margins of the poverty line, even if it is the few who hum along to a popular number being aired on the bus radio. The intensity to which almost the entire bus listens to the running commentary on the World Cup. Unity in diversity is a phrase not misappropriated here.

The Delhi Metro, the very pride of our city as far as public transport goes. I can not, even if I wanted point out a greater example of blending diversity. Almost all the passengers who travel through the metro maintain a sense of hygiene and decency using this world class PTS (public Transport System). Despite it being a common occurrence to spit and/or leave everlasting engravings to their presence on any bus. One can see a sense of national pride as a common value running through all these people. What i want to bring to attention is the habit some people have of defying rules in their simple way and spitting/ scratching/ drooling etc on public property and the fact that once it (meaning the transport and its associated) is sufficiently disfigured it can be continually subject to projectile spit and vomit and etc without the slightest hint of any qualm.

I have personally observed people spitting on the metro stations, not just ordinary spit but red streaked paan discharges. Its not just my observation but a few days back an article to this effect appeared in the Hindustan Times. I am attaching the link for your further perusal. http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/Default.aspx?selpg=1699 (just copy paste the link in your browser, read the article on page one and page 3). Recently when i was returning from a friends place in the metro, i was in a semi crowded compartment and there were two men standing infront of me, one with his back to me and the other facing me. The one facing me was chewing on something. The train stopped at the Ramesh Nagar station and the man chewing nodded his head and asked his companion something. I was observing for lack of something better to do. The companion said something which sounded like "kaar le yaar" (do it ) the Doors closed andthe train moved. When it stopped at Moti Nagar the man chewing something winked and spat red paan out onto the station (these stations have relatively little traffic in the afternoon) just before he finished the doors shut and some of the paan dribbled onto the door. I was aghast! the spitter had a very triumphant look on his face and his friend was laughing. Obviously they were very proud of themselves, and i did something very out of character and went up to them and said what they did was not right. All i got for my pains was "aapna kaam kar".

Another sad incident to behold was when changing trains so i got off at Rajiv Chowk from the upstairs line, i.e, the blue line and was to take the yellow line to C-sec from where i get my bus back. At Rajiv Chowk station for the yellow line a whole hoard of people as customary rushed onto the train headed for north campus, now the influx of people was so great that they refused to let the doors shut! i saw the doors glance off several people, one after the other till finally no possible human space left they allowed it to close. But it stayed open for a good 10 mins. the train left only after mine did! It is sad to just think about the old women and men who scurried out of the way of the mob!the only term to aptly describe the people there.

Getting me started on the buses is not advisable.!!! Why??????????? is all i am really left with. If you like forward this to people or ask them to read it and spread awareness! the way our city and national pride is treated makes me wonder at the zest our cricket matches are treated with, or the superfluity of the notions of nation pride.