My Love Story With India (Part 2)
NEW DELHI
For me it is reminiscent of the rowdy bustle and hustle of Mushin, the large
moving crowd of Ajegunle, the old-styled colonial houses and new architecture
of Ebute-Meta and Yaba in Nigeria all roll into one.
Delhi is the Green City of India;
a champion for a greener environment with the greatest number of trees, shrubs
and vegetables so common place.
Historically speaking, as far back
as the 1300s, Delhi has always been known as the capital of India. But during
the beginning of the British Raj which began in 1858, the British ruled by fiat
from Calcutta making it the default capital. But due to rising tensions and
hostilities between the Indians and British, to make their rule more central as
well as douse the ragging internal conflicts, in 1911, King George V during the
famous Durbar shifted the capital from Calcutta back to its original capital,
Delhi. Only this time the location was not the former Old Delhi, the original
Mughal city, but the area we now know as New Delhi. Today the English
pronunciation of Calcutta has been reverted to the India English phonetic
transliteration Kolkata, which is closer its original Bengali name. 
The sheer size of Delhi is vast. A bustling cosmopolitan metropolis, Delhi’s core business in commerce, medical tourism,
arts, cinemas/entertainment, restaurants, hotel and hospitality, tourism,
fashion, professional services, transportation: taxis, rickshaws, tuk-tuk,
horseback, metros, buses, bicycles, bikes, low and high end vehicle
manufacturing, finance, education and other ancillary businesses numbering into
the hundreds makes it a number one business hub. I had a particularly interesting experience at the cinemas. If you've ever watched India films, you'll know that it takes average of 3-hours to finish watching one. Well, I had quite forgotten about all that. So here was I seated and watching the movie EVEREST (great cast, powerful story), and exactly one hour thirty minutes later, the movie stopped abruptly, a black screen stated briefly at me! I thought 'NEPA' had taken light or their was a malfunction from the generator or something. But lo! A sign popped up on the screen and announced: "INTERMISSION". I roared with laughter. And guess what? Intermission was as long as 20-30 minutes. Which gives you enough time to visit the ladies or gents and buy some more popcorn. Not baad, eh?
Delhi is strategically located in
North of India. It is home for all things government: executive, legislative,
embassies, and judiciary. While in Nigeria we have governors, in India they
call them mayors, just like the U.S.A.
New Delhi has over 10 radio
stations just like we have in cities like Ibadan, Lagos, Abuja and Port
Harcourt. Similar frequency dials and names such as 93.5 FM and Capital FM in
India are akin to radio stations synonymous to Nigeria stations like Capital FM
Abuja.
RELIGION
In a country where over 750
languages are spoken, according to The People’s Linguistic Survey of India, at
least 22 languages are nationally recognized as a lingua franca in India such
as: Urdu, Konkani, Hindi, Kannada, Assamese, Punjabi, Gujurati, Telugu,
Kashmiri, Malayalam, Tamil, Sanskrit, Bengali, Manipuri, Marathi, Odia,
including India English. However in the last 50 years, 250 of these languages
have died out.
In New Delhi, religion cuts
across Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Jainism, Baha’i Faith, and other religions in
minority like Christianity. The famous Lotus Temple of the Baha’i House of
Worship which attracts more than 70 million visitors is a breathtaking edifice.
Everything about the design interiorly and exteriorly is repeated in multiples
of the number 9: nine reflecting pools, nine doors, multiples of nine
diamond-shaped ceilings and crossbeams. Incidentally, Lotus is a symbol of love
and purity. This awesome architecture was built by Persian architect Fariborz
Sahba. Made of white marble, cement, dolomite and standing at 40 metres, the
Lotus Temple architecture commands resplendent beauty like the Taj Mahal of
Agra. No wonder it’s such a centre of tourist attraction.
TRANSPORTATION
As I walk through the estate
blocks in Delhi, I simply never get used to seeing this sort of juxtaposition
of transportation: a vast mixed blend where ancient technology meets modern
and post modern innovation in the same space. I’m in awe of this land. If you
want to learn the history of how mankind evolved from leg transportation to the
supersonic metros of today, India makes the best place to begin your research.
The old style black British
vehicles otherwise known as Hackney carriage, Beardmore, LTI TX1 cab, LTI FX4
cab, commonly used as taxis in the UK are today in India exclusively driven by
ambassadors. Hindustani Motors’ Ambassador still produces and sells this brand
in India.
Unlike in Nigeria where jeeps of all kinds, shapes and brand are a declaration of “I have arrived”, until I left Delhi – which was over a three weeks stay – I only counted four jeeps! I was later told that it was mostly from the hours of midnight on that jeeps become a common sight. Even at night where owners of jeeps consider it the best time to drive their cars in a less crowded traffic road, you can still count the number of jeeps.
There are only 3 cars in India for
every 1,000 Indians compared to say a place like Nigeria where that ratio is
far between. Goldman Sachs has predicted that India will have the maximum
number of cars on the planet by 2050 overtaking the United States which is
currently at 500 cars for every 1,000 American. Small low-end economy cars
costing less than two million naira are the in-thing cars all over India with tens of manufacturing and assembly car companies, both high and low end brands
locally producing to meet the local market of the fast growing India economy. The
EMI payment system makes it easy too to owe and pay for a car.
In all, there are no less than 23
manufacturing car companies in India. Many foreign car manufacturers like Roys
Royce, Bentley and Maybach are a few of the high end brands manufacturing cars
in India. Indigenous vehicle manufacturers include: The Tata Indica of Tatat
Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra came up with SUVs, the Scorpio and the Bolero.
These cars are very popular in India everywhere you look and they are also
exported to European markets. According to Indiabizclub.com an electric car is
also manufactured by a local company REVA. Tata plans to produce the world’s
first air powered cars in partnership with MDI of France.
Everywhere you go you see all
kinds of brand cars and their extensions: Suzuki, Honda, Chennai, Maruti 800,
Bugatti Veyron, Chevrolet, BMW, Hyundai, Austin, Honda, Ford, Noida,
Mercedes-Benz, Mahindra Reanult, Verna, Pune, Lucknow, Singur, Toyota.
The colour white is the most
preferred colour of choice by all class and caste: low maintenance (shows off
less scratch, easy to clean, dusts are not that noticeable on white cars
compared to black cars sitting outside in the hot sun and dusty atmosphere of
India; less heat absorption in India’s very hot climate, affordability and of
course the status attached to the trending colour of the time). In the past
however, silver was the colour of choice. Today all over India, white and
silver are the preferred car colours.
As there are cars, so there are
many models of cycle manufacturers of motorcycles, power bikes and scooters
with their brand extensions traversing all over India: Aprilia, Harley
Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Moto Guzzi, Suzuki, Yamaha, Bajaj, Ducati, Hero
Electric, Hyosung, KTM, Piaggio, Triumph, BMW, Hero Moto Corp, Indian
Motocycles, Mahindra, Royal Enfield, TVS.
Included in this unique ‘cycle
manufacturing are the ubiquitous bicycles claiming their right of way on all
India roads, tourist centres, baghs (villages and gardens), harts (markets),
malls, offices, and homes. Although many bicycle brands do not manufacture
their own product, but rather import and re-brand bikes manufactured by others,
there are nonetheless bicycle parts manufacturing companies littered all over
India; many brands from Europe: Italy, UK, Netherlands, New Zealand, France,
Spain, Germany, Denmark and across the US, Brazil, Canada, Belarus, Czech
Republic, Japan, etc.
Add to this many forms of travel are the old-style train coaches and modern metros eating up the staggering population of Indians caring on everyday activities, doing business or simply enjoying their tourist experience from one place to another. You would think with this amount of vehicles on the roads, traffic accidents would be high, yet ironically that is not the case! Until I left Delhi – and that was over a three-week stay – I never witnessed a single accident, not even a car scratch but lots of near misses that makes your tongue jump from the back of your mouth leaving you with a heady feeling.
