indiascribe satire

W ith the perceived success  of car free day in Gurgaon on Delhi outskirts, a similar attempt is being contemplated for the national capital. That too, on October 22, the peak of the Dussehra/Durga Puja season. While being a laudable idea, it may prove to be only a symbolic gesture, in a city with not many options of relatively comfortable public transport options except the Metro rail service. Buses, despite being modernised to include low floor versions of air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned versions, the state-owned Delhi transport Corporation is yet to develop a passenger information system like the Metro. Delhi Transport Corporation  bus  (photo courtesy : DTC)  A bus passenger still has no means of knowing when the next bus would come. A pilot project during the Commonwealth Games, 2010 that had electronic display boards announcing the bus with its route number was not followed up. Yet another facility of tracking the buses to the point of ...

         Well, Saturday we witnessed Formula one driver Daniel Riccardio giving a demonstration in a Red Bull sports car going up and down the Raj Path at 270kmph. Since it was close to my office and in the afternoon around 2.30 pm, I decided to take a look. Walked down to boat club and found an enclosure with several metal detector doorways. Walked through one of them to find that there were no galleries. One could just lean against the security fence with another such fence separating the crowd from the road. Red Bull, the organisers, had set up huge boxes for the sound system and screens that gave a good view of both India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan ends. The compering was done by FM Red channel. The first item was stunt riding by the Ghost riders, a motorcycle team. They did a couple of wheelies, that is lifting the front wheel high in the air and rolling on the rear wheel and then reversing the order to almost stand still on t...

For ages, Delhi has been trying to get or at least commuters have been pining for an efficient public transport system. The Delhi Transport Corporation, despite two or three name and livery changes continues with all the inefficiencies associated with a public sector operation. The fares are kept low to ensure that it meets the so-called "social justice" objectives. This could range from running unprofitable routes to places where the janta do not believe in paying the fare to the ridiculous pampering of the student community with an all route pass for just Rs 12.50, set way back in mid-1970s! No wonder that the behemoth could never hope to break even, let alone think of making a profit. Into this scenario came the Delhi Metro, a state-of-the-art rail-based transport network that makes it mandatory for everyone using it to pay and travel and no concessions to any sections. This offers clean efficient air-conditioned train service. It may seem to be a relatively expensiv...