Talk of the Town

Three small steps

By Our Staff Reporter

If you live in Delhi, and are young, chances are you would have been to the Anupam PVR multiplex. Remember the three short steps right in front of the entrance? The ones you don't even give a second thought to? Well next time you go there, think how those three little steps would mean that a person in a wheelchair will not be able to watch a movie there, in spite of there being an elevator inside.

`Please inform in advance for disabled patrons' reads a notice in front of PVR. But the fact is most disabled people are pretty independent. They prefer to manoeuver their wheel chairs without others having to come to their help.

Nataraj, who is orthopaedically challenged has just completed his Bachelor of Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture. He says he dreams of a Delhi where no disabled person will need help. ``If the architects had only given this a little more thought they need not have made the steps at PVR.''

But this kind of sheer thoughtlessness is almost everywhere. All shops at GK I market are at a height. A disabled has no chance of going shopping unless he has an escort. Forget leisure activities, most disabled have to compromise when it comes to education too. As Aslam Amin, a Jamia Computer Engineering student says, ``Most disabled students can only take admission in institutes where there is an elevator.''

What use is the glamour of a place if it is not accessible to all? What Delhi needs are buildings where everyone can enter whenever they want. Irrespective of whether there is a person free to wheel them to the market or not.

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SMS touch

By Bindu Jacob

It's about love -- the SMS way! And when cupid is just a message away, spectators have to admit that technology is all about ``human touch'' as many service providers would like us to believe.

This is how we started believing in this one. The incessant chatter in white line buses plying between Paschim Vihar and Shivaji Stadium, has been replaced by the beep of SMS -- which one can hear going off from almost all seats.

``Where are you sitting?''questions messages and almost simultaneously you can see hands raised, waving frantically. ``Can you come here?'' is the next obvious question. And as the on-looker would see -- minutes after the jam-packed bus with people standing literally on each other's toes gets moving, one witnesses a sudden wave of migration across the bus.

``I am almost there'' flashes the next SMS, with the gal in question craning her neck, manoeuvering it to unbelievable degrees. ``But I can't see you'' passes the next message. ``Well I can hardly see the next man,'' replies the guy and the conversation goes on till the `twain finally meet'. This communication mode, the Abishekh Bachchan and Karishma Kapoor way, according to bus owners, has met with tremendous success. Many SMS partners go on to become life partners, they claim.

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Bustling market

By Devesh K. Pandey

A walk down the grand old Ajmal Khan market should be a pleasure not only for avid lovers of haute couture, but also for those window shopping. But, alas! the pleasure turns to a trauma what with incessant honking of vehicles all along the road, a parking place notwithstanding.

The increasing lines of vehicles on roadsides and on the approaching road to the Khan Road have become a cause of concern for area residents also who are amazed at the way the market has grown in recent years. Recalling the past, an elderly resident, Mr. Y.P Sharma, claimed that there were few shops on the Ajmal Khan Road three decades ago and shop-keepers had to request residents to buy goods from their shop.

``The area was lush green, but now everything has changed with the mushrooming of big show-rooms,'' said a pensive Mr. Sharma, adding that with the concretisation and uncontrollable flow of vehicles the situation has become grim.

Worst hit are the pedestrians, who are already sandwiched between vehicles parked on the both sides. They find themselves holding for dear life with vehicles approaching them with great speed. After all, it's a great thrill that the market provides.

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Mobile fancy

By Anjali Malhotra

``The bolder you are, the more likely are you to succeed''. This seems to be the motto of thieves in Delhi. And the most `flickable' commodity on their list appears to be the mobile phone.

Incidents of people reporting stolen mobile phones are quite common. The resale value of second-hand mobile phones and the opportunity to make a few calls before the owner realises his loss and blocks the SIM card are just two factors which provide motivation for thieves to dip into someone's bag and finding a mobile phone.

But robbers aside, no matter what they might do in ordinary life, the hospitality of Indians is not misplaced. The other day, a friend had an interesting experience. A regular passenger of DTC buses, she knows that chances of theft on these buses are very high. Despite extreme caution, during one such journey, she realised her mobile phone had been stolen.

As she searched frantically through her bag, a man standing next asked her what the matter the was. When she told him, he pointed out to a lady, standing a little way off, accusing her of the crime. As commuters in the bus threatened to beat up the lady, she quietly handed the phone back to her.

Indians, it seems, have a split personality -- they steal and yet there is a strong element of warmth and oneness when the need arises.

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