Back
New Delhi
Inside delhi
With several senior citizens in the Capital resigned to spending the autumn of their life in isolated neglect, a new initiative by the New Delhi Municipal Council comes as a refreshing breather. Since this past September, the civic body has been providing free food to the senior citizens living in its two old age homes, “Sandhya” and “Aaradhna”, functioning in Netaji Nagar and Bhagwan Das Road, respectively. The initiative has benefited 70-odd senior citizens living in these homes.
Says NDMC spokesperson Anand Kumar Tiwari: “Earlier we were providing them food through mess service at Rs.1,000 per month. But now we have tied up with a non-government organisation, Haldiram Charitable Society, to provide them free cooked food as a gesture of care for the elderly.”
Manisha Jha
Bikers’ day
To promote the history and heritage of Lutyens’ Delhi, a special bicycle ride was organised in the Capital over the weekend.
Hosted by the Delhi Cycling Club in association with the Delhi Chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage, the “Heritage Bicycle Ride” was also intended to promote cycling as zero-pollution, healthy, low-cost and sustainable mode of transportation.
More than 50 cycling enthusiasts and people from Delhi and nearby areas concerned about the ill-effects of increasing air pollution and traffic congestion on their health pedalled for 18 km. Drawn from every walk of life, they included IT professionals, architects, engineers, social activists, housewives and students.
Before embarking on the ride, the participants were briefed on the history of Lutyens’ Delhi, its various buildings, roads and culture by volunteers from INTACH’s Delhi chapter through the two-hour guided tour.
The bicycle journey started from the historic India Gate and passed through Rajpath, Vijay Chowk, Rashtrapati Bhavan, North Avenue, South Avenue, Dalhousie Road, Teen Murti Bhavan, Shanti Path, Nyay Marg, Nehru Park and Rajaji Marg before re-entering Vijay Chowk and culminating at India Gate.
Madhur Tankha
In a jamParking your vehicle at the Delhi Metro railway stations can be a nightmare on occasions and demands extreme skill and finesse in manoeuvring the vehicle into vacant spots. Weekdays are the worst, with long queue of cars waiting to park extending for quite some distance beyond the entry point.
Though jam-packed lots usually elicit a curt “no space, go elsewhere” from the parking lot attendants, at other times the driver is given the option of leaving the car in the lot along with the ignition key. The rationale given by the attendants is that it is not possible to manage the lot and give departing vehicles an unobstructed exit unless they are given the option of manipulating the cars and re-parking them at convenient spots as and when these get vacated.
This, however, has few takers, with most people willing to drive away in search of another parking space rather than handing over their keys. The car provides, apart from the obvious transport functionality, a miniaturised personal space to its owner. The expensive sound systems and electronic gimmickry apart, for many in the Capital the dashboard and the glove-compartment are host to a multitude of trinkets from their daily lives, possessions of limited commercial value to the casual car-crook but of infinite interest and attachment to the vehicle owner.
It may be easy to round someone up after accusing him of stereo-theft, but it would be undeniably harder to corner someone for sifting through one’s personal papers at a parking lot.
Kunal Diwan
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu