v/s                       

Having lived in Mumbai and Delhi for almost 10 years(in 2-3 stints) each I had thought I was an expert at the life in both the cities. I thought I could smoothly move from one way of life to the other with ease.

For people who are not aware - there is a huge difference in living in Delhi v/s Mumbai and this is probably an issue of huge debate and many people have spent hours debating it. Besides the more visible differences like the roads, flyovers, houses, garbage, trains there is a huge difference in the people and their attitudes and habits....... that is the most challenging part.

After living in both places for 10 years, I thought I had cracked the code to survive in these cities till my recent trip to Delhi and experience with the Dilliwallas shook my confidence. The last 3 years in Mumbai has made my somewhat of a Mumbaikar but I thought that I would not have lost my Dilliwalla grit in such a short time.

So I land in Delhi with family to take a prepaid taxi to my parents house at 11 pm in the night. After an easy process to get the taxi voucher I walk out of the airport to find the taxis. Me and my family were completely unaware of the challenges ahead and were smiling our way toward the taxis expecting a queue to get into the taxis (like a Mumbaikars).

Thats when the fun starts......we find no one in the queue and lots of taxis around. We smile and hope to hop into the next taxi that comes to us so that we can head home. We wait for 5 mins and taxis keep zipping past us even when we are 1st in the queue.

Realising something was wrong, I started to move closer the the place where taxis were coming from and found people were boarding taxis before they could reach the queue . Im sure the look on my face gave it away and one guy came close to me and said "kahan jana hai, sir". Not the types to break rules and succumb to 'fixers' I ignored the guy and restarted my battle to get a taxi.

To cut the long story short it took me 30 mins (and 15-20 people going ahead) to get a taxi after being 1st in the queue. After 30 mins my idealism cracked and I remembered I was in Delhi and being a Mumbaikar (and being in a queue) wont take me anywhere. So then I pushed and shoved my way (using the trolley as my weapon) thru the Dilliwallas (with my wife giggling behind me) and got into the taxi that I wanted .

Right thru the 45 mins drive from Airport to home while my wife and daughter slept, I wondered the past 3 years in Mumbai had made my 'useless' to handle (read tackle) the Dilliwalla.......

I continue my journey...........