It's Freezing

The famous Delhi chill is here to stay, regardless of what the infamous MET department has to say about it. Although the celebrations of Lodi declared that the end of winters is near with grand bonfires across the city, nature seems to have other things on her mind. Delhi continues to wake up to chilly mornings blanketed by dense fog. Those who can afford it, sleep in, while the rest of the poor souls get out and continue on their routines as usual.

Delhi plays with its inhabitants’ feelings and emotions like a cat playing with a ball of yarn. One day would be a warm sunny day, raising hopes of its 14 million inhabitants as they get out of their quilts and looked forward to spring. Alas, all hopes are shattered on the frost covered ground into a million tiny pieces, with the mercury nose diving the very next day. The chill is such that it penetrates to the bone, helped by the sharp stinging winds which bring down the collective morale of the entire population. One can however, protect oneself from the chill, but then has to contend with the evil twin of fog. It is a natural phenomenon which delays and derails daily life in the metro. There is little else worse than cold, damp, dreary days with dense fog which refuses to lift till 1 pm. Traffic slows down, jams run for several kilometres, hundreds of trains run delayed, sometimes up to 24 hours and scored of flights get delayed, diverted or cancelled. Mighty Delhi is brought to its knees by the fog each morning.

The cold is such that it sends most residents scurrying indoors at sundown for a warm cup of coffee or a bowl of invigorating hot soup. Fortified thus, some venture outdoors well protected by layers upon layers of warm clothing to meet with friends and enjoy the chill. The less fortunate of Delhi’s inhabitants however, face the evil twins of biting cold and fog out on the streets, a place which knows no mercy. With minimum temperatures dropping below 5°C, life becomes a continuing battle with the forces of nature. There is an acute shortage of winter shelters for the homeless in the city, with reports of existing ones being destroyed by clueless agencies such as the MCD over relatively petty issues such as permissions lost in gratuitous red tape. Benevolence is not dead in the city, and it is in this spirit that many kind hearted people distribute blankets and give away old clothes to the poor & destitute to try to alleviate some of their suffering.

Although the cold is the same for all citizens, its affects are felt differently by the people depending on their economical strata. Within a span of a few meters, the divide is blatantly apparent; with young women claiming that all the layers of clothing makes them look fat to a homeless person trying to cover his body with the rags he possesses and wordlessly curling into a tight ball, accepting his pitiful condition as a part of his life. Here’s hoping that the cold releases Delhi from its clutches so that life can resume its course of approximate normalcy.

Only In Delhi.