Children had been playing a new game since yesterday; they had kept a brick in the center of the play ground. One of them was standing on the brick and was asking others who were the owner of Delhi. Rest of the children cried it were ours. He asked them the same question thrice. After that all of them started fighting to capture the brick. The one who succeeded to stand up on the brick in a minute was considered winner and declared the owner of Delhi. It was the new sport for me as I had even not heard of such an event.
More than one and a half crores of people live in Delhi. I got an idea after seeing that game that a survey should be done regarding the same question which children were asking in the game. Next day, I went to a park where some aged people were doing yoga. When they finished their exercise, I asked them who the owner of Delhi was. One of them said with deep sighing, ‘those who have captured the foot path and run their shops there viz. Tea seller, betel seller, vegetable seller, etc., etc. are the owners of Delhi.’ This answer touched my heart, so I asked the same question to a tea seller who was selling tea at the outside the park on the foot path. Hearing my question he said in annoyance, ‘Delhi’s real owners are those bad elements who forcibly charge money as Hafta, the rent of this place from us. No body as such can run his business here without paying them money.’ A man who seemed to be a villain was also standing there. I gathered my courage and asked him the same question as it was my target. He said to me politely, ‘The major part of the collection goes to the police. If we don’t share it with them, they can send us behind the bar. So, the police is the owner of Delhi in true sense.’ The police blame the corrupt leaders and consider them as the actual owner of Delhi. I gave some above contents from Vijay’s write-up as I promised you in my last post, and I am grateful to him.
I can continue my survey for longer period as it should be done to get more thoughts of different people, but I know I would not find the real owner of Delhi. I may be proved wrong one day, even though I have to close down this program of the survey. People generally think that they are the owner of only those things which are directly registered in their name by some competent authority, like their house, shops, farm house and other movable and unmovable properties. People forget that there are so many other things which really belong to them but aren’t registered in their name, present in the society viz. their parents, spouse, children, and friends. They accept them by their heart, so they take care of them.
The day when people of Delhi start thinking that they are the real owner of Delhi, they would take care of it and Delhi would become a beautiful city of India.