I want Delhi back!

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What is wrong here..?!   Delhi is one city that is close to my heart. I love it despite the pollution, the crowd, the heat and well the occasional traffic. I love all of it. Delhi is a city that accepts everyone with open arms and has a lot to offer. But lately, when I look at the news and I see rape stories and molestation cases it just leaves me angry and hopeless. These incidents just keep happening every other say. Because of such incidents Delhi has come to be known as the "Rape Town". People laugh at us and make jokes about the situation here and hold prejudice against this majestic city. To us, the people of Delhi, it is refreshing and fun and very beautiful, for us it is home. But if you go talk to an outsider, you will see Delhi under a completely different light. To them, Delhi feels like a supremely unsafe place with incessantly increasing crime rates. This has gone to a point where none of my college friends ever want to live there, and moreover, the very idea of living in a place which makes weekly headlines makes them uncomfortable. 

People comment on the condition of Delhi, the unsafe environment, the crime rates and the hostility towards women. I try my best to fight them and argue back and try and convince them that it is a good place with nice people, but I can only say so much. With all this. But now my own belief is beginning to shatter. How is it that every second day there is an article about rape or molestation or eve teasing in the newspaper? Is the situation this bad?! Aren't the police trying to do something about the situation?! I have no answer to any of these questions. The latest blow came to me when I was out for a drive with my family at night and we stopped to get some ice-cream. My dad parked the car and went to the ice-cream stand, and suddenly my brother got all panicked and told me to immediately close all the doors and the windows of the car because it is unsafe!This made me realize that even the people living here are afraid. 

We are living in a city which is so unsafe that you cannot have a moment of peace. A city where women have to always be on the lookout! This is not the city I fight for, this is not the city I stand up for. It is crumbling down at the hands of a few who are committing such crimes and bringing shame to all of us. For if things do not change, it will not be long before we have a TV show "Na aana is desh lado" for our very own Delhi. I want the city back, I want to be able to walk freely and not look over my shoulder, I want to be proud when I tell people about Delhi. I want my freedom and my city back!


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