Delhi in my heart

Inauguration of Delhi Urban Platform, an initiative to discuss the city — its past, present and possibilities

A mood for nostalgia, a sense of intransience and a cautious sanguinity about the future encompassing Delhi the city, thickened the enclosed air of the old library at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies on Delhi's Rajpur Road this past week. Surrounded by stacks of books, the setting was faultless for a studious debate, about the city we call ours and the trajectories that it has taken over millennia to be where it is today. And to take part in it were not just a string of speakers with proficiency in history and sociology, but a lot of university students, many filling up the chairs, some taking the corners between the book shelves, some others squatting on the floor — all wide-eyed, all ears and prepared to pipe up with questions.

Ravi Sundaram, one of the heads behind this brand new initiative of CSDS named Delhi Urban Platform, gave a spin to its inaugural meeting by stating, “There are a lot of unanswered questions about what kind of a city Delhi is today?” With the Commonwealth Games looming over Delhi, and bringing along with it many physical changes to the city considered sleepy till late, it is time, he insists, there should be a debate involving not just scholars and students, but individuals from different walks of life on the past, present and the possibilities of it.

“There is a lot of instability about Delhi's future, which is actually an asset,” for it gives people space to deliberate on which way the city should drift, he said, calling for “a critique of possibilities of Delhi” via DUF.

Narayani Gupta, a seasoned historian and part of the Conservation Society of India, pointed out how many people were as worried about Delhi during the Asiad as “you all are before the Commonwealth Games.” She also noted some of the fall-outs of the Asiad Games, “like the jhuggi-jhopri colonies” and also constructive initiatives “like INTACH”. She called attention of those assembled on the increasing trend of shutting off public spaces for people's use. “For instance, there is a park east of Red Fort called Delhi Chalo Park. Unfortunately, you can't ‘chalo' there as it is closed for public use, then there is the case of ice-cream vendors who are being moved away from India Gate. So many people go there for that experience.”

Nostalgia

Yet another speaker, well-known sociologist Amita Baviskar marvellously weaved in whiffs of nostalgia by talking about the city “in our memories” and the changes borne by Delhi in the process of “seeking a world class status.” She brilliantly touched upon life — then and now, “between the Ridge and the river”, “the air of rundown-ness about Delhi the Sarkari city of the 1980s”.

The event, divided into two sessions, also featured speakers like Awadhendra Saran, AGK Menon and Gautam Bhan. Among other interesting thoughts and questions that floated about the vibrant discussion was “thinking about what we should preserve and what to let go” about the city, and also how Delhi, unlike present-day Mumbai, doesn't have a brigade of assertive locals. To Sundaram's credit, he responded to it by saying, “There is still a lot of hate against Muslims in the city, it is still very difficult to find a house for a Muslim tenant.” Though there was no mention of the growing prejudice against the northeasterners in the city, one hoped DUF takes it up too in one of its deliberations.

Little girl to civilise Delhi

Delhi’s citizens are about to be introduced to a range of civic awareness messages over the next 10 months, right up to the Commonwealth Games in October 2010.A wide-ranging advertising campaign, ‘Come on Dilli’, with the messages delivered by a new city mascot — a cartoon-drawn, seven-year-old girl named Delhi ki Beti — has begun to dot Delhi’s billboards since December 12. India’s Capital will play host to athletes from 71 nations at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.The Delhi government feels that in addition to providing world-class infrastructure and facilities for the event, it is also critical that Delhi’s people come together as hospitable hosts. To instill that sense of hospitality, pride, care and concern for the city, it decided to undertake a public communication exercise.The ‘Civility Campaign’ has started with the outdoor media and will move on to radio, print and television. The campaign has been developed by Dentsu India’s social communications division, citizen dentsu, to which the local government’s stated objective was to enhance Delhi public’s civic sense, to address certain deep-rooted behaviour patterns typical to the city’s civic mindset.

The messages developed by Dentsu point to a greater range of civic awareness building than what may typically be required for just the Commonwealth Games. The use of solar power or the rejection of the use of plastic bags, for example.

Other issues such as pollution, car pooling, using the cellphone while driving, breaking traffic signals and defacing heritage sites are covered through messages that use English and Hindi, English nursery rhyme lines and even references to Ghalib.

Building pride in the city’s heritage is seen as a unifying factor since a significant number of Delhi’s residents have come in from other parts of the country.

Cartoon animals have been used in a rather tongue-in-cheek manner.

The youth who’s taken a toss off his motorbike because he jumped a red light is a monkey; the person defacing a heritage building’s wall is a rat; the chap chatting on his mobile phone while driving is an owl.

“The idea is to convey, in a dignified manner, that the people, in doing the things the ads bring up, are behaving like animals,” said Gullu Sen, national creative director, Dentsu India.

On whether the local Delhi population would respond to a little girl as the city’s mascot, he said: “Our initial mascot idea was a boy, but the chief minister felt we should use a girl child. Besides that, a lot of cities abroad have mascots.”

While it is tempting to compare Delhi ki Beti with the Amul girl who also delivers sharp, witty social messages, Sen preferred that the two not be compared, saying the Amul property has been built over time.

While the campaign’s budget is rumoured to be in the range of Rs 100 crore, there is no official confirmation on the figure. PK Tripathi, principal secretary in the chief minister’s office, said there was no fixed budget.

“We will intensify the campaign over the next few months and will release money depending on the various media used for it. The three-phased campaign will progress from ‘inform and inspire’ to ‘involve’ messages, to culminate with ‘hospitality’ statements.

Dentsu India won the Civility Campaign’s pitch in competition with 11 of the 15 government-empanelled advertising agencies that include some of India’s largest agencies.