Aditya Aamir
Jocko Street, on the second day of his return to Delhi, walked the streets and shut out thoughts of the city in the desert, the other side of the sea. Jocko was the typical Delhiwallah, who took the dirt with the dust, the garbage with the litter and the crowds with the loneliness. Nothing jolted the Delhi-ite, not even an earthquake, or the dust.
Time was when power outages were the bane. Nowadays, electricity stuck around as if told to do so. That was okay. At least one could watch political dramas on TV and grab the limelight on Social Media with a smart tweet or a Facebook post. Digital India had made a difference to folks. To some it gave the kicks. Everybody tweeted. From the PM to the PM-in-Waiting, whoever it would be, maybe the same globetrotter.
Jocko’s idol Arvind Kejriwal had things to do. Jocko had made one visit to Raj Bhavan but stopped short of the gates because he had nothing to add to the struggle. Instead, he chatted with a couple of AAP guys at the gate and cursed the IAS sorts who wouldn’t give zilch to Arvind, such a promising leader-in-the-making. In a rare uncharitable moment, Jocko wished Arvind would give up the histrionics and become the leader he ought to be.
And all the while Jocko thought such thoughts, the blanket of dust over the city remained like the haze in his mind. The city’s air quality had gone to the dogs in his absence and he felt like he was personally responsible. The Met called it “severe”.
What’s more, the dusty conditions would last for another three to four days. People should remain indoors, said the advisory. The last time such conditions prevailed was in November 2017 when ‘farm fires’ in neighbouring states “pushed air quality to severe”.
A kind of hate took root in Jocko’s mind. The location of Delhi! That was what was to blame. Locked in by Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. And just a little away Punjab. Sand and dust courtesy Rajasthan. Smoke and smog from the other three. Delhi should post a special tax on them.
Strong winds of 40 to 50 kmph brought about by an anti-cyclonic flow over northwest India were channeling the winds to Delhi. “Friday, the strong winds are likely to ease. Chances are it will start raining by June 17,” Jocko told Alec Smart, who called. “The government is supposed to sprinkle water on all roads and streets to tamp down the dust. But which government nobody knows. There are two of them for Delhi and neither is working.”
Quite as expected Alec Smart blamed the AAP government and Jocko slammed the call shut. He was done with people blaming Arvind. ‘What is Modi doing?’ he thought. ‘Apart from making fitness challenge videos. How can anybody be fit in dust and dirt?’
Jocko regretted coming to Delhi on a whim. What use being here, in this polluted city? The air quality index (AQI) in every part of Delhi – east, west, north and south – had crossed the 500 mark, with east Delhi crossing 800. AQI of 0-50 was considered ‘good’.
Jocko heard the newsreader on a TV channel drone that AQI was never so “abysmal” and he agreed wholeheartedly. One good thing he hadn’t bought so far was Wills Navy Cut! ‘Who will smoke in such lousy conditions, you cannot even call it weather?’ he thought morosely.
Returning home, he stuck out his tongue at a passing mongrel. The dog showed no sign of noticing Jocko. It went past like a grey haze. Tongue lolling. The heat rapped in its fur was killing man’s best friend.
‘It’s a Dog’s life!’ Jocko concluded. ‘In dusty Delhi.’
The post It’s a Dog’s Life in Dusty Delhi appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
