Jaipur jottings

by Manish Anand

A visit to Jaipur recently was a great escape from maddening Delhi. The pink city as it’s called has all the stuff to make other city planners sit and learn. Also, as ideally a city should reflect the culture of its people so does it with all the finesse.

Waiting for a friend to turn up to pick me up at the bus stand, I lent my ears to the lingo of the passersby. Nothing much to hear of those great verbal expletives that Delhi is renowned for and which puts off any newcomer. Also, the people do not shout much as is the case with Delhi where all seem to be patients of high blood pressure.

The next morning as I was being shown the city while my host drove the car, an executive in a private firm, I was told more about the city. What about the traffic? People hardly ignore traffic rules. When some does a group of police men turn up and query with all the politeness. “I could have given Rs 1000 in place of Rs 100 that I was challaned as the cops told in all politeness the reason for the challan,” said my friend.

People hardly use their mobile phones while driving or smoke as cops appear as swiftly as such things are resorted to. Effective policing at its best, must say.

What about city planning?

None of the buildings I saw looked ugly. No encroachments on public land. No parking in front of homes or on road-side, which have seen the service roads virtually disappearing in Delhi. Any violation of building by-laws invite swift demolition action as should be the case.

Yeah, poverty and slums! How could Jaipur remain free of them? As these things can not be solved overnight, the best thing that the city government does is to erect long wall in front of jhuggis with all the art and culture of the state on the display. So, a tourist does not see the stinking slum, and in place sees the art. Great idea isn’t it!

What about the crime?

Very easy to know!. A mere four feet boundary walls around the residences of the people. Security guards hardly visible around the city. The rich and the middle classes have homes alike, and that settles the score on the crime front. But, yes large immigration of people from western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has unsettled some of the crime figures, and the cops keep an eagle’s eye-view on anything related to these states.

So, what do you think of Jaipur; asked my friend as I readied for Delhi. A great city to be in to enjoy life with all the prides intact was my parting reply.