1lakh70thousand
BPL cards revoked.
In Delhi alone.
In an attempt to look good.
In the international arena.

Stat a lady working with resettled slum areas told me.

http://radicalnotes.com/journal/2010/08/19/labour-laws-violated-in-miranda-house-college-commonwealth-games-construction-site/

Just a link today. Haven't been well enough to get up, go outside and take pictures. The above link describes the stuff going on in my college. CWG related stuff. It's shameful enough to want to drop out.

CM now sets September 15th as deadline for CWG Projects

Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit said heavy rain had prevented work from being completed in time, which is August 31. Actually, that was the fourth deadline to have been set after the first date of March 31 was missed.

(TOI)

30something days left

Viral fever sure takes the enthusiasm to live right outa you. Anyway, here are the pictures.
On top- living in the middle of a marsh. In the middle- Living next to a giant landfill. And at the bottom- The approach roads.

Lost count days left.

I apologise to those of who amuse yourselves by reading my anti-CWG posts for not posting anything for a few days. In my defense, I have been sick and busy and sunday is a holiday.
Busy? Yes!
I went to a resettlement slum yesterday. Now I have pictures and horror stories to last me till the games. So the college women's development cell and some NGO together decided to visit this place, Bhalaswa. I had no classes so I tagged along with a camera.
Imagine that you live in a slum. It can't be fun but atleast you live close to where you work. Then one day there is a board which says vacate by tomorrow. Bulldozers are coming. So you along with some thousands of families are resettled to a marsh. Yes a marsh. And to double the misery your government doesn't give you some money to develop this area. NOPE. You have to pay them for the lease on the land. And the marsh is really far from all civilization so to travel to your workplace you spend a decent bit everyday which with your earnings isn't really an option. And the marsh is quite unsuitable for human habitation. And it's right next to a huge disgusting landfill. Children are dying from snakebites. Everyday.
Why resettled? Because when the firangs come....delhi has to look pretty.
So, the lease gets over when? November. Right after the games. No idea what happens to you after that.
(pictures later. high fever right now)

42

It's Sunday. I feel too unmotivated to go take pictures of broken parts of delhi. The dust in the city is choking up my lungs. Delhi is not a fun place to live for asthmatic people right now. The rain the last few days have helped though. Little less dust. On the other hand apparently roads are caving in. Wow. I read in the paper "as a consequence of the" insane amount of "construction going on many roads are caving in. Starting with Aurobindo Marg."

43 days left

Now if you kindly tilt your head and look at these pictures...
This is Rajiv Chowk/Connaught Place. The heart of the city. It was quite nice before they decided it needs to be dug up.

44 days to the CWGames

Excerpts from the Times of India website.

MCD blames Games work for mess

MCD's control room received 106 complaints of waterlogging on Thursday with maximum complaints (38) coming from the central zone. The worst affected areas included Moolchand, CP, Punchkuian Road, Rajghat, IP flyover, Kishanganj railway crossing, Chirag Delhi, Jangpura. Complaints were also received from Lajpat Nagar, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, CGO Complex, Yamuna Sports Complex, Games Village, Kamla Market, Minto Road, Ajmeri Gate, Daryaganj, Red Fort, Chandni Chowk, Ramjas Road, Rangpura, Khalsa Collage, Rohtak Road, Bhajanpura, Loni Road, Wazirabad, Lawrence Road, Ashok Vihar, MB Road, Tigri Colony, Devli Road, Vasant Vihar, Filmistan and Bara Hindu Rao Hospital and Mayapuri. There were 23 complaints of trees falling and 11 of building collapses.

Read more: MCD blames Games work for mess, again - Delhi - City - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/MCD-blames-Games-work-for-mess-again/articleshow/6345907.cms#ixzz0x6pUHWza

45 days to the CWGames

Forgot to upload a picture/other thing yesterday. Anyway, if you look at this picture sideways...this is the new concrete cycling lane. DU will introduce a new traffic plan for the CWG. Students have been asking for one for years. Nobody cares if students walking around campus get run over. If a foreign delegate gets run over? Now that's what is important.
However, now that the Games are here, so is a new traffic plan. Two roads will become one way and cycling lanes are being made (or that's what they look like). When I returned to campus last month after my summer vacation these were just being constructed. The picture above shows you how smooth the surfacing is. Three hours of mild rain and yes they are mini-mosquito breeding pools now! And these are concrete. If I remember correctly what my grandfather, a civil engineer, taught me then concrete roads are not re-surfaced every year like the other roads we have. NOPE. They are expensive. They last for years.

47 days to the CWGames

They're still digging.

48 days to the CWGames

Overheard conversation

Person1: So what do you think, given the fact that all the work on the roads and the metro is incomplete, and the finished stadiums are shoddily done and have flaws. Is it better that the games happen or is it better if they don't?

Person2: Well it's going to be an international embarrassment.

Person1: Hmm. Yes.

Person2 (gleam in eye): Which one will be the embarrassment? Them happening or them not happening?

50 days to the CWGames

50 days to the Commonwealth Games. (picture courtesy of Aditi Kumar)

50 minutes of rain does this to our campus.
So much for the new roads, new footpaths, new hostel infrastructure.

Picture of Angkor Vat. Just realized that I had managed to not upload the picture after three whole posts on my trip to Cambodia.

All time favourite xkcd. It's number 55 I think.
Questions like why.....

That's it. Delhi's weather patterns depend on me. The days I decide to go watch Inception, it rains. Not just rain. IT RAIINNS. From a sunny morning it suddenly transforms into a squally afternoon. The drains all overflow in a matter of minutes which is surely not possible in a developed city.
There is thunder, lightning, waterlogged roads. Knee-deep water. Chairs which break when toto sits on them.
I surrender. It's ok. I'm going to keep telling myself it can't be that good.