Kudos New Delhi!

The incident depicted in this post is true and has been reported by a very close and reliable source!

I have never had the chance to defend the city of New Delhi, where I spent a considerable number of years as a young single woman. And I still won’t. It is not a city that is known to be kind to the lot of women.

And yet, the New Year has brought in wonderful news from very close quarters. Unexpected, heartwarming news. And I have, therefore, felt the need to let it be known to as many people I can reach.

Someone very close, a woman, was driving back from work after dark through the city. True to her routine, she decided to stop at a market to buy, well, whatever. In certain countries I know about, what happened in the next second has the potential to bring down governments. With a thud, she landed one of the tyres of her SUV in an open manhole while attempting to park. No, it was not her fault. The manhole – a gaping hole without an iota of warning, had been waiting for a tyre right there in the middle of darkness.

Profanity was soon followed by panic. Road side assistance would take hours, and it was already late in the evening. To make matters worse, people (mostly men) had almost immediately begun to take notice of her sorry predicament.

Before she could retrieve her mobile phone, men poured in from around the shopping complex, in all ages and sizes. And before long, there was a small crowd extremely interested in her situation. And they had one single agenda – to help her get the tyre out of the manhole!

In the next few minutes, the manhole ejected the tyre, probably making a hasty retreat against the will of the determined score. A damsel in distress, she was no more.

As she recounted the tale, overwhelmed with the experience, my heart filled with a sense of pride. This is how it should be, this is how it should have been.

Kudos to the citizens who came forth and thank you for ensuring the safety of one woman. 

As for the manhole, well, it is probably waiting for its next victim. NDMC, are you listening? AK, anyone?