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Sunday, December 18, 2005
The ennobling Delhi Metro
Gurcharan Das writes in the Times of India:
When public spaces are not kindly, you seek escape behind the barricade of your car or your gated home. When ordinary life lacks dignity, you run in search of physical and psychological cover. When you ride in a DTC bus you want to distance yourself and to feel superior to others.Das sees Delhi's Metro as one such space. Hmm.
Nothing could be nobler, more human than to feel deep inside that we are all one in every way that really matters. To feel this, however, you need to share unthreatening public spaces.
Since we are not a culture of public squares and piazzas of say, the Mediterranean countries, we need to create other opportunities for rubbing shoulders with fellow citizens, and build empathy and respect for them.