NEW DELHI: The fast began in Tihar jail on Tuesday. By the time the police agreed to the terms set by Anna Hazare, Friday had arrived. Thousands flooded Ramlila Maidan where the social activist had been permitted to stage his protest. The cynics predicted that the crowd would peak during the weekend and peter out the following week.
They were wrong. The multitude held firm through the week. They shouted pungent slogans (Saare yuva yahaan hain, Rahul Gandhi kahaan hai?), waved the tricolor, danced in sunshine and sang in rain. Across the city, RWAs brought out small candlelight demonstrations. Artists sprayed graffiti. Barring one minor late night incident, there wasn't a single incident of violence: no destruction of public property, no molestation or eve-teasing.
In a venue poised between two Delhis - the old and the new - the city and its citizens surprised everybody with a kind of new collective behaviour. This was a different Delhi on display. "There seems to be a new consciousness about setting and following norms of self-governance and self-discipline, especially in public spaces," says sociologist Yogendra Singh.
For decades, Delhi has been reviled as a self-centred city which often turned violent. To many, the city, celebrating its 100th year since the national capital moved here, personified the paradox of being India's political centre yet playing host to 17 million apolitical people.
The allegation was partly justified. In the 1990s and earlier, Delhi was primarily an unwilling, resentful recipient of political rallies. The Mandal agitation was a possible exception. But it was violent and destructive. But this was different.
As columnist Santosh Desai puts it, "People are finally beginning to take responsibility for something larger than themselves. There is a positive change in the city's social behaviour."
Changes are processes, not incidents. But perhaps February 21, 2006 is a crucial date in the social evolution of Delhi. That was the day the city discovered that no one had killed Jessica Lall. That judgment was a shock therapy to a people for whom apathy was the norm. The case gave them a cause to campaign for.
Since that day, many stopped being fence sitters. That was perhaps the beginning of Dilliwallahs redefining their own engagement with society. The change was also evident in the reaction to the Priyardarshini Mattoo case -- a law student stalked and murdered by fellow student Santosh Singh. A public campaign forced a retrial, ultimately leading to Santosh's conviction.
Perhaps Delhi has changed more than we have noticed or bothered to examine. The absence of eve-teasing during the all-night World Cup 2011 win celebrations across the city or during the anti-corruption movement weren't aberrations. Rather they encapsulated larger city trends: between 2006 and 2009, eve-teasing dropped by 57% and women molestation by 23%, police records show.
Desai feels that the change has come with a much easier relationship of genders. "There are more platforms for social interaction," he says. With easy availability of technology, fantasy has given way to access and reality. You don't just stare at the girl; you just send an sms.
SMS are GenNow tools of political mobilization too. What started off with sending SMSs and chain mails, forming online groups and bringing out candlelight demonstrations has since blossomed into a larger social and political awareness. Neelam Katara, whose son was killed by a strongman politician's son, says, "During my fight, I got a lot of support from the common people."
The Anna anti-corruption movement was more expansive in content and an amalgam of different social groups. Be it traders who served free snacks or the frail old man who went around distributing water, it showed a larger band of citizenry rubbing shoulders with the more privileged social groups for a common cause. The young were more prominent but the old were present in big numbers too.
That's perhaps why 24-year-old computer engineer Abhinav Sharma is at a loss to explain his experience. "For the first time I saw people from different classes sharing jokes, food, slogans. I had never imagined something like this could happen in Delhi," he says.
The changes are evident in non-political events too. Desai recalls how college festivals, especially rock shows, ended up in brawls where somebody would invariably draw a knife or a gun. "Now such instances are much fewer because the young get more occasions to interact. Collective rowdiness has dipped," says Desai.
In 1947, Delhi became home to lakhs of refugees from the other side of the fence. Social scientist Ashis Nandy says that the refugees in post-Partition Delhi, as literature on them suggests, had certain traits. They were tough-minded and self-centred; many were wheeler-dealers, prone to violence. "But those characteristics have softened after a generational change," he says.
Part of the change possibly has also been prompted by a steady migration from different states - both of professionals as well as labourers. Together, they have created a more diverse city. "Delhi was like a district town. Finally, it is becoming a metropolitan city. There's a maturing of sorts," says Nandy.
Freelance sound recordist Asheesh Pandya, a Ramlila Maidan regular, echoes a similar view, "The average Dilliwallah is more politically conscious and socially aware than say, five years back."
Yogendra Singh says that the media too has played a role in raising the confidence of the citizenry. "Over the past decade, newspapers have also become vehicles to highlight and underline the needs and grievances of the middle-class, rather than merely represent political discourses. It has helped in empowering and enabling them; the crowd in Ramlila maidan was self-assured in its strength," he says.
It is possible that Delhi's story isn't just that of a city but the story of a nation. The India narrative post-1991 is often divided into two categories: India Shining and India Invisible. Perhaps Delhi, like many other cities, towns and qasbahs, is witnessing the emergence of a third India that acts as a bridge between the two, which has its foot in both, but which has an identity of its own.
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