00:00 Assembly

00:13 VO

These chaotic streets, lined with roadside restaurants, cheap hotels  and distinctive small shops, can be found in the district of Pashar Ganj located in central Delhi.

0:44

The local police station is close to the railway station, next to the gates of the infamous Old Town,

0:55

and is base to 160 serving officers. Among them is 26-year-old Vikram Singh.

1:02

He is attending the daily 8 0'clock briefing. During the meeting, Vikram and his colleagues are given the details of a anticipated religious procession, involving some 800 participants. It's expected it may cause some congestion on the roads, and the police have a responsibility to ensure good traffic flow.

1:18

Despite his young age, Singh has already risen to the rank of inspector - and intends to pursue a career in the force. He comes from a respectable, middle-class background, and high-ranking police officer would be considered a suitable ambition.

1:35

But the climb up the corporate ladder demands a great deal of the young policeman. 24 hours shifts are normal for Singh, and the opportunity for healthy sleep is rare

1:48 (ENG) OT: Vikram Singh, Police Officer

In the morning, they tell us everything we have to do and to control, we have to maintain law and order in the city. And in the evening we have to tell all we have done in the day

(Reporter): A very stressful job?

2:00 (ENG) OT: Vikram Singh, Police Officer

Very Stressful. We get several different kinds of complaint everyday, and we have to solve them.

2:08

Next to Mumbai, Delhi is the most important metropolis in India. But while Mumbai is a global centre for commerce, Delhi is the seat of Indian government, and stands for tradition. The city is divided into three major parts.

The ancient centre of Old Delhi,

New Delhi, constructed under British colonial rule,

and in the last decade, as a result of business development, the growing Delhi suburbs. The new Indira Gandhi International Airport and the high-rise district Gurgao have been trying to tame the chaos of 17 million people sharing one urbanised area - without much success. The new motto of the city's wealthy is to leave the centre, and relocate to live and work in the suburbs, where there is more space.

2:52

Back in Old Delhi, Police Inspector Vikram Singh and his partner patrol the dusty streets of Pahar Ganj, on their 30-year-old Royal Enfield motorcycle.

03:07

They are out inspecting hotel registration forms, which are closely monitored. Ever since the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, the entire country has been on alert. There is a fear that Pakistani Taliban terror cells could be hiding in every nook and cranny of the old city - and the narrow lanes need to be controlled by foot.

3:26 (ENG) OT Vikram Singh

A lot of people stay here because it is near to the railway station. They come from the different states and they don't have money to buy a home or go any other place, so they'll sleep on the footpath, and sometimes they expire also, because it's too much hot and too much cold here. So then we have to take them to the hospital and then it can become too much for us.

3:52 (ENG) OT Vikram Singh

So we have people from every walk of life here. You can see from every state - in fact from every part of the country.  It's not a police service - I would call this more of a national service. So this is more of a social service - we have to serve each and every kind of people here.

REPORTER: Unbelievable

Vikram Singh

 It's unbelievable, but it's true.

4:12

The police in Old Delhi must work tirelessly to maintain order on the district's bustling streets. The eastern end of the district is home to the largest handbag and Satchel market in Asia. Many traders pile their goods to the edge of the public roads in order to advertise their wares, impeding traffic.  Such violations do have to be policed, but remain one of the area's smaller concerns.

4:39 (ENG)

Reporter: Can you understand that life here for Europeans seems a bit crazy?

4:47 Vikram Singh (ENG)

It's your aspect, how you look at it, whether you look at it as crazy or whether you look at it as something very lively. It is not crazyness, and we are trained for this. We have to handle this situation everyday. Everybody has a different temper at different times, so we can't say they lose their temper, because everybody lose their temper at some point of time. So they also at sometimes. But we can handle it. That is a little bit dangerous, but these things go on. They are allowed. How will they carry their goods? It is not possible to bring a big truck or something big truck here, so they use their cycle-rickshaw.

5:36

As night falls in Delhi the ancient city is transformed. For the city's police, this is the toughest part of the day.

5:48

This young man was wounded by a drug addict with a knife.

Back at the station this pickpocket is begging for mercy. He will be held in the cells for the next few hours, before being released with a caution.

6:06

Since Delhi hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the district of Pahar Ganj has increasingly become a tourist hotspot. It's a popular destination for holidaymakers and backpackers from around the world. The small boutique hotels are not only inexpensive, but most also offer rooms to western standards, which is not always a given in India. To ensure the safety of tourists, Chief Inspector Prem Singh and his force increasingly patrol the trendiest nightspots, and often show their presence on the hip Arakashan Road. For many tourists, Delhi is the first stage of their journey into India.

OT Tourist: 1

We aren't afraid - there are people everywhere, and no-one has tried to bother us. They just look because you are western. But we're not scared

OT Tourist: 2

One has to be aware that we are not in our lovely Germany, where everything is regulated. It's a bit more chaotic here. You have to be prepared for that. And then it all comes together.

OT Tourist: 1

People do not come to India for a vacation; they come because of the culture.

7:35

For tourists at least, it seems the old city of Delhi may only be as appealing as it is chaotic. In order to take advantage of the city's bustling charm, this a few years ago this dutch entrepreneur founded the "Delhi by Cycle" company. Every morning at 6 they take groups of tourists on a 4-hour bike ride through Old Delhi. Local guide Shashi is taking this group of German and Austrian travellers on the tour. Between 6 and 10 am, the traffic in Old Delhi still relatively quiet, which is why the cycle tour has such an early start.

8:08 OT Shashi (ENG)

For me, Old Delhi is a place which is very interesting, because it's full of narrow streets. So every street has a different story to tell you, so everyday when you come - I have this experience coming here for quite a long - everyday I see something different.

8:25 OT Shashi (ENG)

And it's like a routine life, as you can see, in old delhi. Not all the people have moved to some posh colonies, and to some ultra-high buildings, but old delhi retains it's cultural side, it's old traditions, so it's full of cultural feeling for me...

8:46 Tourist 3

It’s really interesting to cycle around. As a pedestrian, it feels like you’re always getting in the way. You seem to have more authority with a bicycle and it’s a completely different perspective. It’s really exciting for me to experience the traffic so directly. It feels completely different than when you’re in a rickshaw; with a bike you’re right in the middle of it.

 

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10:08

In the spice market of the old city, it's as though time has stood still. The people here live almost exactly as they did 3 centuries past, under the reign of the Great Mogul.

10:20

The roof of the indoor market provides a great vantage point; from here, the crumbling colonial buildings  are a reminder of more prosperous times, at least as far as the delapidated structure is concerned.

10:33 Tourist: 4

This is sheer madness, it can only be described by the extremes. On the one hand the unbelievably beautiful buildings, their facades slowly crumbling away; on the other hand the sheer poverty . What can I say? You can only describe it with platitudes. I find it… lively on the one hand, on the other also sad. These very contradictory emotions.

 

11:11 Tourist 5

It’s really extreme, what happens here. I’m standing here and there’s so many people around, I have never seen so many people around me before in one place. There’s different things happening wherever you look: people sell, they’re running around, the dogs are jumping. I almost ran over a puppy, I completely didn’t notice it, you don’t even know what you should be looking out for.

 

11:31 Tourist 6

 

The amount of beggars is irritating. It’s hard to deal with this. When one person asks me for something, then you might give him something. You almost make an excuse; you really can’t give anything because there’s so many of them. As soon as you become friendly, there’s more coming to you. You become arrogant to get rid of them.

 

12:08

Chandi Chowk is the name for historical main road in Delhi. In the morning hours beggars line the streets, waiting for food. They are also tended to by a consulting doctor, working free of charge. The cyclists only have time to momentarily process the situation, but for tour guide Shashi it is an integral part of Indian society, and has been for centuries.

12:36 OT Shashi (ENG)

It's not something new - it hasn't developed in the last couple of years, but it's a legacy of the feudal system, which used to exist in India long long years ago;  and especially in that system the feudal lords, they used to own the big sreources, they used to own the land, and on the other side there used to be the labour class, landless labour who never had any resources. But of course India got this nuclear power, which very few countries in the world have, so I think this is the biggest achievement, but on the other hand we have this... I think India needs to focus more on its poverty, on its economic problems to make the poor rich, to give them the resources, I think those should be the priorities.

13:19

The final stage takes the cyclist from the famous Red Fort to the Friday Mosque. The small group of cyclists have now been in the saddle for three hours. Unfortunately, what may seem a picturesque old town to the tourists is also the site of an unmerciful daily struggle for many of the people trying to survive here. There is not enough space and targeted urban planning is incredibly difficult, mainly down to lack of land registration and regulation. The ownership of many sites is largely unknown. This means investors will not pump money into the area, when they can never be sure of the legal status of their ownership. So daily life continues in much the same way as it has for decades.

14:05 Tourist 7

For us in Europe it seems so normal that the trash is taken away, that it’s in bins and that someone takes care of it. It’s hard to understand, but for them it’s so normal, and you also get used to it and accept that it’s just here, that it belongs to the city texture, that’s it’s commonplace.

 

Here in Dehli, and in other Indian cities the whole life takes place in the streets, you get the impression that not much happens indoors. And accordingly, the slaughter also takes place in the streets, where else? And that’s why it’s so extreme, it’s an experience to see it, but it belongs here, and it’s interesting to see how people handle this.

 

14:57

There is no Panacea in sight for the sprawling urban mess; in fact its likely to keep getting worse before it gets better. India's rural exodus has only just begun. Cities like Delhi and Mumbai are expected to  grow explosively in the coming decades. By 2030, it's estimated Delhi will swell from 17 to 28 million people, becoming a true megacity. Even now, 1000 new cars are registered in the capital daily. The subway and new road network are just a drop in the ocean, when compared to the real scale of the city's mass transit problems.

15:38

Venkat Narayan is a well known television and newspaper journalist in Delhi. He has followed the political development of India for almost a half century. For him, the great shifts of the last 70-years on the subcontinent are a healthy process, that should ultimately bring benefits to all sections of society - but it's going to require some patience.

16:05 OT Venkat Narayan (ENG)

India is like an elephant: It cannot run like a hourse; if an elephant falls it'll be very difficult for people to lift it, it has to stand on its own.. So it's not a great idea to push the elephants so to run as fast as a horse. So you need a lot of patience.

16:28

Austrian Tina Mukharji is one of few westerners to have made the Indian capital their permanent residence, and has lived in the city for many years. In 1995 she married an Indian businessman and moved here from Salzburg. Tina has worked hard to find ways not to abandon her Western standard of living. For some time she has been a member at the Palms Country Club in Gurgao, where the wealthy can relax far away from the poverty of the city centre.

17:00 Conversatuib with Tina

Reporter: This is a really beautiful complex.

-     Yes, especially the swimming pool and it’s Monday morning yet there’s noone here despite the tropical temperatures.

Reporter: And can you use it too?

-     Naturally. We come here every Monday and Wednesday to swim here and are always alone.

Reporter: How come?

-     Well, other people are busy.

 

17:28 OT Venkat: (ENG)

Now, the British ruled this country for 200 years and left in 1947.  At that time the literacy rate was barely 15 percent, today it is nearly 70 percent. In India there is a connection between education and your ability to get a good job. Those who have not had the privilege of having a decent education, they're languishing at the bottom of the ladder 17:55

18:00

Tina (ENG): open / German Two Sweet Lime soda please.

 

TINA (GERMAN) It’s like in a five star hotel in Europe, only much warmer and with excellent service.

 

18:13 Venkat :: (ENG)

Yes, there are more mobile phones than toilets, that's absolutely true, the concept of toilet, the western kind of toilet has still not percolated to the bottom.

18:26 Venkat (ENG)

So people go into the open, the fields... every village has fields and all that kind of thing... and each  village has a tank, a water body, and people go there, defacate, brush their teeth,  have a bath, swim in the water body,  and come home. Things like that.

18:46 TINA

The reason why there’s so few Austrian women living here is the weather. It’s over 40 degrees for more than 6 months a year, and when you come from Austria it’s hard for the body to adjust. Then it’s the infrastructure, the life here is very exhausting: many electricity failures, it takes a long time to travel from point A to B, there’s hardly any supermarkets. So it’s really hard for women here.

 

Personally, I can only deal with poverty in India because I get actively involved. I do it in two ways: first I try support the people in my environment, especially children of my employees. I pay for their school fees, medical care. Children of cleaners, so that they can have other chances, I make sure they have access to computers. I also engage with street children, that is with projects that deal with them, and this does take up a few hours a week. But only long-term actions can make a difference here.

 

20:15 OT Venkat: (ENG)

Now, India's growth rate which was at 8, 9 percent 6 years ago, it is down to 6, and the World Bank is going "oh, it might be down to less than 5%". But what is the rate of growth in Europe and America? 2 percent, 2 1/2% ?! We are still... our growth rate is  better than america and Europe.

20:37 Venkat (ENG)

And do you know our trade with China is $ 70 billion. In three years it is going to be $ 100 billion. So the Indians have realised we can't only depend on Europ and America. We are doing business with Africa, everywhere you go in Africa also, you will find Tata cars, this, that and the other. South America we are expanding in a big way. So we are diversifying our trade basket. Global player.  So it doesn't bother us. Greece or Spain, they will go broke. India will never go broke!

21:15

For those benefitting from India's boom, the beautiful future of Delhi isn't actually in Delhi; it's beyond in the 25-40 km of planned suburbs.

21:30

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22:30

Gurgao and Noida are the new, trendy neighborhoods, filled with the dream homes of affluent Delhi residents. Noida has gained world reknown for it's Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit - the Indian Grand Prix has been hosted here since 2011.

This region straddles the states of Uttar Pradesh and Harayana. The vast, former agricultural land provides the ideal location for satellite towns. Huge housing developments have sprung up, some are of which are already inhabited. Overall, the new residential area expects to become as big as Dublin. 4 million people in Delhi live in slums, where the air quality of the capital is amongst the worst in the world. The worsening living conditions in the city have sent many young parents, like Nitin and Anju Malhotra, looking for healthier alternatives.

23:27 OT Anju (ENG)

This is really a nice place, and because of greenery, wherever I was looking greenery, and cool places. Because of that reason I am all... you know as Delhi is really crowded. But here we can range very nicely, our kids can go here and there, this is basically the reason we want to come here.

23:48

Nitin: (ENG)

23: 50

Here American lifestyle, you see that gymnasium is there, and swimming pool facilities, even jogging track is there; so you can see that american culture over here. It's a huge place, 12 floor tower, so my motive for buying a home is that they are very huge buildings out here, that's the only reason.

24:09

Delhi can't meet the demand for housing for the new Indian middle class; the supply chain is short some 300,000 apartments. Even for those with the money, it's hard to find available accomodation. The offer of new high-rise housing is, for many, the only realistic option for contemporary living space.

They desire generous space, and western style plan living, with 3 bedrooms and two to three bathrooms per apartment - a style of life particularly suitable for Indian families, where in most cases anew daughter-in moves into the husband's family home. It's typical for 3 generations to share a household, but decidedly unusual for that household to measure 200 square metres, rather than a slightly more modest living space of around 60 m2. So the young families enthusiasm is quite understandable.

25:10 OT Anju (Daniela)

Wow feeling! When I compare from home which is Delhi, it's really lovely, and the space is wonderful. And I really like the kitchen, because, you know, it's my area, and I can enjoy arranging parties here, the kids can enjoy, you know, they have good bedroom.

25:32

The Malhotra's belong to the growing ranks of the new Indian middle class, which now has a population of around 300 million individuals. With the move to the satellite towns like Gurgao, their living conditions will improve significantly - provided that the sewage system works and the country can get its energy problem under control. During the most recent summer, half of the days passed without power . 600 million Indians were affected, and power outages across the country are still common. There simply isn't enough energy to go round.

26:03

For the vast majority, some one billion impoverished Indians, the future looks less rosy. For these people with no education, struggling to fulfill basic needs as elementary as having enough food, clean water and fresh air, the economic boom of brought on by nuclear power is a pure numbers game. Just how sustainable is a society built on such a stark imbalance between the haves and the have nots?

26:33 OT Venkat Narayan: (ENG)

The hindus believe, whether rightly or wrongly, in the theory of reincarnation, what this in simple language means is means, if in this birth, if you are born a poor man, the religion teaches you to believe that you were a bad guy in your previous life. You may have committed some crimes, so it is Gods way of punishing you by making you a poor man. Ok? The average Indian believes this,  which is why there will never be a revolution of the kind you had in  China, or Cuba, or Vietnam, or any of those communist countries, you see? So that is not going to happen 27:14

27:16

Here is something for all the Hindus of Delhi to share, rich or poor; the city's many festivals, constant celebrations of weddings, or worship to a thousand a Hindu gods. In Delhi, you live in the present, in the moment, and let the future take care of itself. And if you aren't done with the huge challenges you may face in this life, then maybe they can wait for the next one.

End 28:03

Closing inserts: Report Alexander Lorenz, camera Chander Bhan Saini, editor Chris Abbott