‘Delhi is poisoning itself’

Former BBC journalist Sam Miller said he had returned to Delhi after a few years just 10 days ago and was shocked by how much it had changed – terrible air pollution, large lines at ATMs and banks, and then, the day he landed, even an earthquake! “Delhi is poisoning itself,” he said.
Miller was speaking at a session at the Times Literary Festival on Sunday dedicated to writings on India.He said he was appalled and shocked by the treatment meted out to the poor at the bank he visited, which was crowded after the demonetization announcement.
He said Delhi was unique, with a large, extremely diverse and also very unequal population – on the very day that he was shocked by the treatment of the poor in the bank, he spent the evening watching a Czech movie in Saket, among friends who were smoking “things he smelt in the air”.
One member of the audience wanted to know why people did not come out on the streets to protest the high levels of air pollution or the deep inequality. “I am a traveller. But I can see that even those who have lived here some 30 years or so do not like Delhi. It might sound corny, but to bring about change, people who live here must love the city,” he said.
The session Miller spoke at was dedicated to writings on India. Joining him was Stephen Alter, whose recent book is a fictionalized account of conservationist Jim Corbett’s life. “There were biographies of Corbett already, but whether conservationist, schoolboy or someone with a hangover of the Raj, everyone has an image of Corbett,” he said, explaining why he felt a need for another retelling of the Corbett story. He explained that Corbett’s sex life was a matter of some interest – he never married and he was never known to have had any relationship at all. Also, he left for Kenya at Independence in 1947 – perhaps because he had no home in the UK, and was seeking out another colony of the British, where he could feel at home.