Biased hate and the echo chambers

Vasant Kunj is an upscale area. With only one downside - there is no parking available. When the colony was developed more than two decades ago, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had provided a scooter garage with each flat, quite a nice garage for a scooter, had a door which could be locked.

But India has been on an economically upward trend hasn't it? Who does not own a car? Who does not own more than 2 cars? Plus this is Delhi, the showpiece of everything flashy in this country! Being ostentatious is something to be proud of! So the cars are biggers even though there is no parking, the entitlement complex ensures that everyone parks their cars wherever they can and as close to their houses, obviously. Parks have been converted into parking land and there is a lot of bad blood amongst neighbours (I assume) since it is so easy to tread on your neighbour’s toes parking spot. It is a first come first serve unless there is some unwritten understanding.

Real story - i was coming back in a cab the other day. Parking on both sides of the road has reduced the space for vehicular movement to a single middle lane, which is quite sad since the roads are decently wide otherwise. Anyway, once you are in, you summon all the non existent religious parts of you and pray that no one comes in the opposite direction. Clearly, this time it didn’t work as lo and behold we are soon face to face with a fat man in a fatter sedan. The cab driver attempts to get the guy to pass us but he cannot do so. And now we have cars behind both of us so there is a lot of honking and muttering.

Now, in the midst of all this, out jumps an elderly lady from one of the cars behind me and gets around to try and sort out the mess. This would have been a moment of great triumph in all the manliness which is unable to get two cars to pass. Except …

… she automatically assumes it is the cab guy’s fault. And then proceeds to name calling. Gadha, kahi ka! Tere wajah se yeh sab ho raha hai! Nikal yahan se!

SO much so that the cab driver tells me, itni badtameezi se kyun baat kar rahi hai, main cab driver hoon isiliye na. Aapko pata hai meri galti nahi thi.

This passes in minutes, I get down thank him and all I could do is give him a 5 star. As it is, I am non confrontational and on top of it, this is unsafe Delhi, I was not going to jump out and take sides.

But this more or less encapsulates why I hate this city. They are an entitled lot who think anyone who is of a different class must be in the wrong. Because "we" cant be in the wrong. For those few minutes all ill will is forgotten and we stick together against the other.

This dislike has now spread its octopus tentacles to everything more or less cow belty. So much so that I meet someone for the first time and already judge them to be a particular way and they have to fight my in built dislike.

So this has resulted in close friendships with a certain kind of people. And that is where the echo chambers come in. It is a closed group, open only for like minded folks. Where do you get new thoughts in? It is Facebook in real life, the algorithms ensure you read only what you like, you do not get hear the other side.

We are building walls, ghettos, gated communities where we hear and appreciate only what we want to hear and believe. The other is to be shunned, the other is to be hated, the other is to be feared. And when hate and fear come together, you shall kill for what you believe is right!