Time running out?

I visited Delhi this weekend to attend the wedding of a friend. It was my 4th visit to the city in the last 2 1/2 years, though the 2nd and 3rd visits were both flying ones, bereft of any real opportunity to see the city. While I couldn't see much of Delhi this time either (was confined to the southern parts of the city), whatever little I saw this weekend confirmed my expectations - Delhi is way ahead of Bombay in terms of physical infrastructure.

Cities go through their ups and downs of course. Delhi has had a good run in the last 10 years, largely due to the presence of a chief minister committed to development and interventions by the courts. Bombay on the other hand, has suffered at the hands of politicians who are more interested in changing the name of the city than its nature, in banning dance bars than preventing hooliganism, in restricting the arrival of citizens from other parts of the country than enforcing laws against the encroachment of public property. But be that as it may, at some point, the human capital advantage of Bombay will be outweighed by the infrastructural advantage of Delhi. Commercial capitals tend to stick - witness the centuries-long domination of London and New York of the UK and US respectively (and even Bombay's own domination of the Indian financial scene since atleast the 1850s). But if commerce ever flies away, it will be impossible to bring it back. And that would be a tragedy for the city and its citizens.

A few days ago, I read an extremely interesting article in the Indian Express arguing that it is the politicians, bureaucrats and other government officials who head the city who are outsiders rather than the migrants they denounce. How I wish Bombay were made a union territory (a wish expressed before in this blog, I think)! Perhaps then we would have rule by natives, and some accountability which could lead to rapid progress.