Labanya Dey, 27, from Kolkata, who works at the Triveni Kala Sangam, was overjoyed when she got a job in Delhi. For her, it was an opportunity to stay close to her partner, with whom she had been in a long-distance relationship for a while. Dey is not alone in making a new home in Delhi. According to the 2011 census data on migration released in 2019, India’s capital comes second after Maharashtra in attracting a large number of inter-state migrants. An economic survey by the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi suggests that nearly 2.2 lakh people migrated to Delhi in 2020. And many of them left families, friends, partners, and more for upward mobility. Has the move been worth it? Has Delhi begun to feel like home and what did it take to make that happen?
Dey says she did it with flowers and colours. “I like warm and vibrant colours. From bed covers to crockery—they are all stocked in earthy colours. Warm-hued lamps also brighten up my room. Every time I go out, I gift myself flowers—in summer, you will find wild lilies in my vase. Being surrounded by flowers, bedsheets, books, and lamps is how I remember my home,” she says. Delhi, however, can be a tough nut to crack for many people. From getting the right set of people and food to finding the right home, it throws many challenges at immigrants.
Food and loneliness
The initial years were difficult for researcher Roshmi Rekha Dutta who belongs to Assam’s Sivasagar. Language was not an issue when she came to Delhi as she could speak Hindi. But like many others from the northeast, she found the food options limited in Delhi, or “a bit problematic” as it was spicy and oily. “Initially, what I missed most about home is the food. I was used to eating rice for lunch. However, in my Janakpuri PG canteen, they served us poori-sabzi, which I found difficult to digest in my initial years,” adds Dutta.
Drishadwati Bhattacharya, an assistant editor at Pearson Education Ltd, who stays in Noida, says cooking her favourite dishes replicates home for her. Access to necessities and the ease of transport —Bhattacharya stays close to a Metro station — to work and back does play a role in who finds his or her feet in Delhi faster. “On weekends, I try out recipes. Other than that, it’s the small things I have brought from home—such as the mug I drink coffee in every day—that make living here a bit easier,” Bhattacharya adds.
Niutoli Yepthomi, a Linguistics student at Delhi University from Nagaland, says she did not face any “cultural problems” and that she has a diverse group of friends from all corners of the country here. “Getting the food that my mother cooks is a problem for me here, though,” she says. The ingredients to cook it are not available as she stays in Janakpuri; when she has an urge for Naga food she goes to Humayunpur that is full of northeastern restaurants, even though that means 12 stops in the Metro with an interchange— but she doesn’t see this as a problem.
Delhi helps people open up to cultural diversity and difference, says Saman Fatima Nomani, a market communication consultant. “I grew up in Lucknow. I was astonished to see how busy this city was in my early days here…. None had the time to check on each other…. But my horizons certainly expanded after I came to Delhi for my studies, and later, through professional growth. Its cultural diversity made me feel settled eventually,” she says.
The rent deal
“Even if one overcomes the cultural challenges, the high rent takes a toll and increases our expenses,” says Dibyasree Ganguly, an associate fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research. “I realised how difficult it was to find a suitable place as a single woman in this city. The places that I liked had excessively high rents, and the places I found within my budget had safety concerns,” she says.
In the past few years, the rent for properties in Delhi-NCR has only risen. According to a report by Anarock Property Consultants, the National Capital Region witnessed a 12-22 per cent rental surge. Other than the challenge of getting properties within the budget, the dealings with brokers is another problem. “Once, a broker in Kalkaji got me a house with no running water. I vacated the place but also lost R50,000 in brokerage plus lock-in deposits. Besides, the landlord was not willing to give his flat to a Muslim tenant at first,” she says.
Rent contracts are also deliberately ambiguous with conditions tilted in the landowner’s favour. “The contract says he will do the ‘big’ repairs, which means that all the repair work that needs to be done for water leaking through the pipes and drainage issues are my headache,” says Meena, from Bengaluru, who works in an ad agency.
Deep Mitra Roy, a PR professional, however, believes the situation is better in Delhi, when compared to Mumbai and Bengaluru. “I came to Delhi from Mumbai in 2011. The rents were cheaper then. Mumbai and Bengaluru rents are higher,” he says. Dolphy Goyal, also in the PR industry, agrees. She came to Delhi from Bathinda three years ago, Delhi has a good brokerage system, she says, and she always relies on six or seven brokers, who have always provided her with “nice properties” whenever she has needed to move. Delhi is, clearly, working for her.