A decade ago, after my husband passed away, my parents asked me to come to Jaipur with my young daughter. Their reasoning was simple. As compared to Gurgaon or Delhi or other cities of India, Jaipur is relatively a safe city. I protested that it was a very laid back and a slow paced city but they argued that it was at least safe. Today, in 2023, I wonder if they are still right.

Sometime in the last year, a vagrant opened our gates, walked inside and plucked the water meter and walked off. All this was recorded on the camera. I filed a police complaint, shared the recording with the officer in charge, hoping that he would catch the thief but till today there has been no news of the miscreant. In fact, sometime back in a video recording, I saw him crossing our house and he was almost going to walk inside had some one from the building not stepped out!

Recently, a bike got stolen from our neighboring house. Again, the whole incident was recorded on the camera. But to no avail. Two days earlier, some miscreants stole petrol from a neighbor’s motorbike. These incidents make me wonder if Jaipur is still a safe city. As you go around the city, you see posters of a smiling chief minister which proclaim the ‘achievements’ by his government. If those were to be believed, one would think we were living in Utopia. Proclamations of free meals, free education, free facilities and every thing else. If everything is free, why are people stealing? Why are there so many thefts? Any answers?