DELHI or Mumbai, which is best? I believe I am in a position to answer that perennial question, having been born and brought up in Delhi, while having spent most of my working life in Mumbai. As it so happens, a flat I had in Delhi, which was usurped by a bounder, came back into my possession recently. Thereby lies a tale. Believe it or not, it took me over 20 years to get back something which belonged to me. And the scoundrel meant to be occupying the flat was not even living in India! I'm told I was lucky. Others never get their flats back; the courts generally favouring so-called tenants over landlords, even when the tenants are far more loaded than the landlords. We must be one of the very few countries in the world with such archaic tenancy laws and snail-pace judicial procedures. Be that as it may, I've lately been shuttling between the two cities. And in the comparison, Mumbai continues to score heavily over Delhi, despite the Babri Masjid riots and bomb blasts, and the attempts of the maniacal Shiv Sena to turn the city into an Indian Chicago of Al Capone days. In Mumbai, working girls can still return home safely late at night, using public transport. In Delhi, if they try to do so, they are at peril. There is a vitality and a work ethic in Mumbai that's entirely missing in Delhi, where ''connections'' are all important. People are caring in Mumbai. Witness the large number of Mumbai-based ngos, many of them run by Parsis, doing selfless social work. Delhi is completely hard-hearted and self-absorbed. In sum, Mumbai is a more civilised place to live and work in than Delhi.