[Urbanstudy] walks through delhi

[amit ranjan]

Hello all
My second posting
Wandering through the maze of the city, I did a series of walks...
Hope you enjoy seeing them through my eyes
It includes the walk we did with Anand during the workshop
Thanks

North Delhi ridge 



Factfile:
Length: 5 km
Location: Starts from infront of DU gate

North Delhi ridge is known for monkeys, lovers, eavesdroppers, eve teasers, eunuchs, policemen and its greens. Not for its history that spans centuries. Very few know that this sprawling green forest was a rocky terrain 150 years back, that it is a forest planted by the British, for a victory walk! The ridge overlooks the Civil Lines, which eponymously was the civilian area, while the ridge was where the army was stationed. The rebels, in 1857, attacked from below, the British fired from above. We took this victory lap that lies right next to the Delhi University campus.

We start from the DU gate, behind St Stephen’s college. The registrar’s office is here which used to be the seat of the Viceroy once. Lord Mountbatten proposed to his would be wife here. You can also see the cell where Bhagat Singh was kept after he was detained. That done, we walk up the ridge, where at least a hundred monkeys are indulgent in fascinating acrobatics on the main road. “These monkeys are a 1980s phenomenon, they came with the Hindu revival when people started feeding monekys,” tells Anand, a researcher. After a steep climb, you reach the Flagstaff tower. It’s a round warehouse with a flag pole. When the rebels were attacking from below, the women and children from civil lines took refuge here. This road had become a traffic road during metro construction; it used be pleasant drive with its curves, but is closed now for traffic.

We take a right, and pass through road that has acacias, planted by the British, on both sides. There are pathways leading into the dense forest, and you would inevitably spot couples finding cozy spot, which is tough to do, because eunuchs and lookers-on follow them ceaselessly. There is a pattern to the trees, the bushes, and on a closer look, you’d realize it’s all constructed. We reach a dilapidated monument that looks like a mosque. It’s a 14th century building, with something added in the 18th century as well. It had four domes, only one remains today. We pass through the gate, and walk down the road that leads to Bara Hindu Rao hospital. We reach Peer Ghayab, a minaret in shambles, in the Hindu Rao complex. Legend has it that Taimur stayed here during his 1398 raid of Delhi. The English decided to station themselves in the same area, and built this huge building which was later bought  by Bara Hindu Rao, after who the hospital is named. After Taimur, a saint stayed in the minaret, and it’s said he vanished one day. Therefore, the name Peer Ghayab. The place itself is nearing a “gayab” state with falling bricks, and people having established kitchens inside the premises. 

Infront of the hospital is an Ashokan pillar that was brought to Delhi by Freoze Tuglaq. The pillar broke into five pieces during a Mughal civil war, was taken to Calcutta, restored, and reinstalled in Delhi. At the end of the victory march, is the victory tower, to commemorate the Englsih victory in 1857. It says the enemies were defeated, and you can see several graffiti abusing the English! We went further downhill, and walked along the Tees Hazari metro line, and reached the Nicholson cemetery near the bus stops, and were greeted by smell of urine and tobacco. Across the road is a statue of Maharaja Agrasena. Agrasena who, we tried to find out. Lord Krishna’s grandfather  was called Ugrasen, who was later transformed to Agrasen to be the king of Agarwals. Myth and reality morph quite too often in this world. 


Guns, hounds and graves

Central Delhi Ridge



Length: 2km
Location: Starts from a left turn on the road from Maurya to Gyarah Moorti

One night, on the road from Maurya to Mother Teresa Crescent, we took a left midway, a little after the red light. A short cut to Jhandewala, we thought. Thin, long, moonlit strip of a road that winded for a couple of a kilometers. And then it came to a dead end. A man jumped from a post with a machine gun. We could hear hounds barking at some distance. Between fight and flight, we chose flight, and took a quick U-turn.

Dense forest, fort, witch-like apparition, blood hounds. This is hackneyed in Gothic fiction, but quite surreal for a reality show. Simply irresistible. We had to go back during the day. We  took the left turn again, and saw three veiled women walking from a distance. Minutes later a man with his mouth covered, passed by on a scooter. Special effects before the movie begins! 

We reach the dead end. It’s the office of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), from where the guy with the machine gun had appeared. On the right is a dilapidated fort-like structure, guarded by a black, hairless blood hound barking away ferociously. A pathway leads up to the fort, but is blocked with an iron gate, that has this notice, “Beware of dog hounds. Intruders will be gunned down.” Nothing happens for a few minutes. The dog barks, we take shots. The owner of the dog disturbed with its incessant barking, comes out, and we can see her through the grill. She’s wearing trousers, a jacket, and hands on her hips, she explodes in Hindi, Bhaag jaa nahi toh kutta kaat lega. The guards at ISRO tell that she throws stones at times. More enquiries tell that she’s some one from some princely state who lost land and got this mini fort constructed after Independence, and guarded it ferociously not to lose it again. No electricity. But she’s recently taken a phone connection, the ISRO guards tell. 

She threatens again, and we take a narrow left at the dead end. We hit a road, which has another bylane on the right. The path leads up to a dargaah which bears the name of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. Moinuddin is buried in Ajmer, so it’s intriguing. There are two caretakers there. The old man with broken glasses is reluctant to talk, but the young chap, he’s a Hindu, he tells us that these are the graves of Mama-bhanja, some relatives of Moinuddin. Lots of people come here to light up diyaas and ask for wishes. The place is very interesting, with a balance hung at the entrance, verses written in Hindi, English, Urdu and Persian; anthills and the dense forest that seems to be caving in. Another bylane takes us to another set of graves. These are also places of worship. There are bulbs hanging from the trees in the middle of nowhere. 

We  hit the road again, and are back to now and here from nowhere. This is a walk that cannot be missed. 

The moon and the minar

JNU-Qutb Minar



Length: 14 km up and down
Location: Starts from JNU East Gate

The full moon does something
to the tides, waves, and the brainwaves. Perhaps, that’s why at JNU they undertake this walk to the Qutb on full moon nights. From the Parthasarthy rocks which is the party point and lovers’ point in JNU, Qutb seems as if it is three stones’ throw. We trek down to the stadium that looks like a green lake from above, and reach the East Gate. We go down the Aruna Asaf Ali Marg for a bit, and enter Sanjay Van. The path inside is a ribbon of moonlight, and the forest is a black stillness growing upon you slowly. There’s an ashram of some baba in the middle, they always find the right spot. It’s a long, eerie walk with unique trees, their silhouettes are likely to give illusions. There’s a check dam on the way with water that reflects all this, adding to the effect. Further down are the ruins of Prithviraj Chauhan’s fort, which is quite high. From here you can see the lights of the sleeping city in a circle, and hear an irreprisible Himesh Reshammiya song in the distance. A place where you feel like opening your arms and shouting. There’s a huge clearing a little ahead, where we ran with our eyes shut. Almost two hours of walk, and you reach the Qutb, which stares mutely that the cars that are race by to reach some party venue in this old part of the city.


Dead Saints, Deadly Shopkeepers

Nizamuddin

Length: 2 km
Location: After Lodhi Road and Oberoi flyover.

Life always has
but death also comes with its ironies. Nizamuddin Auliya had wished that he be buried in a lonely place, away from hustle and bustle. His dargah, now, is one of the densest places in Delhi. The place doesn’t need an introduction but for those who do not know about it. We get down immediately after passing under the Oberoi flyover, and facing us is a market where shopkeepers hoot and shout for you like in Rosetti’s poem Goblin Market, to deposit your shoes and buy flowers and chadar. As you enter the complex from this side, there’s a bauli, (public bath), a protected place, but in shambles with people washing clothes. You enter the dargah complex, and there’s a series of mazars including Nizamuddin’s. There are the organizers in spotless white, and destitutes in all hues, begging for alms. On Thursdays they play Qawwalis here, and the experience of live music with chants is a spellbinder. We were taken around by Shadab, son of a famous singer Chand Nizami, who took us to the other side, where Ghalib’s grave lies. There’s a Ghalib Academy as well here in the buzzing market that has an irresistible aroma if you are a street food connoisseur. You can grab books and music on Sufism too, from this area. Opposite the Academy is an institute that preaches against grave-worship. Right next to the sleeping Nizamuddin! In the bylanes is a Kali masjid, women can’t enter here, which is totally white. “Naam mein kya rakha hai,” says Shadab, and we walk on.


I walked the ruins


Shahpur Jat and Kalu Sarai



Starts: Shahpur Jat; and lane behind Essex farms
Length: 3 km

Shahpur Jat is not on our itinerary but a hoarding there says, “Curio-city” and we let curiosity kill the cat. The photographer is asked not to click pictures by some chowdhry types. Why? Well, like all old villages of Delhi, this one’s rediscovered itself as a ‘designer’ village, with all kinds of designer labels mapping the places. Residential area, commericial activity. Simple. Anyways, as you enter the village, you encounter this old mosque called Tohfe Wala Gumbad, a 14th century monument made of rubble masonry. The central prayer hall is still intact. As you walk down, there are these ruins of an old wall, visible from the Siri Fort park on the other side as well. There’s an office complex on the main road, modeled exactly on a structure in the wall. The map shows a monument called Baradari inside the village but it’s such a maze that we can’t get to it. In the park is a bauli which is now filled in by the urin-ators.

We head back towards IIT flyover, take a left towards Mehrauli, and the take the bylane on the left immediately after Essex farms. You have to ask around here, the maze is a little tough to describe. Near the Bijay Mandal Enclave, is Bijay Mandal, a huge complex that appears to have been built by Muhammad bin Tuglaq, and that appears to have been a secular building. You can climb up the structure and take a peek at the vast stretch of South Delhi. From the top is visible the Begumpur mosque nearby, which is as huge as the Jama Masjid, replete with domes and pillars. Local legend has it that all the begums used to live in Begumpur and used to go to Hauz Rani for a bath through a tunnel. The mosque is grand to say the least, and a monument of nostalgia, for it is covered with layers of black. Falling ceilings, moss, grafitti. Walking through the place is like walking through a lost collective memory. 





hunt for love is haughty falconry
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