A Melting Pot of Cultures
After a certain point, a city becomes more than just a place of dwelling for its residents – it becomes a way of living - New Delhi became the Capital of India in 1911 and this year in 2011, it completes a century of enjoying this status – has the charm been retained till date?

By Jyoti K. Singh
A city that lived through infinite wars and resurgences, a city that witnessed countless bloody massacres and lamented the loss of immeasurable number of its sons yet kept on repetitively rising from its own ashes. Can it not truly be coined ‘GREAT’ in the real sense of the word? Every yesterday of this city has an interesting story to share for being replete with history and each crumbling wall here has a glorious folklore attached to it. Treading softly through the narrow lanes of this dreamy city, one would definitely experience a transition through time as the city has cradled various civilisations since time immemorial.
Started wondering what’s name of the city? Make a guess… voila – you are right. It is our own Delhi. The introduction given above would prove more relevant if you allow me to quote Norah Rowan Hamilton here,“Delhi the magnificent. Delhi the terrible! What orgies of feasting, what horrors of pillage and bloodshed has it not endured?”

Delhi, better known as Dilli in colloquial accent, is not an ordinary city at all. Its strong historical background is a testimony to the fact that the city has always served as the vortex of noteworthy political events. Furthermore, its royal grandeur also comes home by the fact that some of the most powerful past emperors had ruled the city. The city gained prominence, right from the reign of its very first ruler and since then it stood high even after bearing diverse political turmoil for more than five centuries.

The historical grandiose of the city also becomes vivid from the fact that it has witnessed the rise and fall of several mighty empires. Yet, no one till date knows the exact age of this ageless city though archaeological excavations around it have revealed ruins, which are several thousand years old. Some of these even date back to the Indus Valley Civilisation – one of the centers of origin of human civilisation. Y.D. Sharma, an archaeologist stated, "Habitation appears to have begun at or around the site of Delhi about three thousand years ago. Underneath the Purana Quila, raised in the sixteenth Century, trial trenching in 1955 revealed the occurrence of a fine grey earthenware, usually painted with simple designs in black. Known as the Painted Grey Ware (PGW), this pottery is often dated to 1000 BC.”

Not only this but the excavations have even attested the city’s association with stone age man in the form of contemporary tools being discovered from areas like the Aravalli tracts, JNU Campus, and the northern ridge. Thus the city has served as a habitation to human life for as long as 2500 years. Needless to mention, that Indian history revolves around Delhi’s rich past.

But, Delhi truly became the epicenter of political activity in the year 1911 when it was announced at the coronation durbar of King George V that the capital of the British Raj is being shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. It was then that certain parts of old city were hauled down for creating a new city, popularly known as New Delhi today. One of the major USPs of this newly built city included a new-fangled monumental quarter, designed by Edwin Lutyens, the British architect. This quarter was supposed to house the government buildings only and got inaugurated in 1931 after the completion of First World War. It was here that the imperial architectural style became synonymous with the city, which throbs with vitality till date when our DILLI is completing 100 years of being Indian capital – the moment definitely is GRAND. Furthermore, every bulwark and carcass at the city stands tall in dignity till date without feeling ashamed of the giant skyscrapers and the ultra-modern infrastructure. Ironically, when Lutyens presented his designs to Lord Harding for approval, the latter slashed the budgets like anything to which the engineer retorted, “ Do not compress your thinking to a mere span of 30 years Lord – here, I am planning for next 300 years.” To this, famous Hindi writer, Dr. Nirmala Jain has rightly commented in her book Dilli Shahar Dar Shahar that Lutyens’s words proved right as British Raj ended in the next 30 years but the area is still known as Lutyens Zone. She further adds, “ The population of old Delhi was almost hypnotised by the cleanliness, grandeur, huge infrastructure and crowd-free lanes of the New Delhi. In fact, it was mainly because British were the first ones to showcase such a unique form of architecture post Moghul emperors.”

Thus, Delhi indeed is an awe-inspiring amalgamation of yesterday and tomorrow. Here, let me present to you a city, which is not only holding on to the past but also is surging ahead into future. Now, how you perceive this fusion is a typical choice and I leave it completely up to you. But, before making any perception about this splendid city, do consider the viewpoint of someone who spent some of the golden years of his life in the city.

Anish Wig – a famous Financial expert who was recently conferred with the prestigious “Rashtriya Gaurav Award” for excellence in education & promoting financial literacy in India – is sitting at Zurich, Switzerland today, far away from the city, serving EFG Bank AG as Director, Private Banking. Prior to this, he served as the Director & Country Head, Private Banking & Investments, Deutsche Bank AG, India. With 20 years of extensive experience, he has worked with Merrill Lynch & Co. and Credit Suisse Group in USA, UK and Switzerland. In London, he set up the European training school for Merrill Lynch, which trained over 2,600 private bankers in technical and product skills. He was part of the core team deployed to Tokyo, Japan in 1998 when Merrill Lynch took over Yamaichi Bank for the integration of 35 branches and 3,000 staff to turn it around in 100 days. With an extensive work and travel experience of over 45 countries in North & South America, Europe, Middle East & Asia, Anish still becomes nostalgic while talking about Delhi.

How did Delhi look in 1960s?
I’m sure it was a grand place to be back then too as much as Bombay (as it was called then) much with times as it was the 60s generation and Delhi too did its best to be the place to be. The cultural hangouts of Connaught Place, the restaurants, coffee houses and cinema houses were all the rage back then too.

There has been a major socio-cultural shift in the city’s life. Do you agree? If yes, why?
Naturally a city is an organic life form that undergoes evolution and metamorphosis as well. As we have seen the influx of migrants drawn to the city’s success and to make better lives for themselves and their families. They bring with themselves essential ingredients of their native culture inevitably making Delhi into a large melting pot or a large soup cauldron where each adds their own flavour giving Delhi its own individual identity & spice of life!

Has Delhi been able to match pace with the fast changing urbanisation? Has it become any better with time?
Sure it has! Just compare it against the other metros in India and with our infrastructure in Delhi with the Metro, flyovers, broad roads and all else added during the Commonwealth Games 2010, is now often compared to international cities rather than other Indian cities. Also, I feel it is important that the city has to continuously work hard to protect the precious green belt, trees and limited green cover that we have left. All that growth & development should not leave
Delhites gasping for breath!

Share any fondest memory you have of Delhi.
About my fondest memory of Delhi, I'd say is the Delhi winters and all that you can do with brunches, parties & enjoying Lodhi gardens for Sunday jogging.

Have you ever noticed any religious shift in the city’s sentiment in the recent past?
There is a shift to more rightwing, polarisation that is emerging across India and Delhi is not immune to the trend. All over North India, Maharashtra, other parts of India too where all I have travelled recently, I have noticed a commercialisation of religious festivals. As people celebrate each festival with more fervour & more money, passions run high. The commercialisation of religion should not be confused with people becoming more religious in Delhi, but rather more money to display their faith. This is true for Hindu, Sikh, Muslim or Christian festivals across seasons. All one needs to stress is tolerance and respect for each other’s beliefs.

Do you think Politics played foul else Delhi would have touched even greater heights?
This is the sad truth of India not just Delhi!

What is your take on the contemporary lifestyle of the city?
Much has been written on this subject but all I can say is that the city has certainly become more homogenous like other Western cities with each passing decade with similarity of shopping experience, fashion trends and changing attitudes towards social morals, values have evolved. The youth of Indian metros are savvy and socially well adaptable equally to those of others in growing nations as technology has played its part in bringing us all together.

In the past centenary, did Delhi loose its grandeur?
I don’t think so we have lost the grandeur as Delhi has its own charm to add to India’s status on a global stage. One has to compare from the Lutyens Delhi or British Delhi to the new heart of New Delhi and realize that like all cities, it is organic in growth and we have grown, matured and mellowed as city too.. Delhiites too realize it and appreciate this change and grow with it.

What more can be done to retain Delhi’s status of being ‘Hindustan ka Dil?’
Being the political and national capital, Delhi will always play host to the national and international leaders from the political and business world. We have always been a great host of a city and should remain so as a welcoming city with a big heart to showcase the best microcosms of India to all who come in.
Win hearts and you will win minds. “Athiti devo bhava” is all I can say!

Such are the feelings of someone sitting miles away from the city but yearns to get back at the very first opportunity. But would you not like to know what our Swadesi Delhites feel about their city? “I have seen Delhi in those years when you were perhaps not born even. Life in Delhi was not as easy then. Means of transport were scarce as we had to travel in old rather KHATARA DTC buses, infrastructure was not this huge as there was no Akshardham back then, facilities were not these many for we had to buy groccery from the local kiryana store only; but yes, there neither was this high an inflation nor did corruption play so foul. Today, Delhi is perhaps matching pace with some other world-class metropolitan cities but the real picture is still dark, which if you want to capture, visit some ancient monuments – but, from the rear gate,” shared Sardar Kartar Singh Bedi, a 97-year old freedom fighter with me as I approached him to know his take on the change that the city has undergone in the last few years.

Although there were no metro trains back then, which could make journeys easier and buying a bottle of mineral water was a complete No-No for a middle class family irrespective of the journey-time yet Delhi then also held an equal charm as today. Travelers, natives, visitors, encroachers all found equal opportunities in the city and kept the spirit of the city HIGH – they not only celebrated the joy of hosting the Asian games together but also mourned the Uphaar tragedy in equal wretchedness. And then came the Grandest event ever – Delhi hosted commonwealth Games 2010. “The opening ceremony of the games was such a sight. It made me swell with pride on being a Delhite,” claimed Sunaina Bharati, a businesswoman.

Yes the city truly is unmatchable. Offering such a rare amalgamation of the old with new, this third largest city of India is on an irreversible growth path. “Education opportunities in the city are too vast that everyone gets attracted to them very easily,” says Jennifer Borah, an Assamese girl, pursuing her bachelors from Delhi University. The city indeed has become the most preferred one for investors, industrialists, research scholars and real estate giants. It has the mettle to enthrall the senses of every contemporary visitor. If you permit me to exaggerate a little, I would definitely say that India has no other city like SAADI DILLI – a fact, which would be more closely brought home by Michael Creighton’s lines –

Smog and dust mix with the air in New Delhi.
I buy jasmine for her hair in New Delhi.
People come from everywhere to this city;
All are welcomed with a stare in New Delhi.
The finest things in life don’t come without danger.
Eat the street food, if you dare, in New Delhi.
We push in line and fight all day for each rupee.
Can you remember what is fair in New Delhi?
There is nothing you can’t find in our markets.
Socks and dreams sell by the pair in New Delhi.
So many families on the street through the winter;
Sometimes good men forget to care in New Delhi.
My friends ask, Michael, why’d you leave your own country?
I found jasmine for her here, in New Delhi.