Delhi Metropolitan
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Delhi Metropolitan
The Making Of A City
Reviwed By Shagufta Yasmeen
Ranjana Sengupta’s Delhi Metropolitan: The making of an unlikely city traces the changes that the city has undergone after the partition of British India into India and Pakistan. The writer has categorically declared that this book is not ‘a history of Delhi, it is not an exposition of its political structures or its economy. It is, rather, the spaces between these grand interstices where there effects are registered.’
The author traces the development of Delhi, the city being close to her heart; it is her Delhi, where she had lived for a long time, the city she loves. She longingly remembers the Delhi of the pre-independence period and then the post independence one. She cites Khushwant Singh, who described what became of the city after 1947 in these words: ‘Punjabis imposed their own way of living on the city. The emphasis was on good food and ostentatious display of wealth.
She regrets the change that engulfed Delhi after Partition. This change was felt by those countless residents of Delhi whose families had been living in this city for several generations. One of these people Shri Jutena, a resident of Munirka village whose ancestors had lived on the same plot of land for five generations, reminisces about the beautiful sheeshum and jamun trees that ‘once stood on his farmland, now covered by Vasant Vihar.’ The spaciousness is gone and in its place stand congested seven storey houses. The past was better as always. The Delhites are dissatisfied with the present. According to them Delhi’s past was undeniably grand; while the present lacks both heroism and splendour.
Ranjana Sengupta traces the literature that Delhi inspired, and regrets that while there are many literary works on Delhi of the past, there is no great contemporary Delhi novel. Even Khushwant Singh’s Delhi travels through time, space and history to discover the spectacular past, not its present. Other books emphasise the ‘golden age’ and these include Ahmed Ali’s Twilight in Delhi.
There are no books based on the journey of numerous refugees from Lahore and other parts of West Punjab into Delhi, and the adversity that awaited them. While any definitive English novel on Partition is still unwritten, Urvashi Butalia’s The Other side of Silence records the unheard voices of that time; ‘the smaller, more invisible figures’ who bore the ravages of atrocities silently.
Yet there are books on Delhi written after Partition that celebrate the ‘new feel to the city, limping gamely out of the Partition holocaust.’ These books not only describe the looted Muslim houses and the agonised sense of dislocation; they also offer a sense of hope of an unquestionably better future. After 1947 Delhi moved towards a dynamism that is reflected in its architecture and layout. The city is now seen as a sprawling, restless mega polis.
Sengupta’s Delhi is a myriad of places frequented by people belonging to different classes. The transformation from a serene, idyllic place to a burstling city has been accepted by the people. It is their city; they own this city, they have accepted the changes and they cherish the still present open space like the one near India Gate – ‘one of the most engaging sights in Delhi and one that accurately mirrors the city’s extraordinary but unique temper’ — where people go for picnics.
Revealing the history of today’s Delhi, Sengupta points out that the real ancestor of modern-day Delhi is New Delhi, and its real beginning can be traced to 1911. Irrespective of the fact that it has seen the ‘ebb and flow of empires, sackings, and phoenix-like resurrections’, the writer stress the reality that is more mundane and recent.
From the days after Partition to the present time, the architecture of Delhi reflects the Lutyens mould. Edwin Landseer Lutyens invented the look for the new capital, with its usage of pink sand stone. From June 17, 1911 when the story of New Delhi began to the present era, different ideas of grandeur were borrowed from Europe and later America.
The basic notion behind all the commotion over a suitable architectural style was the idea of domination. New Delhi was built to be an unambiguous statement of imperial purpose. The writer wonders ‘what impact has this kind of city architecture and planning had on our post-independence selves?’ and answers that the regalia of imperialism is being used to confer legitimacy on present-day regimes.
The book offers a detailed study of the making of Delhi, especially the changes that came in the post independence period. While before 1947 the pre-colonial past was used by Indian architects to call attention to a nationalist identity, after independence Delhi’s architectural vocabulary changed radically.
It became progressive and forward-looking. While this modernism was being accepted whole-heartedly, there were few instances where revivalism was taken up. Built in 1956, the Ashoka Hotel features spirited jharokas cantilevered out at its four corners. Another style — if it can be called style —was Brutalism, an offshoot of Modernism that saw virtue in stankness and honesty, severely eschewing all adornments. Akbar Hotel, Sri Ram Centre and State Bus Terminus are examples of Brutalism and most of these buildings look squalid and ugly.
The author has classified Delhi into ‘government Delhi,’ ‘colonies’, ‘remembered villages’ and ‘newest Delhi’, while tracing the development or changes that this city underwent in the last 60 years. Although Delhi has etched a name for itself in literature, its credentials as a centre for classical culture have not always been rated highly.
Lahorites considered the Delhites unsophisticated rustics, so after Partition priority was given to classical culture. Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Sahitya Akedemi and Lalit Kala Akademi were set up in 1954 to promote performing arts, plastic arts and literature; and in the last 60 years the cultural activities in the capital reached an unprecedented level.
Sengupta’s Delhi is a myriad of places frequented by people belonging to different classes. The transformation from a serene, idyllic place to a burstling city has been accepted by the people. It is their city; they own this city, they have accepted the changes and they cherish the still present open space like the one near India Gate – ‘one of the most engaging sights in Delhi and one that accurately mirrors the city’s extraordinary but unique temper’ — where people go for picnics.
The author has lovingly provided a vivid picture of this unique city that has always held an impressive place in the vast county that is India. Sengupta’s research, her personal touch and the examples she provides of people associated with this city give credibility to the book and make it a wonderful read.
Delhi Metropolitan
By Ranjana Sengupta
Penguin Books, India
248pp. Indian Rs250
