Eta Dom

 Living on Janpath in the 1970s gave us easy access to the British Council Library, the American Center and the Russian (Soviet Union) Center.

Of the three, the British Council library had a very good collection of books.  Appa became a member,  I do not remember whether my brother also had a membership or not.  From my view point, it was a wonderful place for they had a children's section and I was introduced to the books written by Enid Blyton.  Even today, despite the obvious racist overtones, they still remain a favourite, to be dipped into now and then.

The American Center functioned more as an information center.  But they did have a small library. This is where we got to read Life with Father and Life with Mother, both written by Clarence Day.  I also remember that they had a book of American Plays.  That is how I read "The Philadelphia Marriage", Arsenic and Old Lace, and the Man who came to Dinner.

The Russian Center too was an information center.  They did not have a library but they made up for it by deluging the Indian market with affordable books published either by Mir (Peace) Publications or Progress Publishers.  These books were English translation of the Russian books and included both fiction and non-fiction.  That is how Tolstoy, Turgenev, Pushkin, and Gorky (after reading Mother I never got the courage to read any of his other books) came into our lives.

We were introduced to the American Center because the librarian had a problem with the telephone.  Those days telephone was not freely available and even if a person had a telephone, there was no guarantee that it would work.  Kidwai Bhawan Telephone exchange was notorious for its non-functional property and it was Appa's job to soothe the irate customers.  Of course we made many friends this way.  That is how the librarian at the American Center entered our lives.  Under his guidance we became members of the American Center.  He also provided us free subscription to Span, which was American propaganda magazine.

The Russian Center swam into our orbit because my younger athai (Appa's 2nd older sister).  Athai was a writer and she won the Soviet Land Prize.  She came to Delhi to accept the award.  She was learning Russian those days as the prize included a trip to Soviet Union.  Between her and the Russian Center, they managed to convince appa to subscribe to Soviet Land, which was their propaganda magazine, for three years.  We were non-aligned keeping with the fact that India was one of the founding members of the Non-aligned Movement.  According to my brother, Span was readable while Soviet Land was completely unreadable.  Both he and I remember that it used to contain folk/fairy tales which we would read.  I also remember that either that or Soviet Woman used to contain embroidery/knitting/cross stitch patterns for I still have some of the patterns that I saved from the magazine.

The subscription to Soviet Land included linguaphone to learn Russian.  It included a blue coloured 45 rpm gramophone disc and a book.  These arrived every month for 3 years.  Athai and appa were were enthusiastic but amma was skeptical of the project.  And she was right for appa never opened the book or listened to the disc.  It was quietly relegated to a project to be taken up after retirement.

But, my brother and I did open the first one.  Over the course of hot Summer days I learnt the Cyrillic alphabets and was introduced to the Russian family comprising of Mama, Papa, Anton, and Anna.  Then came Eta Dom or This is a house.

That is where I stopped. Eta Dom remains etched in my memory.

Few years back, with my parents becoming older, my brother and I threw away the linguaphone records, unopened and unlearnt.

Re-shaping Delhi

The Central Government has taken the onus to reshape Delhi.  

Delhi is an ancient city.  There have been seven cities.  The oldest is the area around Qutub Minar (quite close to JNU and in fact, we can see the tall building from my colleague's office).  The remnants of the Qila (Fort) Rai Pithora can be seen around Qutub.   The second city was Mehrauli, again near Qutub Minar.  Then came the city of Siri.  There is the old crumbling Siri Fort still standing.  This area was developed during Asian Games, 1982 and thus, ruined Delhi forever.  The fourth city was that of Tughlaqabad.  The Tughlaqabad fort still stands, though in very bad shape.  These four cities were far away from the flood plains of Yamuna River.  The fifth city was built on the flood plains by Firoz Tughlaq and is known is Firozabad.  The fort is now a cricket stadium.  The sixth city was built by Sher Shah Suri around Purana Qila or Old Fort.  The seventh city was built by Shah Jahan, the fourth Mughal Emperor.  He built the Red Fort on the banks of Yamuna and developed the area that is known as Shahjahanabad.  Incidentally, Shah Jahan also built Taj Mahal in Agra. 

When the Britishers decided to shift the capital from Calcutta (Kolkata) to Delhi, the eight city called New Delhi was built on the Raisina Hill.  This is still as Delhi Imperial Zone or Lutyens' Delhi as it was designed and built by Edwin Lutyens.  The two major roads were the King's way (known as Rajpath after Independence) and the Queen's way (known as Janpath after Independence).  When we moved to Delhi in 1972, we lived on Janpath within the telephone exchange complex called Kidwai Bhawan,

Those days Delhi was a small ra ra town filled with government offices, government officers' residences, and refugee families.  Being right in the center of the town had its advantages.  We would walk down to Rajpath to watch the Republic Day parade on 26th January.  At one end of Rajpath is the Rashtrapathi Bhawan (it was known as Viceroy's Residence during British Era).  At the other end is the India Gate which was built as a war memorial.  The space in between is covered with lawn and man-made ponds.  This is where, even today, people gather to enjoy a bit of greenery.

We would walk down to catch concerts  at Rafi Hall, Mavalankar Auditorium, and Kamani Auditorium.  Appa tells of the days in 1960s when he would walk through Parliament House and how one day he saw Nehru get down from his car and walk into the Parliament house. 

 On Rajpath, came up, I will admit, soulless buildings that housed the government offices.  But Appa for some time worked in Dak Tar Bhawan which I thought was a very nice building.  Opposite it was the All India Radio.  I remember my Athai (father's 2nd older sister) going for recording an interview.

Further away from the Central Part, we would cross the flyover across Safdarjung Airport and come into  residential areas where appa's colleagues lived.  We ourselves moved across the city once appa was transferred to a new office.

These are memories.

Delhi has changed over the years.  The first major change came in 1982 when major construction activity took place as Delhi host Asian Games.  Delhi expanded into and beyond Qutub.  It also expanded across Yamuna.  But the buildings remained.  I left Delhi in 1991 and came back in 2004.  However, I could still go to Janpath and retrace the paths and the roads where we once walked. The shops were still there- the book store where we would browse, the dry fruit shop where amma used to buy cashew nuts and raisins, Keventers'  the iconic milk booth where we used to eat ice cream once a month... So things had changed and yet not changed. 

But now the Government has decided to reshape the Lutyen's Delhi.  Specifically the Rajpath.  All the buildings are to be razed, the green space decimated and converted into buildings and it breaks my heart.  It will no longer be the Rajpath that I recognize and loved.

But the unkindest of all cuts is the building of the new Parliament House.  The current Parliament House is a circular building built by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker.  This is where on 15th August 1947 India gained Independence.  It is where Nehru gave the speech "Tryst with Destiny" It is where the Constitution of India was adopted  (26th November1949) and came into force on 26th January 1950.  Of course the building is old and CPWD excels only in ensuring seepages but that does not mean that it should be abandoned or converted into museum. It is the soul of the country.  

But such things are beyond comprehension.   PIL filed in the Courts have been dismissed.  And so the eighth city is to be razed to build a ninth city.