DilliMeriJaan

‘Happy Republic Day’ messages have been replaced by ‘Proud to be Indian’, I note. Over the years, the jingoistic ‘me’ has been keenly observing a positive trend. More recognition of Indian achievers (beyond cricketers), more commitment to making a difference. But sometimes, even the most zealous of us get deflated because of some stuff we see. Mostly, this stuff is being done by SUV driving punks, saying nonsensical things like ‘my bad, bro’ and pining to be outside the country. This is fine and I pray every day that they get out really really soon. But sometimes, dumb stuff is also being done by the ‘Proud to be Indian’ message senders, which is confounding. So I thought. Maybe they just don’t know. Maybe once they become aware, they will stop. So I propose the ‘GLARE’. Here’s how it works: 1.        Plastic bags: Disposable plastics have been banned in NCR by the Department of Environment. I read the notice – it sounded very legal. But customers...

While we are very aware that the market is 500 years old, with history etched into every corner, we really just went to buy silver jewellery. We walked down Dariba Kalan, the road famous for silver jewellery – one of the primary items being sold in this grand bazaar, since it started. We recommend Jaina & sons, right at the end of the lane – for its happy customer friendly owner and very reasonably priced products. There is a ‘very old’ (the board says so) Jalebi and Samosa wala right at the beginning of the lane- you can smell and taste the ghee and believe the owner, when he tells you that his ancestors made samosas for Akbar! You should ignore the fact that Chandni Chowk was set up after his reign was over… We didn’t enter the historic Central Baptist Church- one of the oldest in North India, just across the street. But we couldn’t not stop to pay homage to the 9 th sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur, who was beheaded for his beliefs, at what is now Gurudwara Si...

We did the ‘Lodi Art District’ walk almost the same time last year. Most of the artwork was still ‘Work in Progress’ then and we got to meet the artists, precariously poised on top of cranes.  Over the year, the art district has added new installations and our walker group has grown. 21 of us walked last Sunday, interpreting the art pieces and then listening to our Walk Leader, Mayank Jain’s well-researched views on them. Just like the multi-cultural collaboration which has made this art district so vibrant, we had a multi-cultural walk group this time. It was interesting to see how most of us had similar interpretations – except the ones which had deep Indian context – like Amitabh Kumar’s Dead Dahlias or Rakesh Memrot’s Gond art. While all of it was fascinating, Daku’s ( credited to have popularised street art in India) sun dial and the collaborative mural called We Love Dilli, were my favourites. There is heaps of stuff on the net, about each artwork and th...