Chaudvin ka Chand lights up Chandni Chowk galis

Cars seemed passe as even VIPs like Home Minister L.K. Advani and Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma were driven in a buggy pulled by two white horses and guided by guards dressed as royal sepoys on four horses.

Though the festival received a fair share of criticism on whether it should be held at all, even die-hard sceptics agreed that it was a laudable effort. Nobody, in fact, had bargained for the milling crowds. Even a slight skirmish with the police and a bloodied face of one of the protestors behind the main stage at Fatehpuri failed to mar the show.

Hectic preparations, which had been on for the past two months, bore fruit as hoarding-hidden bits of the city’s heritage suddenly came to light. Forgotten lanes and wire-laden streets were cleaned up after years. Garbage dumps were replaced by mini-cameos depicting the court life of the Mughal emperors. “Nothing had been done here for the past 60 years at least, this used to sadden me,” said Chandni Chowk Councillor Satish Jain, who was seen enjoying the resplendent streets with his family.

The people with the biggest smiles, however, were the 1,000 local merchants who were dressed in saffron-coloured pagdis, white kurta-pyjamas with matching pattas. “This area is one of the most neglected parts of the city. The festival is a good effort on the part of Vijai Goel and we hope that problems like encroachment, parking and filth will be things of the past now,” said Krishna Mohan Gundhi, treasurer of the Sarv Vyapar Mandal.

Aamir Raza Husain and his troupe had obviously done their homework well as small details like people smoking hookahs and playing chess and Kathak dance being performed on the balconies of the havelis added to the feel of the bygone era. A stained glass panel that had been cleaned, a chandelier with intricate design, plenty of green plants and clever lighting of the havelis added to the beauty of the place.

The guards in their royal costumes looked realistic enough to elicit responses like “jagte raho” from the public as they waved at and cheered them. The food stalls selling aloo tikkas, chaat, kulfis and jalebis added their own flavour to the show, with the owners having a hard time coping with never-ending orders.

For most of the visitors, mobile-clad or otherwise, the historical ambience proved to be an eye-opener. “Now, we at least know what this place once looked like. I never knew there were so many historical landmarks buried here. Now I feel ashamed about the way this street is maintained,” said Ashok Tandon, who had come all the way from Gurgaon with his family. He was referring to Begum Samroo’s haveli, Kooncha Mahajani and Purani Kotwali, among others.

The other crowd-pullers were the sound and light show at the Town Hall, the photograph exhibition held by the Archaeological Survey of India, the Meena Bazar with its handicrafts’ shops, chamber music at the Baptist Church, bhajans at the Gauri Shankar temple and gurbani at the Sheesh Mahal.

An 80-year-old lady, a resident of Chandni Chowk, remarked, “Who does not like all this raunaq? But there will be real fun when the street looks like this everyday, not just during Chaudvin ka Chand.”