Tale of two cities

Delhi was then restricted to what is now Old Delhi,the area around the Red Fort and Jama Masjid,built by Shah Jahan. The Delhi Durbar was staged in a new tented city erected on the open area that is now the Ridge,christened Coronation Park. A year later,Delhi was officially anointed the capital,even as architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker planned a city fit for a king. It was,for the time the Raj lasted,a capital that functioned for five months of the year. Delhi’s summers drove the Viceroy and his retinue to Shimla,the summer capital.

Delhi has always carried the weight of history,changing its fate and future. Historians have unearthed seven cities,under seven dynasties,and Imperial Delhi would be the eighth and most ambitious of all. Delhi was officially inaugurated in 1931 when the triumvirate of buildings — the Viceregal palace,the secretariat and council house — were ready. Sixteen years later,they would become the most prominent symbols of Independent India,renamed Rashtrapati Bhavan,South and North Block and the Indian Parliament,creating one of the most elegant city centres of the time. India Gate,designed by Lutyens,complemented the grandeur. Adjoining it was Lutyens Bungalow Zone (LBZ),the term used for the 2,800-hectare area in central Delhi which housed sprawling bungalows for British government officials and their administrative offices. The area is still referred to in municipal records as LBZ,and continues to house the elite of India.

Independence was birthed in blood and Delhi’s fate would once again be dictated by the influx of refugees from West Punjab and Sindh,and the thousands of Muslim families who crossed to Pakistan. That event changed the face of Delhi forever as new colonies were hastily constructed to house the refugees,without plan or design. From a bureaucratic backwater,it became a chaotic mass of humanity,creating a new city that would extend far beyond the gracious environs of LBZ. New Delhi would,overnight,explode outwards and absorb new communities,new cultural influences and a new aggressiveness and brashness,courtesy the refugees from Punjab and Sindh. They were a new breed of entrepreneurs and brought a new spirit of enterprise,alien to the Delhi of clerks and petty traders. The capital of independent India also introduced a vast bureaucracy and political class from all over India,adding a new dimension to the city,now a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural metropolis,albeit with no pride or sense of belonging. Writer Jan Morris called Delhi “unimaginably antique”,a tribute to its stature as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth,dating back to 1000 BC,but he also called it “a walled city,ringed by a Wall of indifference.”

Cities like Mumbai and Kolkata elicit fierce pride and a sense of belonging. Delhi does not,simply because more than half its population of close to 17 million are migrants. Yet,it is also the most pampered city in the country. Over the years,the Centre as middleman has brokered a disproportionate share of resources and projects for the development of the capital. Even now,Delhi looks like it is in perpetual motion,building and rebuilding,as new additions and projects are cleared in haste,or stopped halfway through because of judicial intervention. The haphazard growth has diluted all traces of Hindu,Islamic or British influence but it has also created a parallel expansion of facilities and infrastructure. Ambitious infrastructural projects as well as events like the Asian Games in 1982 and the Commonwealth Games in 2010 offered opportunity for major urban renewal while the dazzling Metro displays a rare vision for the future. The fact that the Delhi Development Authority,the Delhi Urban Arts Commission and the National Capital Regional Planning Board come under the Centre and not the Delhi government is proof enough of the capital’s elevated status.

There are other advantages of history and geography. Delhi attracts more migrants than any other state in the country,according to a report by the Indian Institute of Human Settlement (IIHS) released last week. The report attributes this high influx of migrants to the fact that it has the highest per capita income and income growth among Indian metros; a huge concentration of wealth,infrastructure and a relatively high quality of urban services. Education is a big draw,as also health services,according to the report. Delhi has a per capita income of Rs 66,728 (US$1,353.24),the third highest in India after Chandigarh and Goa.

Historically,Delhi has always represented a springboard to northern India. It has now expanded that role even further,attracting MNCs and new industries under the umbrella of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT),and is now the largest metropolis by area in India (including Noida,Ghaziabad,Gurgaon and Faridabad). It has always attracted the best and the brightest to its universities,giving it a solid pool of talent to draw from. It is the fulcrum of industries like publishing and media and a major hub for IT-related services,second only to Bangalore. The world’s biggest telecom players are based here and it is also the largest automobile market in the country; more cars are sold in Delhi every month than in Mumbai,Chennai and Kolkata combined,which explains the chaotic nature of the capital’s roads. Yet,in a report by the Institute for Competitiveness and Confederation of Indian Industry,the city is listed as the seventh best to live in India.

That could be because of the seamless bond between the old and the new. There are 1200 buildings and 175 monuments in Delhi recognised as national heritage sites. Most critics call Delhi crass and lacking in culture and there may be some truth in that but here’s the flipside: it has more art galleries and bookshops than any city in India,apart from national centres for arts,dance and drama. At its heart,Delhi remains a city of stark contrasts. To the outsider,it can be intimidating and unsophisticated but behind that unattractive facade is a city with a soul and an enduring romance with the past. Legend has it that it is the City of Djinns — fire-formed spirits who assure the city’s regeneration each time it is destroyed.

I came to Delhi in 1975 when it took a brave man and a very reliable car to drive to Chattarpur,now a prized enclave for the rich. Almost every decade,I have seen a new New Delhi emerge from the old. It is almost like hearing an echo of the Persian phrase spoken by Delhi’s most revered sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya: “Dehli dour ast”,meaning Delhi is still far away,which is generically said to imply that a task or journey is still far from completed.