|
Man is but a part of this film
matter, a very recent arrival in it, too, and although he has
vastly superior powers and abilities to those of his older
fellow animals and plants: like them, too, he cannot live
without water. Even at his most mobile, he is firmly attached
to the earth; like the birds he may use it as a platform for
flight, but to it he must return. Despite his fertile
inventiveness he is lost without the products of the earth,
for food, for manufacture: he cannot survive without
vegetation, without the products of successive layers of the
earth’s crust, without the rain, the sun, the wind that form
his changing and yet changeless setting just as much as they
form the setting of all other animals and plants.
Man is part
of the ecology of the earth: a system of relationships between
the earth, its atmosphere, its climate, its vegetation, and
its inhabitants of all kinds, which is of great and beautiful
complexity, and which is yet an everyday experience for all
men.
The occasion
to ponder over this subject is the book "Delhi:
Development and Change" by veteran scholar and bureaucrat
I. M. Mohan. This is the history of Delhi, the capital of
India. Starting with Indraprastha of the Mahabharata legend,
the city’s history usually takes a giant leap of almost 2000
years into the eighth century AD. When the Tomara Rajputs
moved into the hills of south of Delhi to found the settlement
of Anangpur and later the fort of Lal Kot.
Little is
said of what was happening in the Delhi area during the
thousands of years before the terrible Mahabharata war (if the
war ever happened, that is) and what transpired during the
centuries between this war and the coming of the Rajputs.
There is, in
fact, enough evidence available to weave a connected account
of Delhi’s ancient past. This evidence reveals that the
history of Delhi is not simply a story of cities built at
different sites at different times but a history of many
settlements, some urban, many rural in nature. In its earliest
part, it goes back to a distant time before cities or settled
villages had emerged.
As ancient
and modern boundaries do not coincide, it is a good idea to be
liberal in demarcating the region that we intend to look at.
This will include not only modern Old and New Delhi but also
neighbouring areas such as Faridabad district of Haryana and
Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pardesh. The selection of this
broader area can be justified on geographical grounds and has
the advantage of giving us a wide canvas to work on.
Ever since
the human settlements started, the concept of living in groups
started which when it became overcrowded; led to the formation
of streets with residential and commercial areas and
consequently the street width was so much reduced and
encroaching on open land started questions arose about the
merits and demerits of streets and ultimately to urban
renewal.. On account of poverty and lack of employment the
residents started opening shops on the front portion of their
houses, a tradition that still exists in the developing
countries, which created chaos and the authorities became more
vigilant. Whether it was 3000 BC of Mohenjodaro city or in
present-day cities, the emotional concepts of living along
streets remains unchanged.
Every street
acquired a status, the memory of which never diess, which give
the concept of preserving the cultural heritage for which the
higher courts are intervening. One example is the great Galib
residence at Ballimaran. The Delhi government has been asked
by the courts to preserve it despite the commercial set up
there. It is revealed from the map of the Walled City that
maximum conservation sites exist in the area. Imagine the fate
of Queen Razia who once ruled Delhi, her grave lies in a small
room-sized area on a street near Turkman Gate and is
preserved. Over the grave of poet Zauk, toilets were built in
the Nabi-Karim area of Paharganj. When it came to the notice
of the apex court it immediately ordered the removal of the
encroachment on the grave of the great poet.
The author
has seen tram service moving along Nai Sarak and in other
areas of the Walled City until the early sixties. The Metro
that is under construction will pass through part of this
area.
The
pedestrians generally feel difficulty in moving along
corridors. The author proposes slow and fast traffic flows and
their separation and pedestrians given more prominence.
The word
kuchas, katras, chajjas and phatak are familiar adjectives for
localities in the Walled City. The katras are named after the
male buffalo calf. Gateways are called phataks and are as old
as 500 years and more. But could these be retained? Almost for
all areas urban renewal surgery has been proposed. As per
zonal plans, it is desirable to prepare an integrated scheme
and provide space for car parking and greenery.
The various
streets are named after the activity that took place earlier.
Among these are Chandni Chowk, Ballimaran, Shardhanand Marg,
Maliwara, Farashkhana Lalkuan, Nai Sarak, Churiwalan, Turkman
Gate, Sitaram Bazar and Matia Mahal. In the adjoining areas,
Paharganj and Sadar Bazar are quite famous. Those are so well
linked with historical events that even small doors may
require protection. The eatables sold from the vends here are
different in taste and name. An analysis of the distribution
of shops reveals several interesting facts.
Written in a
style aimed at accuracy as well as clarity, the book will be
of interest to historians, students of history, general
readers, in fact anybody who is interested in Delhi’s
development.
Apart from providing for the
first time an account of Delhi’s history that is both
scholarly and interesting to the general and non-specialist
reader, the book also demonstrates how the history of an area
is not only what historians prise out of literary and
archaeological sources, but also includes the different ways
in which the past is remembered and recreated by people.
|
