When Qutub Minar granted its magical wish

Delhi was once a dream for many adolescents like me still in school at Deoghar, a sleepy town of then Bihar, in the late 1980s. One of my friends got a chance to join an undergraduate course in Delhi University, and he gave rest of us the slogan ‘Dilli Chalo”.

Many followed suit. When I came to explore educational opportunities in the national capital, I stayed in Vijay Nagar with the same friend who had joined the undergraduate course in Delhi University. The very next day, he took me on a whirlwind tour of this hoary city.

We took a DTC bus and bought a daylong ticket. Our first stop was the Qutub Minar wherein stood the ancient iron pillar that we were told has this magical power to grant a wish if you could embrace it completely. It was a tough feat, but I could hold the pillar in a reverse embrace. And the wish that came to my mind was that I live in Delhi hereafter for good. The wish indeed came true. The hoary city of Delhi has been my home uninterruptedly through thick and thin for over thirty-five years now ever since I joined JNU in 1988.

Pankaj Kumar Deo, New Delhi