Impressions of Delhi

Delhi is, without question, one of the world's great cities. It seems that it has gained the swagger and self-assurance of the capital of a powerful nation combined with a business and cultural center. By some measures, it is the world's second largest metropolitan area after Tokyo, with a population of 22 million. Regardless of how you measure, it is a "mega-city" defined. It is a dizzying place. 

Some impressions:

It still is not clear to me exactly where the line is between [old] Delhi and New Delhi. Despite the fact that one seems to flow into the other, they stand in startling contrast, at least on the surface. Old Delhi is marked by its maze of narrow streets, ancient homes and mosques, and the domination of the Jamaa Masjid (one of the largest mosques in Asia) and the Red Fort (the home of the Mughal Emperors). To be honest, I don't think I can imagine a thing that I could see in Old Delhi that would surprise me. 

The gate of the Red Fort in Old Delhi

New Delhi, by contrast, is an intensely linear place. It was designed by British architects after the capital of the Raj was moved from Calcutta in 1911. Much of New Delhi still bears the imprint of the preparations for the Delhi Durbar of 1910, when King George V and Queen Mary visited India to be crowned Emperor and Empress of the greatest jewel of their Empire. New Delhi is dominated by the Rajpath, a broad avenue that stretches from the Presidential Palace and Parliament buildings to the India Gate. It has a bit of a feel of the Champs Elysees, but with a much more austere feeling that comes from the stone buildings built in a combination of European and Indian classical styles. 

One of the buildings of the Secretariat in New Delhi

Delhi is an inherently multi-lingual place. Roads are signed in four languages: Hindi, English, Punjabi, and Urdu, all of which are written in their own distinct scripts.  Punjabi represents the presence in Delhi of large number of Hindu Punjabis who migrated to Delhi following the Partition. It seems that it is not without some meaning that Urdu falls at the bottom of the list (more below). Although there are parts of Delhi where one sees nothing but English (wealthier areas of South Delhi, especially), the language of the street is without question Hindi. It seems that it would be difficult to nearly impossible to live in this metropolis without knowledge of that language.

A quadrilingual sign in New Delhi

Delhi in many ways represents a clash of cultures. Although there are a few sites in the city that relate to Hinduism, the vast majority of the cultural patrimony is Islamic, as Delhi was the capital of a state ruled by Muslims from the 12th century until the early 19th. Nowhere is this more clear than in the Red Fort, which epitomizes the blending of South Asian and Islamic architectural traditions that reached their zenith in the Taj Mahal. I found it a bit sad that many of the architectural and other treasures of the Red Fort are in very poor repair. Sixteenth century illuminated manuscripts and 18th century robes decay before your eyes in a museum space that is not air conditioned. I don't think that this is due exclusively to a lack of resources, as I have visited a number of museums and historical sites in India that are preserved in a world-class way. Perhaps this disrepair has more to do with the dissonance between this Islamic architecture and a growing vision of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) that sees Muslims only as invaders, rather than a vision that sees the complex interplay of numerous religions in the formation of modern India? 

Throne Chamber - the Mughal Palace

The courtyard of the Mughal Palace - Delhi

It sounds cliche to suggest that Delhi is a place of contrast, but it is really impossible to overstate. The contrast between the expensive global shops of Connaught Place in central New Delhi and the squalid slums lining the train tracks leading out of the city could not be starker.

A slum on the edge of Delhi