A flaneur in Old Delhi

If you get off the Delhi Gate metro station on the Violet Line and walk down Dariyaganj towards Jama Masjid and Red Fort, it is unlikely that you will be able to spot the Sunheri Masjid or imagine a time when one could have caught a glimpse of the Yamuna from this busy, congested thoroughfare. At Chandni Chowk, you will encounter the chaotic beautification of the busy street and if you visit the Red Fort, many of the area will be inaccessible as they are being refurbished. The chaos of this living, contemporary city conceals centuries of history, and few books trace it better than the one under review.

This book is the third in Ms Safvi’s Delhi trilogy, following Historical Trails in Mehrauli and The Forgotten Cities of Delhi. She has also translated several books from Urdu, including Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Asar-ud-Sanadid, which, Ms Safvi says in the Preface, was one of the sources for Shahjahanabad. 

In the Preface, she writes: “Old Delhi... is a living city... [its residents] describe a Delhi that no longer exits... The narrow lanes of Shahjahanabad are not conducive for vehicular traffic... The havelis have been rented out and have become warehouses... I have tried to describe these changes.” She does a wonderful job of it.

Those who follow Ms Safvi on social media will also be aware that she has, like Sir Sayyid before her, visited each and every monument she describes in the book, documenting them through photographs. These have found a home in this book, illustrating her descriptions. These are also used very imaginatively. For instance, the ninth part of the book, “The Ridge”, begins with a picture of a British ammunitions store. (This is one of the rare pictures taken by Rameen Khan and not Ms Safvi.) Many of us might have encountered such a structure while exploring the Ridge, without any clue of what it was. Even familiar structures, such as the Orpheus panel inside the Red Fort, designed by jeweller Austin de Bordeaux, takes on new significance in this book. 

Shahjahanabad is divided into 18 parts, describing the construction of the fort, originally known as Qila-e-Mubarak, Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar, Jama Masjid, Khari Baoli. Some of the details Ms Safvi writes about would be familiar to those residents of the city who are curious about its history. Several excellent books have been published in recent times on this, such as Swapna Liddle’s Chandni Chowk (2017). There are other parts of the book, however, which are unique in their own way, and delightfully entertaining. For instance, one section is devoted entirely to the “kooche, katre aur mohalle”, the lanes and bylanes of Old Delhi, often accessible only on foot.

For instance, Gali Batasha, describing which, Ms Safvi writes: “It is the place where pickle and raw jaggery are sold. Batashas and candy toys, etc, are made here, hence the name.” Another is Katra Neel, or the blue lane. Ms Safvi writes there are two possible reason for this — one because people of the Khatri community lived there, or because the area is named after Lord Shiva, also called Neelkanth. Describing her experience of wandering around this year, Ms Safvi writes: “this place has many temples... I found the Ghanteswara Temple in a lane branching off from it, as well as Ladliji ka Mandir.” She also found a Shiv temple in the area.

My favourite section of the book is the one reserved for the food of Shahjahanabad. When I adopted Delhi as my home six years back, one of the first things I explored was the ample options for food around Urdu Bazaar, tucking into kebabs from handcarts, kulfi from Kuremal, and the mysterious daulat ka chaat. Ms Safvi not only writes about where you might find the food you desire, but also recipes for mutton nahari or qaliamba. Personally, I prefer the nahari at shops around the Nizamuddin dargah. But these are minor squabbles that Delhiwalas have among themselves.

Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi  

Author: Rana Safvi

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price:  Rs 395 Pages: 999