Breathe on sister,breathe on..
My earliest memories of Paharganj are of a hustling, bustling marketplace, choc-a-bloc with people round the year which my father and i visited once in the distant past to purchase crackers for Diwali. It remains in my mind as some sort of legendary marketplace, like how Da Gama would have described India to his people, a place where one could purchase almost anything and come back home satisfied with a good bargain.
Sarojini Nagar on the other hand was a true middle class market where me and my extended family would often shop looking for great value for money deals. I remember the Diwali crackers that i bought from there when some of my fathers friends had put up a shop, i remember coming home loaded with bags and bags of those goodies. It was my last minute college shopping haven, the place where i could get all the trendy stuff for 1/4th the price. It is the place where my mother purchases all her Diwali diyas and candles to this day. You couldnt beat Sarojini Nagar for the deals that it gave you.
And now I will also remember these two places for these god forsaken blasts. The blasts which killed 50 people, most of whom were the poor peasants who had come from places as far as Mathura, to earn the extra Diwali money, by setting up roadside stalls in these markets. The blasts which shook up a city for whom Diwali is so much more than a festival. The blasts which broke the spirit of the people at a time when they give up all their worries to truly immerse themselves in a spirit that is all about light, warmth and togetherness.
It surprises me how much resilience this city has, how much this city can take. Its been raped, pilaged and mutilated by a multitude of looters right throughout history. Timur and Nadir Shah treated her as her most defiled whore, taking from her all that she had to offer. The British put her in chains and made her their puppet. Sanjay and Indira treated her as their own guinea pig where they unleashed all their vile designs in the name of national emergency. The terrorists, who came in many a garb, be it the Khalistanis or the Kashmiris, have continued to try and take the life out of this city. And now this. It just makes me wonder, isn't our land really cursed ?
Its a pity that when i was leaving for Delhi, last Friday, i had thought that from there i would put up a post that would try and put in to words all that Dilli and Diwali means to me. This is all i can come up with at the moment.
Why?
Current Music : Portishead - Melody
posted by Nitish @ 11:53 PM
Comments: 5
