States: Delhi; Packaging the Past

India Today
Sep 21,1998

DELHI
Pakaging the Past

An MP shows how to market the Mughal heritage.

By Sayantan Chakravarty

Packaging the Past It was not as if Shahjahan handed over the keys of his magnificent, red city in Delhi by the banks of the Yamuna to Vijay Goel. For between the time the great Mughal emperor built Shahjahanabad and Goel made his debut as MP from Chandni Chowk in 1998, much water has flowed. Rulers have come and gone -- from the marauding Mongols to the British Burra Sahibs. Yet it is Goel, for the first time, who has taken the initiative to get the soul back into the 350-year-old city of Shahjahanabad. More specifically into Chandni Chowk or Moonlight Square, an intrinsic part of Delhi's Walled City.

The first step Goel took in restoring the city's lost glory was to organise the resplendent "Chaudhvin Ka Chand" at Chandni Chowk on September 6 in collaboration with the city's Tourism Department. "The idea," says the firsttime MP, "is to recreate the ambience of Emperor Shahjahan's fabled city." Adds Delhi Tourism Managing Director Bhupinder Prasad, "By recapturing the old, we want to make Chandni Chowk the number one tourist attraction in Delhi."

Judging by the brilliantly crafted success of the light-and-sound show, Goel's pet project appears to have got off to a flying start. As the torches glowed brightly atop the havelis, the city's past glory came alive. Mushairas, qawwalis, choirs and shrill sounds of actors and actresses playing the part of vendors outside the numerous streets rent the air. The couplets of the legendary Urdu poets Ghalib and Zauq held thousands in thrall.

The grand spectacle cost the Tourism Department Rs 16 lakh. Goel also put in a similar amount from his own, official fund. Over 1,000 hoardings have been pulled down "exposing", according to Stagedoor Entertainment director Amir Raza Husain, "some of the most exciting buildings of the past." Once-dangerous transformers have been neatly fenced, the street is divided by new railings, shop shutters are freshly painted in the colour of sandstone, old havelis sport a new look, the pavements are clear of encroachments (including six police posts), electricity poles have been rooted out, and incredibly, the facade of Town Hall, the municipal headquarters, is visible. Also, the famous phawara (fountain) in front of Gurdwara Sis Ganj -- the site of Guru Teg Bahadur's martyrdom -- is flush with water again after 30 years of silence.

Goel has made it clear to the 600 shopkeepers in the area that for them to prosper and for more tourists to come, Chandni Chowk and Shahjahanabad must look unique. "The shopkeepers' cooperation, so far, has been admirable," he says. "Without their help, Chandni Chowk would have been an eyesore."

There is more on the agenda. For one, Goel has decided to turn the place into a regular tourist centre. He also plans to turn it completely pedestrian once in a week so that visitors can "walk the streets and bylanes of history". About a dozen heritage structures, among them Chunni Mal ki Haveli, a 128-room structure that was gorgeously lit up on September 6, need to be conserved with care. Plans are afoot to revive battery buses, so that the aged needn't walk. Hoardings, if they appear at all, would be of uniform size. Finally, all plans to revive the old city must be thrashed out within the precincts of the city. "Seminars on Chandni Chowk should no longer be held in New Delhi," says historian Mohammed Amin.

Not everything was in place that day. For instance, there were no palanquins like old and no elephants striding down the streets. Some horse-drawn carriages plied, one even ferried Union Home Minister L.K. Advani. But the sight of Lt-Governor Vijay Kapoor's Mercedes rudely honking its way through the milling crowds was an eyesore. It will require all of Goel's persuasive skills to ensure that the administration and the shopkeepers support him in his dream project. For the sake of posterity.

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