tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3818587795509547010.post7328194791138291780..comments2024-03-28T07:50:54.044-07:00Comments on anisha shekhar mukherji: Much Ado about an Anniversary - A Hundred Years of New Delhianisha shekhar mukherjihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904611771998738664noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3818587795509547010.post-79827874240879162572011-03-21T23:36:19.501-07:002011-03-21T23:36:19.501-07:00Excellent writeup Anisha! You are right about the ...Excellent writeup Anisha! You are right about the cost which the surrounding city has to pay to sustain a big white elephant in the centre of Delhi! It was built in a particular context for a particular race of people so that they could maintain their exclusiveness and live like the rulers, while the "lower classes" could live in places like Sarojini Nagar & Seva Nagar(these were also built at the same time) to accommodate the "natives". The funny thing being that the "native places" were socio culturally more suitable for living!<br /><br />I also lived in a bungalow at Atul Grove Road in ND for almost 12 years and the basic things like buying vegetable, fruits or for that matter even getting a haircut was quite a long walk. Its a great place for jogging, but not really suitable for living! Working in Shimla these days, I observed a similar contrast between the Viceregal Lodge and surrounding areas with the Lower Bazaar & downhill areas meant for the "native" population.<br /><br />I hope that the townplanners could take a few lessons from the traditional townships like Old Delhi to design climatically & socio culturally more suitable habitats for the modern Delhi. <br /><br />Best wishes<br /><br />ManishManishnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3818587795509547010.post-37239037544271961182011-03-18T00:39:53.368-07:002011-03-18T00:39:53.368-07:00Nice write up anisha, quite informative. i guess c...Nice write up anisha, quite informative. i guess celebrating 100 yrs wld be a purely political decision and this thought may have enlightened some learned politician to please his/her bosses. whatever, the positive side is perhaps it will improve things, may be even temporarily. delhi is truly interesting and so are its residents, can swing in any direction in no time, as mentioned by nadir shah in his biography. khushwant singh says that delhi is perhaps most densly populated with ghosts !! we all know that delhi was destroyed and rebuilt many times but i read it somewhere that who ever built it again, never got the chance to stay in it !! like shahjahan or britishers perhaps. keep enlightening us anisha. all the bestchander shekharnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3818587795509547010.post-88432182128431221162011-03-18T00:28:00.754-07:002011-03-18T00:28:00.754-07:00Well said, Madam. Didn't realise that they wer...Well said, Madam. Didn't realise that they were celebrating the Delhi Durbar!But 1911 was just the announcement - the conception, if you will. The city was inaugurated in 1931, n'est-ce pas? <br />And why should we not celebrate our colonial legacy? We live it larger than life, in every which way. Ask Pratibhaji, on Raisina Hill, or Chacha Nehru's ghost in the C-in-C's House at Teen Murti. Ask the babu's in the Secretariat, or the Ji Hazoor brigade in the bylanes of Nai Dehli. Why you are worried, Madam, we are like that only. Please to read Animal Farm, model for the new Republic. Jai ho!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com