Everything from the species of trees on the avenues,
all the way down to the doorknobs in the servant’s quarters of the Secretariat,
were designed mostly by one man:
Edwin Lutyens modeled Imperial Delhi after L’Enfant and Banneker’s curvaceous Washington D.C.
He lifted the 'chhajja' (eaves) from Mughal design.
But his deepest inspiration for Delhi was eternal Rome, the roundabout for all the roads in the world.
With Rome in mind, the Raj was supposed to last 1,000 years in Delhi.
It lasted 36.
Partition in 1947,
the resulting mass human migration,
the subsequent speed of growth…
all were unfathomable.
And the pace of change continues.
Coming from the airport at night now, your driver will most likely get lost.
Finding a newer residential address these days is a game of twenty questions with answers like: ‘that way’ or ‘near there.’
This is because some areas in Delhi are changing so fast, the maps can’t keep up.
They told me, in fact, the only thing about Delhi that will never change…
…is the dust.
Dust blown in from the desert state of Rajasthan, stirred up by millions of rubber wheels, mixes with emissions that resist being dispersed due to what’s called an ‘inverted tropical air pressure’ -
-a seasonal climate system that just seals in the city like a giant lid.
It is no surprise that they recently found - floating in the air - traces of a type of fuel that was last used over ten years ago.
Perhaps the dust that annoyed the British enough for them to try and filter it all with expensive grassy pits 100 years ago…
…is the same dust that causes the sky to rust today.
The morning breeze is blowing dust over the garden trees, In disgust, the vineyards and leaves rub their hands.
~ Zafar