HINDOL 10th Issue October 2011 - With Cover

8/2/2019 HINDOL 10th Issue October 2011 - With Cover

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Hindol

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Year 3, No. 3

4 8

October 2011

ISSN 0976-0989

Artists:

Raja Ravi Varma

Bimal Dasgupta

Shanu Lahiri

Pulak Biswas

Jyotirmoy Ray

Photo Credits :

Madhumita Dasgupta

Arjun Dasgupta

Editorial Team :

Chittaranjan Pakrashi, Jayanti Chattopadhyay,Maitrayee Sen, Ajanta Dutt, Nandan Dasgupta

E-46, Greater Kailash-I,

New [email protected]


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The only definition that can be given

of morality is this:

that which is selfish is immoral,

and that which is unselfish is moral.

Swami Vivekananda

'Karma Yoga'

This issue of

HINDOL

is sponsored

by


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58 &5 ~ 69 Subhadra Sen Gupta The Bengalis of Delhi

(Beyond Durga, Rosogollas & Fish)

78 Jyotirmoy Ray Delhi - The City of Birds

85 Sumita Sengupta Book Review

Translations of Tagore Songs

48 Ajanta Dutt

49 Maitrayee Sen


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The section on Delhi (July, 2011) is delightful - a melange of

memories, literary references and architectural history. Perhaps you

could keep a slot in every issue for a piece on Delhi - it will not be

at all difficult.

With best wishes,

10.8.2011 Narayani Gupta

New Delhi

In the letters to the Editor (July, 2011), one gentleman has made

some remarks, presumably targeting my Ghare-Baire essay (April,

2011) among others, about the absence of novelty and freshness in

articles on a particular novel or story which read like examination

answers. That is a bit humbling since I thought I had said something

new about an old text. Of course, the aforesaid gentleman claims to

have read Rabindranath and criticism on Rabindranath so thoroughlyand so many times that he has achieved a final and complete

understanding. Enviable feat!

Shirshendu Chakraborty

11.8.2011 New Delhi

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SKETCH : C.R. PAKRASHI

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Resolved, that no woman of true delicacy would be willing in the

presence of men to listen to the discussion of subjects that necessarily

come under consideration of the students of medicine.

Resolved, that we object to having the company of any femaleforced upon us, who is disposed to unsex herself, and to sacrifice her

modesty by appearing with men in the lecture room.

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'It needs little skill in psychology to be sure that a highly gifted

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I think I have constructed the Poem on the most rigid principles and

even a French critic would not find fault with me. Perhaps the

episode of Sita's abduction (Fourth Book) should not have been

admitted since it is scarcely connected with the progress of the Fable.

But would you willingly part with it? Many here look upon that

Book as the best among the five, though Jotindra and his school

call the Book III - Promila's entry into the city - "The most

magnificent."

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When Raama fights and is

victorious in Lanka, Seeta does not

see it; she is a prisoner in the Asoka

forest. She has to be content with

listening to reports of the battle and

of the prowess of her lord. But

Jataayu's devotion and heroismSeeta saw with her own eyes in the

Dandaka forest. Unarmed, he

opposed the Raaakshasa who had

all his weapons and armour, and

humbled his pride at the cost of his

own life. Jataayu's battle with

Raavana is more important than

the battles at Lanka.

PHOTO : ARJUN DASGUPTA

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...days that are so far from now, when we swung beneath the boughs

our swing entwined with blossoms thus was wrought

these moments of passing time, these small and fragile memories,

when you woke up were they the dreams you sought?

Have you forgot, have you forgot, have you forgot?

in the breeze of yesterday, it was there for you to see,

delirious joys from my heart, revealing my thoughts of thee,

in the layers of the sky, strewn about ever so free,

was your matchless smile that I have sought;


the path on which I did alight, oh it was on a full moon night,

the moon had 'risen on the horizona meeting thus did happen, between our two selves there and then,

will that wondrous hour ever come back again-

the moon had 'risen on the horizon

but now I know, there isn't time - no more,

and I alone will have to bear our parting pains evermore;

this rakhi that I tie to your heart-strings as before,let it remain upon you forever caught;


(Translation : Ajanta Dutt)

SKETCH:PULA

KBISWAS


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+ ...

into this enchanted garden

this quiet abode of my heartcome Thou

the joyful

the ever radiant one

turn Thy tender loving gaze upon me

So that I may forget all my pains and sorrows;

and abide in my aching heart

ever longing for Thee

fill my nights and my days

with Thy grace, Beloved

and make meaningful this futile life on earth

let my heart brim over

with the divine strains of thy eternal melodyand my life resonate to that glorious music

night and day

forever(Translation : Maitrayee Sen)

SKETCH : SHANU LAHIRI


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Simla is an extraordinary place built on a hogback ridge with

bungalows on the sloping sides. There was only one main road

along the ridge and on this road were collected all the Governmentbuildings, the church, hotels, shops, schools, etc. The officials

inhabited very comfortable houses on the slopes. Locomotion

was very restricted and no motor-cars or carriages were allowed

except for the Viceroy, Commander-in-Chief and the Governor

of the Punjab. The rest of the Simla world went in rickshaws....

There was a great deal of tennis, polo and other matches at

Annandale, but at the same time it was a place of hard work

in the Government offices, and I do not think the Government

of India would be able to carry on unless they were able to go

to Simla or elsewhere for the hot weather.

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Road from Kasturba Gandhi Marg (Curzon Road) and

then take first left. PHOTO : ARJUN DASGUPTA

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Tughlakabad Baoli : Getting there: The entrance to the

fortress city is on the Mehrauli Badarpur road. Watch

out for the red and white Ghiyasuddin Tughlak Tomb

opposite the entrance. PHOTO : ARJUN DASGUPTA

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Nizamuddin Baoli : Getting there : The entrance is from Lodi Road, very near theBlue tiled mosque at the Humayun's tomb crossing. PHOTO : MADHUMITA DASGUPTA

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Ferozabad Baoli : Getting there : Coming from Delhi Gate towards ITO, watch out

for the entrance on the left. There are adequate signages. PHOTO : ARJUN DASGUPTA

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Hindu Rao Baoli : Getting there:

Follow the metro line from the

Kashmere Gate station beyond Tis

Hazari (one station) and take a right

on Rani Jhansi Marg. The road will

wind up at Hindu Rao Hospital after

crossing Fatehgarh Memorial andAshoka Pillar on the right.


~


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Gandhak Ki Baoli : Getting there: Approach Mehrauli village keeping Qutab Minar

on your left. After the Bus terminal, take a left into the village. The Baoli is about a

hundred metres on the left, with biryani shops on the right. PHOTO : ARJUN DASGUPTA

~


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Rajon Ki Baoli (Sukhi Baoli) : Getting there: A few yards beyond the Gandhak Ki

Baoli take a left (it would be good to ask for the turn towards Jamali Kamali) into the

Archaeological Park. The park starts beyond some hutments with a dirt track which

soon becomes a pathway. There is no signage saying this is the Park, but there are

signages showing directions for the monuments. The Rajon Ki Baoli is about 400

metres from the main road. You can also enter the park from the Gurgaon road side

but it's a longer walk. PHOTO :ARJUN DASGUPTA

~


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Ramakrishna Puram Baoli :

Getting there: Coming down

Ring Road from AIIMS

towards Dhaulan Kuan turn

left after Bhikaji Cama Place.

After the crossing, turn right

into Sector 5 through Gate no.

5. The road curves right. After

turning, keep your eyes peeled

to the left.


Wazirpur Ki Gumbad

~


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Red Fort Baoli : Getting there:

There are adequate signages once

you have crossed the bazaar at the

mouth of the entrance.


Purana Qila Baoli : Getting

there: There are adequatesignages once you have

entered the Fort, which lies

adjacent to the Zoo.


~


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69

The gentleman in a thin lucknawi kurta-pyjama leans back in a

ratty cane armchair and recites a couplet in chaste Urdu in praise

of the kababs from the back lanes of Ballimaran.

Another man taps out the tobacco from his pipe into an ashtray

and with a reminiscent smile says, "Hmmm... the best pineapplefresh cake I've ever had was in 1942 at the Davicos restaurant in

Simla."

The matronly lady, greying hair pulled back into a severe bun,

wipes her turmeric stained hands on her crumpled dhonekhali sari,

pops a paan into her mouth and exclaims, "Aha! The hilsa from

the Padma River! You can't imagine how delicious it tastes when

steamed in mustard and green chillies."

Different though they may sound, they do have some things incommon. They are all Bengalis and they are all settled in Delhi. In

the wedding cards of West Bengal these families are always

specifically categorised as 'Probashi Bangali' - those living sort of in

exile, outside the hallowed borders of Amar Bangla.

You may have noticed that the three are waxing ecstatically lyrical

about food. Whatever your Bengali friends may say about their deep

involvement in culture, however passionately they may argue aboutpolitics or the weather forecast, if you want to touch the Bengali heart,

just talk eloquently about food.

The Bengalis of Delhi - 'Bongs' for short. If you try to put them

into a stereotypical slot of a thin man clad in dhoti-kurta and glasses

The Bengalis of Delhi(Beyond Durga, Rosogollas & Fish)

Subhadra Sen Gupta

Safdarjung Enclave,

New Delhi


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haggling over fish in a terrible Bengali-accented Hindi, a big

proportion won't fit the bill. The Bengalis have retained many common

cultural and ritualistic traditions but the contrasts in lifestyles, socialinclinations and especially their attitudes towards the city can be

surprisingly diverse.

One of the easiest ways to track down the presence of Bengalis

in a locality is through the celebration of a Durga Puja. The first Durga

Puja was held in Delhi as far back as 1842 by one Majumdar of

Rajshahi, full name unknown. While Bahadur Shah Zafar reigned over

a dying Mughal empire from the Red Fort and Ghalib was composing

ghazals in Gali Qasim Jaan, some Bengalis were praying to Durga

somewhere in the Old City. So Bengalis were among the citizens of

Delhi who were swept up by the Uprising of 1857.

The first wave of Bengalis into Delhi did not bring Rabindra

Sangeet and rosogollas with them. Instead they came with a rare

temperament of adventure and enterprise. In the 19th century, leaving

Bengal was disapproved of for both social and religious reasons. You

could lose your caste and be ostracized for your act of rebellion butstill a generation of young men ventured into North India primarily

as professional administrators and teachers. The best among them were

employed in the royal durbars of Rajasthan. For instance, one of the

roads of present day Jaipur is named after Sansar Chandra Sen, who

was an illustrious Diwan of the royal house of the city.

It was the next generation of Probashi Bengalis who really spread

across North India. The younger sons of these court officials who could

not inherit their father's positions and other family members movedout to other towns as professionals - as doctors, lawyers, bureaucrats

and teachers. The dilapidated bungalows with huge, unkempt gardens

that stand crumbling in the sun in Kanpur and Allahabad still contain

remnants of these families.

The first wave of Bengalis into Delhi settled in the galis of Chandni

Chowk, and at Daryagunj, Ajmere Gate and Timarpur. Among them

Hem Chandra Sen was the first of a long line of Bengali physiciansin the city and he was a remarkably enterprising man. He established

The Indian Medical Hall, Delhi's first medical store and the IMH Press,

which celebrated its centenary in 1983. The road on which they both

stood is named after H.C. Sen and at the Fountain, just across the

The Bengalis of Delhi


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One of the Mutiny Memorials infront of the G.P.O. (On the way from

Red Fort to Kashmere Gate)

This was a gate to the British

Magazine that was attacked during

the 1857 Uprising. The upper tablet

"placed here by the Government of

India" commemorates the British

personnel who died defending the

Magazine. Apology on the lowertablet added by the independent

Government of India:

'The Persons described as Rebels

and Mutineers in the above

Inscription were Indian Members of

the Army in the service of the East

Indian Company trying to overthrow

the Foreign Government.'

A similar apology tablet appears at

the Fategarh Memorial (right) near

the north campus of the Delhi

University, where the word found

objectionable in the original

inscription is 'Enemy'.


square from the press is Annapurna, the oldest Bengali sweet shop in

Delhi.With each succeeding generation these Bengalis lost touch with

Bengal and merged deeper into the life of Delhi. For them it was more

important to assimilate into the culture of Shahjahanabad than turn

nostalgic about the banks of the Ganga at Tribeni. Intermarriage with



74/92

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72

other probashi Bengali families also played a part. There is a story,

may be apocryphal, of one such wedding in which when the baraat

arrived, the groom came riding a white horse!The present generation exhibits a proud and possessive air about

the city. They are Dilliwallas first and Bengalis later. Their Hindustani

is chaste and idiomatic while their spoken Bengali is often sprinkled

with Hindi and Urdu words. When they go to Calcutta they find it

difficult to comprehend the street slang of Tollygunje but they have

no problem in exchanging banter with a rickshawalla in Hauz Qazi.

With remarkable loyalty they all congregate once a year at the

Durga Puja of Kashmere Gate. It is the oldest puja in town and

celebrated its centenary in 2010. Kashmere Gate has a slow motion,

serene, zamindari air and they don't play raucous Bengali film songs

on the mike. The members of the Bengali Club of Kashmere Gate

who organise the events can often trace back three generations of

involvement with it. In the pandal the men at the bookstall and the

sweetshop know the

families by name and atthe food stall the

fragrant biryani is

cooked by the chefs of

Chandni Chowk in

giant, battered handis.

Many of the families

have shifted to South

Delhi but they travelacross the city every day

to be at Kashmere Gate

for the morning anjali

and the evening arati.

After all, to belong to

the Bengali aristocracy

of Purani Dilli is aserious matter.

In the 1910's when

Dr. Aprokash Chandra

Sen was probably

BIMALDASGUPTA



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visiting his patients in a horse drawn buggy, another wave of Bengalis

arrived in Delhi in the administrative baggage train of the British. This

was after the capital of the Angrez Raj had been shifted from Calcuttato Delhi in 1911. They were the babus - the back bone of the British

government at the Central Secretariat, railways, postal services and

they were settled in the rows of white washed squares built around

Gole Market in Lutyen's spanking new capital city of New Delhi.

It must have been a drastic change from life in Calcutta and there

was also the yearly uprooting of hearth and home that couldn't have

been easy. For in the winter months the government would operate

from Delhi but every April the whole unwieldy apparatus would be

shifted to Simla. The Purani Dilli Bengalis still call them "Shimlay-

Dilli" in an affectionate but slightly disparaging reference to this

vagabond existence. They were acceptable after a while but they were

not really Dilliwallas you know...

For the "Shimlay-Dilli" lot life was centred at Irwin Road, Albert

and Havelock Square; window shopping at Queen's Way and watching

films at Regal and Odeon. Their ties with Bengal were stronger, withfamilies dutifully going back on home leave. This was the time when

Delhi developed the habit of judging you by the locality you lived in.

You just had to mention that you were living at Dalhousie Square and

the listener immediately knew your salary, designation and probably

even the colour of the curtains in your living room!

For the vanishing generation of these people the summer months

in Simla remain in memories as idyllic walks on hill paths, of

rhododendrons, strawberries and apples plucked off trees. Eyes turnnostalgic about "Chhoto Shimlay", strolling on the Mall, Jakko Round

and Scandal Point. Staying at cutely named houses like Prairie Lodge

and Rose Cottage. There was even a Lover's Lane where I presume

good Bengali maidens did not venture.

In my family, which was proudly Purani Dilli, my aunts studied

in Hindi at the Indraprastha School and breakfast on Sundays was aloo

sabzi, bermi and halwa. The "Shimlay" people were much moreassiduous about retaining their Bengali culture. The girls obediently

sang Rabindra Sangeet and the mashimas were deeply into mishti

making. Bengali books and magazines were available at Gole Market's

Saraswati Book Depot. The men all dreamed of ICS sons and



76/92

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74

emulating their burra sahibs ordered three-piece suits at Connaught

Place. There was a definite influence of English lifestyles epitomised

later by the writer Nirad Chaudhuri, whom the people of KashmereGate remember as an eccentric Bengali sahib who stepped out in natty

suits even at the height of summer.

In the beginning the lifestyles of the Old and New Delhi families

were quite rigidly demarcated. The Dilliwalla ladies shopped in the

kuchas, katras and Faiz Bazaar and went for puja to the Tis Hazari

Kalibari and the Satya Narain temple across the road from the Red

Fort. Their children saw movies at Ritz and Moti and went to the

Bengali Boy's and Indraprastha Girl's schools. The Shimlay ladies

shopped at Great Eastern Stores and Mahamaya Bastralaya in Gole

Market, prayed at the Hanuman Temple on Irwin Road and the Kalibari

on Reading Road and their children went to Raisina, Union Academy

and Lady Irwin schools.

By the 1950's, in the free air of an independent nation, these strict

social boundaries were merging. People moved, the Shimlay families

forgot about going home to Bengal after the men retired, and insteadbuilt houses in Karol Bagh. Their children, born and bred in Delhi,

married into the Old Delhi families, like my mother did. Then they

all turned and sneered together at the new Bengali entrant into Delhi

- the Bengalis who would settle in Chittaranjan Park in what was then

a remote corner of South Delhi. For families who thought Nizamuddin

and Lodi Road were too far into the wilderness, Chitto Park was totally

beyond the pale of the Delhi-Bengali civilization.

In this latest influx there was a new element. The earlier twoinvasions had been predominantly of West Bengalis. So now we

happily added the "Bangal" and "Ghoti" social skirmish to the brew.

The antipathy between the two groups, which is an accepted thing in

Bengal, was now carried into Delhi. The difference in language, food

habits, traditions and even temperament are quite discernable. Chitto

Park for a superior Sen of Faiz Bazaar or a Ray of the Fountain was

on the other side of a social chasm, and the feeling was heartilyreciprocated.

Some sociologist should do a paper on this Great Bengal War. For

a West Bengali the eastern kind are "Bangals", supposedly rough, rustic

and without culture. For the East Bengalis their opponents are "Ghotis"



77/92

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75

Not very long ago, even

during the 1970s, traffic

used to pass through

these two gates. Today it

is a protected

monument. The

inscription (right) "is

placed here" by theBritish Government "as

a tribute of respect" to

the dead and wounded

soldiers, including

Indian men, fighting

during the assault on

Delhi on 14th

September 1857.

PHOTO : ARJUN DASGUPTA

Kashmere Gate : View from what used to

be inside Shahjahanabad

Kashmere Gate (Rear)

- effete, soft and irresponsible. (By the way 'ghoti' means a pot and I

still don't know why they were anointed with that odd name.) The

language they speak seems to reflect this too. The lingo of the east is

harsher to the ear and earthier than the mellifluous rounded vowels of

Calcutta. Food habits differ too. The Bangal understands and cooks

fish with a depth of creativity no Ghoti can match. You just need towander in the fish markets at Chitto Park and you'll sense the passion.

The cooking is heavier on chillies and tangier with mustard.

Temperamentally the Bangals are supposed to be more energetic

and harder working compared to the quieter natured Ghotis who have



78/92

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76

a deeper affinity to the softer pleasures of music, art and theatre and

a lesser capacity for entrepreneurial action. After the Partition these

differences were also mirrored in other communities of Delhi. ThePurani Dilli Mathurs reacted with the same horror at the arrival of the

Punjabis as a Majumdar from Hanuman Road did to Chitto Park - it

was the invasion of the parvenu.

Battle lines have a habit of fading. It is so with the Bengalis of

Delhi. For the generations born after Independence, Delhi is their

home. They can't go nostalgic about Khulna or Dacca. The fishermen

singing bhatiali on the Ganga or the acting of Uttam Kumar doesn't

bring sentimental tears to their eyes. They are merging smoothly into

a more cosmopolitan life. A mixture of Hindi and English is common

lingo, tee shirts and skinny jeans are preferred to tangails and the song

playing on their ipods could be Lady Gaga or Indian Ocean. Some

even have the courage to admit that they are not madly enthused by

Rabindra Sangeet.

However some things will remain Bengali forever. If two Bengali

families come into a locality they will form an association, plan aDurga Puja and build a Kalibari. Let the number grow and so would

the associations and pujas. One of the greatest pleasures would always

be arguing vociferously about esoteric matters with endless passion -

any topic will do actually. They will always love books, every Bengali

house has stuffed bookcases and parents scrimp and save to buy them

for their children. They will love or hate Mamata Banerji, milder

emotions are not part of their make up and their touchy pride will

always make them spring up in indignation at imagined insults,something that totally puzzles the more laid back Punjabis.

At the oldest Bengali temple in the city, the Tis Hazari Kalibari,

there are marble squares embedded on the floor engraved with the

names of old Bengalis who contributed to the building of the temple.

The lettering has faded under the feet of a century of devotees. Like

them the Bengali has merged and mingled into the city and become

an accepted part of its life.

(Subhadra Sen Gupta writes fiction and non-fiction for both adults

and children, often around history. She also writes travel books. A

modified version of this article was earlier published in the Indian Express.)



79/92

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77

Percival Spear came to India in 1924 and joined St Stephen's College as a

lecturer of history. He left St. Stephen's in 1938 to join government service

before returning to Cambridge in 1945. He passed away in December 1982.India Rememberedwas published in 1980. In one part, he recounts his

memories of the various groups of students, including the quintessential

Bangali:

Our students like the staff, were a representative collection. We had a strong

contingent of Muslims from both the city and Punjab Next in

prominence were the Bengalis. They were numerous because of the Bengali

families working with the Government of India. With their flowing dhotis

their vivacity and their chatter they made a picturesque group. They wereprominent because of the rather brittle brilliance of many of them and their

tendency to flock together in groups. While the Muslims were conspicuous

on the playing field, the Bengalis sustained the college cultural activities. It

used to be said that where two Muslims were gathered together there would

be a feast, where two Jats, a quarrel, and two Bengalis, a Bengali club.

Their other characteristic was their clannishness. With a few conspicuous

exceptions a Bengali would usually be found with other Bengalis. They

were tenacious of their own culture and way of life, their dress, their diet,their clothes, their music, literature and art. They were leaders in thing

cultural, especially anything dramatic or anything to do with Tagore. Thus

Shakespeare qualified as a poet and dramatist, like Tagore, and Wordsworth

as a nature mystic, like Tagore. But this same Bengali consciousness also

kept them rather apart from the rest of the college to whom their enthusiasms

implied a shade of cultural disdain for other traditions. As a group they

were therefore charming, stimulating, provocative but rather apart; they

were never very popular in the college society as a whole.

Many Bengali students came from families temporarily stationed in Delhi

on government service, the Delhi-Simla community as they were called.

But another section came from the city of Delhi itself and belonged to the

remarkable Bengali migration of the nineteenth century. As Bengalis led is

western education they also led in the new western skills. When the demand

for these arose up-country only Bengalis were at first available. For all

their alleged timidity and lack of enterprise they went in thousands

throughout the north as far as Peshawar on the frontier. They came as schoolmasters, college lecturers, railway officials, as telegraphists and minor

officials and above all as doctors and lawyers.. in my time many of these

families were in their third generation and many had acquired the local

culture without losing their hereditary one..



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Amongst the warm blooded animal species birds are one of the

few groups that can live in a large variety of conditions and on different

kinds of feed available in the habitats throughout the world. Their body

temperature is 38 degrees Celsius but they can withstand temperatures

ranging from as high as 60 degrees Celsius to as low as minus 40degrees. Some species living in extreme cold climates migrate

seasonally to warmer areas. The anatomical structure of birds, of which

feathers are the most distinctive feature have also evolved over

geological ages to complement their lifestyle and their choice of habitat

or changing habitat, as the case may be.

This has led to their broad classification by bird watchers into

groups other than the usual scientific Order of Families and

Subspecies. One such classification is that of Water Birds, WadingBirds and Perching Birds. Water Birds spend a lot of time in water

bodies: the sea, rivers, lakes and ponds; Wading birds prefer the sea

shore, river banks, and the edges of lakes and ponds; and Perching

Birds live on trees and Shrubs.

Another way to classify birds is by their choice of habitat: those

that live in a particular geographical area throughout their life are

called Resident Birds. Some birds, however, leave their home duringwinter and fly over long distances to nest in warmer areas and to escape

the rigors of cold, limited daylight and dwindling food supply. They

breed, raise their chicks and then fly back to their homeland. These

birds are called Migrants and Passage Migrants, the latter name

Jyotirmoy Ray

Chittaranjan Park

New Delhi

Delhi - The City of Birds


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applying to birds that change their area of migration within their flight

path. There are also some birds that like to leave home for just a short

while to visit adjacent regions, where they are known as Visitors.The Union Territory of Delhi at an average altitude of 216 m above

sea level, is located on a narrow strip of the Indo-Gangetic plain. The

Aravalli ridge and the River Jamuna, running across the entire tract

from north to south, are the two most prominent features of this

Territory. For the purpose of bird watching, naturalists focus on an

area with a radius of roughly 48 Km around Delhi.

The abundant greenery of Delhi both in the residential areas as

well as in the enclosed city parks, the semi wild, partly afforested

terrain of the ridge and the Jamuna River's low sandy banks and the

edges of other water bodies, the mudflats and swamps, the open

archeological sites and ruins and the rows of roadside trees offer a

congenial habitat for avifauna in large numbers of all varieties even

in this highly urban environment.

Delhi has about 150 kinds of Resident birds. Many of these birds

are of the perching variety. They are mostly seen in the residentialareas. While some of the resident birds are water birds, others are of

the wading kind.

Besides this, more than 150 species of migrant birds fly in from

outside Delhi, constituting a spectacular combination of water, wading

and perching birds of an astonishing range. Winter brings to Delhi

the maximum number of Migrants, followed by spring and the long

months of summer and autumn.

There are of course Visitors as well but these are fewer in number.In all, Delhi is home to more than 400 species of birds. I can

think of no other capital city in the world (except perhaps Rio de

Janeiro) that is fortunate enough to have so many varieties of birds.

Delhi is truly a paradise for bird lovers - a comment frequently made

by some of my Indian and overseas friends interested in the world of

these feathered bipeds, as birds are sometimes referred to by

ornithologists.For me, settling down in Delhi came with its own baggage of

worries and pleasures. One of the things that I have come to love about

the city is the chance to wake up each morning to the call of the

perching birds. I realized this right at the beginning of the first October



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Tailor Bird

after my return. On my first morning, I had the most pleasant surprise.

I woke up early to the call of an Indian Cuckoo (Koel) resonatingfrom a distant park. It was accompanied, as if in an orchestra by the

synchronized chirruping of a bunch of Sparrows and the sweet notes

of a Magpie Robin from the neighboring garden. By the time I came

out to the verandah, to my surprise I found Tailor Birds hopping over



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Hoopoe

the railing and twittering to their hearts' content amidst the foliage of

my potted plants. That prompted me to look around their nest. There

is a Tree of Sorrow (Harshingar, or Shiuli in Bengali)) at the edge ofa small park nearby, whose white, orange stemmed flowers fall on

the ground throughout the night, so that each day it can roll out its

soft petalled carpet to greet the morning light with fresh fragrance,

redolent of life and beauty. And it was there that I spotted the nest.

Hanging on the upper branches of the tree was a tiny conical shaped

nest made of leaves with the signature stitch marks of the Tailor Bird.

As I walked along the winding path in the park, bordered by a

variety of trees and shrubs, I observed that some of the trees like

gulmohar, silk cotton and laburnum were shedding their leaves, as they

normally do in autumn. As I trampled over these dry leaves the

crunching noise, alerted a flock of birds at a slight distance. Disrupted

from their early morning feed in a grassy area, they beat a hasty retreat

and noisily scattered off in different directions. That presented another

entrancing sight of wings and colorful feathers in front of my eyes. A

pair ofHoopoes with their conspicuous fan shaped crests, long slenderbills, black and white zebra markings on their wings, which were

pecking the ground nearby, searching for insects, flew away to a

neighboring silk cotton tree (Semul) and sat on its bare branches.



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Several kinds of

mynas clustered in a

group, among them thecommon Indian Myna,

the Brahminy Myna,

the Pied Myna, the

Bank Myna took off

from the ground and

flew away over the

neighboring roofs

towards the rising sun.

There was a lonely,

male Indian Robin, too,

of sprightly mien,

blackish brown in color

and with a cocked tail.

It took cover in a nearby bush as I approached.

By the time I came back to my house, I found to my surprise thescenario had changed in the greenery of my verandah. I heard the

joyous notes of the

bulbul in different

frequencies. As I rightly

guessed, the different

notes came from two

different subspecies of

bulbuls - one with acrimson patch below its

tail called the Red

Vented Bulbul and the

other, the Red

Whiskered Bulbul with

crimson whiskers and a

pointed crest. They werepecking at half eaten

fruits from a thorny bael

tree. Soon a flock of

Jungle Babblers flew

Red Whiskered Bulbul

Jungle Babbler



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towards my Verandah, but spotting me there immediately flew away.

They are a very restive bunch and particularly noisy.

As I was following the flight path of the babblers I noticed anothergroup of birds clutching on to the TV cables. Silhouetted against the

blue sky and trying to grab flying insects in their beaks in graceful

sallies, those birds with glossy black plumage and long forked tails

could not be anything other than the Drongoe. This species ride on

the backs of the cattle in ploughed fields and pounce on insects

exposed in the furrows. They often mimic the calls of other birds.

A crackling sound from the laburnum tree drew my attention. A

pair of green Alexandrine Parakeets were in a courtship mood, rubbing

their necks against each other. An onlooker enjoying this interesting

scene with rapt attention was a squirrel perched on the same tree trunk,

a few meters away.

Drongoe



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The finale of this morning's bird watching experience was the

sudden appearance of a pair of tiny greenish yellow birds with

bespectacled eyes called the White Eye. They slipped in and out of

a network of small branches in the bougainvillea bush and then sat on

a leaky tap to sip water droplets. Reluctant to disturb them, I quickly

retraced my steps from the verandah. My first morning in Delhi wasone of the most unique days of bird watching in my life.

No doubt for nature lovers, Delhi is quite an ideal city to cultivate

and develop the engaging hobby of Bird Watching.

(Jyotirmoy Ray is a retired consultant engineer.

All sketches by the author)

White Eye



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Two books on the "forgotten" DelhiSumita Sengupta

"We are pleased to announce to Our People that, we have decided

upon the transfer of the seat of the Government of India, from Calcutta

to the ancient Capital of Delhi..." proclaimed King George V onDecember 12, 1911, a hundred years ago, in front of a motley crowd of

the who's who then, at a meticulously planned coronation Durbar held

in north-west Delhi. Delhi has been the Capital city ever since.

Delhi's tryst with power and the ruling class has always made

interesting reading and forms a major part of our country's history.

The many architectural ruins and heritage edifices that dot Delhi's

skyline today stand as mute witnesses of different dynasties that

occupied the city as their seat of power through ages. Two books, Vitasta

Publishing's Forgotten Delhi by R. S. Sethi and Chronicle Books' The

Delhi that No-one Knows by R.V. Smith record Delhi's history through

these structures; some of them are only relics of their past, yet no less

The Delhi that No-one Knows

R.V. Smith

Chronicle Books; Page 145, Price : Rs. 350

Forgotten Delhi

R.S. Sethi

Vitasta Publishing, Page151, Price : Rs. 325


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magnificent. For booklovers and for those who are in awe of Delhi,

picking up these two books would be worthwhile to revisit that Delhi

of yore as our Capital city completes its hundredth year.Both the books cover more or less the same tombs, heritage spots

and havelis, with similar details of the interior and exterior of the

structures, with some information on the Nawab or the Sultan during

whose rule the structures were erected along with a bit of popular stories

that are associated with the structures, if any. It is quite amazing to

note how two individuals coming from two different backgrounds could

conceive of similar books around the same time - Sethi's book was

reprinted in 2010 while Smith's book came out for the first time in

2005 with the third reprint in 2011. The difference in treatment, at a

first glance, appears to be that while Sethi starts his book from the

relics of Old Delhi in the Walled City, Smith does just the opposite,

starting from the other side of the town, from South Delhi.

Of course, as one reads the books one finds many more differences

in writing styles as well as in the treatment of the subject. The first

book is written in the form of a diary as the sub-title itself states, "Froma Heritage Walker's Diary," complete with the mention of date in the

beginning of each chapter. The writer R.S. Sethi has been an IAS, a

bureaucrat holding high positions in the government. R.V. Smith is a

journalist and a columnist. Like Sethi, he too covered most of the places

on foot. And as evident from the two books, there has been a reflection

of their personal styles in their writings - Smith's work has more

narratives than that of Sethi. When the subject matter is the same, a

comparison between the two books is inevitable. Sethi is not a writer,and any inadequacy on that score is understandable. But one wishes

that the publishers had spared more time proof reading to avoid jarring

words like ` "while returning back" on page 98 or "As you one enters

the Purana Quila" on page 69. Also, repeated use of the phrase "state

of total neglect" doesn't make comfortable reading.

Yet, there is no doubt that Sethi has been as thorough in his work

as Smith is. There are interesting snippets in Sethi's book that attemptto make up for the shortcomings - how many of modern day Delhi-ites

have actually visited the Lothian Cemetery? Or for that matter are

people aware of that little known detail of Mughal king Aurangzeb's

crowning? Sethi notes while visiting Shalimar Bagh's Sheesh Mahal,

Book Review


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"It was at the Sheesh Mahal where Aurangzeb was crowned Emperor

of India on 31 July 1658, after he had deposed his father Shah Jahan. It

was then that he adopted the title of Alamgir or `World taker.'Interestingly, the date and time of the coronation was fixed by an

astrologer, something that an orthodox Muslim is quite opposed to."

There are many such small bits in the book - there is an ancient

tower in Hauz Khas which most of the local residents wouldn't even

notice, that is called Chor Minar where there are several holes on the

wall. Sethi writes, "It is said that severed heads of thieves used to be

placed in those holes for public exposure." And if one has ever

wondered why Mongol Puri in Delhi is so called, this book has an

explanation - the residents of that area still have `Mongol' features!

The Delhi that No-one Knows is more anecdotal and interesting to

read. After all, history has story embedded in it. And Delhi's historical

sites are not just beautifully crafted structures; the stories lying within

those structures bring them alive in a reader's imagination even after

so many years. Even though Smith is not a great storyteller, his narrative

is more interesting, lending a special attraction to his book. Startingfrom Qutab Minar, the once imposing tower that is emblematic of Delhi,

the book enables a reader visit the numerous historical spots and

rediscover its ancient history. The sites are not described according to

chronology of history, but according to the location, making it easier

for any tourist to follow in the author's footsteps and re-live Delhi that

remains in hiding behind the skyscrapers and malls and the teeming

population. In fact, it will be a good idea for people out to re-discover

their own city to just pick up The Delhi that No-one Knows and set outsight-seeing. Given the dearth of knowledgeable tourist guides at

monument sites, the book will definitely be of great help.

Through the civilizations that grew and perished in Delhi, the city

has evolved and represents a complex character today. The stories

confined beneath the relics of ancient structures may be different than

that existed in Lutyen's Delhi whose foundation was laid a hundred

years ago, but both are same in nature. The Capital city has alwaysbeen the hot bed of power politics and struggle for it, and that still

continues. These two books only re-affirm this eternal character of

Delhi. (Sumita Sengupta is a freelance journalist)

Book Review


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This issue of

HINDOL

is supported

by

E Meditek (TPA) Services Ltd.Gurgaon

Zafar aadmi usko na janeeyega,

Woh ho kitna hi sahib-e-fahm-o-zaka.

Jise aish mein yaad-e-Khuda na rahi,

Jise taish mein khauf-e-Khuda na raha.

Bahadur Shah 'Zafar'

(1775 - 1862)the last Mughal Emperor

Zafar, do not regard him a man, howsoever wise may he be,

Who in his revelry disregards the Lord, and in his frenzy fears Him not.

G fl, - , , ijM fl


91/92

Bharat Lama

ANAMIKA ADHIKARI, SCHOOL STUDENT

,


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HINDOL 10th Issue October 2011 - With Cover

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