Waiting in C.P.

[Text by D.B., Photos: Hindustan Times, D.B.]

[If my Title selection is getting too ‘direct’ day by day, I apologize. I guess it’s because I am not been able to think anything other than the ‘content’, when I am writing.]

Nothing on earth can be as fascinating as ‘Waiting’ for someone in C.P. (a.k.a.  Connaught Place). And I realized this a couple of days back when I had to wait for a friend who was coming in metro and to kill time I was just roaming around the place. ‘The Heart of the city’, as I call it, is in its 80’s and is getting ‘younger’ day by day. Being in C.P. in itself gives a feeling of celebrating a heritage.

“In 19^th century England, social life in cities and towns traditionally revolved around a central plaza with its shopping arcades, eateries and hotels. The British planned India's imperial capital and wanted the city to have a central business district of its own.”

                                                                                                                          Hindustan Times

Source : Hindustan Times

Source : Hindustan Times

Thus, C.P.’s construction began in 1929 and it was ready by 1933, as a ‘plaza’ for New Delhi and since then it has been the ‘Heart’ of the city. Every time I step into the heart, I feel a different beat! “Crowd ho to C.P. jaisa ho!” , is what my Uncle always say. Now, what he actually meant by ‘crowd’ is a different issue. But crowded Inner-Circle, everyone moving with the same speed, people waiting to cross the roads on each and every junction, long queues outside the Central Park, never ending rush outside Keventers, Mc Donald’s, etc., are common sights and ‘you-know-when-you-are-in-C.P.’ when you witness any of these. Like others, I usually know where am heading to and it’s always pre-planned, when I am in C.P. That’s how it goes! Unless you are an outsider, you never bother to stand in the middle of the circle and stare at others passing by. And even if you try to, it won’t help, as they are moving at a pretty fast pace. I used to be one of those ‘fast-pacers’ too till this day, when I started ‘Waiting in C.P.!’

I came to know that my friend is around one hour late and thus I decided to roam around. Merely after ten minutes of purposeless walk in the clock-wise direction, I realized people are looking at me curiously. It took a moment for me to learn that if you are C.P., you should have a partner! The first myth that “No one bothers about others in C.P.” went into trash. With hundreds of such ‘rounds’ already in my account, I decided to cease the walk, then and there. Moreover, Delhi’s heat too forced me to settle down somewhere. The renovation of the place due to the infamous Commonwealth Games has lead to few spots where one can actually sit and relax for hours. So, my resting point was between Block B & C. The curvilinear or rather ‘zig-zag-design’ benches made up of stone with ‘new’ hoardings, couple of metal ‘always-full’ dustbins and the much needed shade of trees were my companion for the next hour.

'Flavor' of C.P.

Even then, I was the only one who was alone. A couple was sitting on my right-hand side (eating Ice cream), murmuring to each other, two girls on my left (eating the Special Bombay Bhel puri) and chatting on some matter and people crossing  the road at some ‘50 per minute’ frequency. Some going towards right and others to the left, most of them were couples and those who were alone could be seen busy on cell-phone, in-uniform thus ‘office-goers’, groups of youngsters ‘laughing out loud’ (the LOL people), and some colleagues from the shops in C.P. itself, all in all, the ‘youth’ of C.P. could be seen sitting there alone. Out of the blue, a very quirky sound was heard, something sort of “Qweee! Qweee!”, on my right! It was not any bird, for sure, but I could guess that it was some vendor selling some toy making that sound. I couldn’t find the person at first and thus returned my focus towards the ‘crowd’. I couldn’t even get back to my ‘cone of vision’ and the sound came in again. I lost my focus completely!

What I saw was an aged man, very weak, flimsy, lean, wearing an old-fashioned photo-chromatic specs, dull-colored shirt and trousers, carrying a huge bag on his left shoulder, trembling at every step, holding two hand-puppets and making the ‘Qweee’ sound from it! The sight was terrible to see, at first. I thought he would fall down if he makes another step and was about to move towards him but stopped when I realized that he was fine and ‘happy’ with what he was doing. He had a smile on his face every time he saw any kid and blew the puppet more rapidly. I started feeling helpless that very moment and realized that I was not the alone doing that. The couple sitting next to me, those ‘busy’ people passing by, youngsters, those girls on my left, that person caught hold of everyone out there. Just when I was thinking that why on earth he’s doing such job a family stopped. The mother with a girl came to Uncle and started enquiring about the puppet. She discussed for a while and bought one for her daughter. The family left that very moment but I kept on looking at him. He kept the money in his pocket and decided to take out one more from that huge bag. Tackling with the bag, happiness could be seen on his face. Then he suddenly decided to sit first. It seemed difficult for him to take those few steps towards the bench as he was not able to manage with the ‘fast’ moving crowd. But, he did and sat with those two girls on my left. The moment he settled, the girl offered him water, which he refused to take, with a smile. I realized that I am not the only one watching & concerned about him. He would have seen C.P. being built, I wondered. As he settled, safe and fine, I felt that I should move on and look for my friend.

“It would take another half an hour”, the text came and thus the next stop for me was a bench just outside the metro Exit no. 2, in front of Block B. This section had less but frequent movement. Mostly the groups of colleagues from the nearby shops could be seen. Saw a couple eating the Rs. 5 Ice Candy and the guy missed his last bite which fell into his shirt-pocket to which three of us started out laughing. Worst part, they noticed me noticing them. They smiled and the girl started helping the guy clearing the mess. Delightful. My eyeballs stopped when I saw a girl talking to the same puppet-wala Uncle. This time he was sitting on the steps of a shop and was responding to the girl with the same smile on his face. After few minutes, the girl went on and Uncle, again, went on with his job.

I got stuck in a mix of feelings. An old man with such attribute, reminding me of the tale of Kabuliwallah and on the other hand, the youngsters, the youth of the city helping him, is caring about him. The place where all this is happening is itself old, tattered, still standing and making its presence felt, trying to move and withstand the ‘fast’ pace.

In Architecture, we keep on asking ourselves, “What makes a ‘space’ a ‘place’..?

Dedicated to all the vendors, hawkers and ‘people’, together who make C.P. a ‘Place’!

Special Thanks to the friend who came late. It was worth it! :)