Bygone in bylanes

Delhi lives in many layers, and how its heritage co-exists with its present

- AMITABH RANJAN

DELHI WOULD APPEAR a phantasmagoria to the uninitiated. Reasons abound. From amidst cacophony in crowded markets arise monuments from another era, desperately trying to make their presence felt.

A tonga moving in tandem with a swanky Merc honking to find past its way. Connoisseurs in snazzy outfits partaking of sushi, pasta or salad in a chic restaurant, next door toa very down-to-earth chhole-bhature joint serving its oil-dripping specialty to a different class of denizens in their sweat and grime. The city lives in many layers. Urbanisation has run amok. Delhi’s architectural heritage, its earliest villages and neighbourhoods, have been erased in good measure, both physically and emotionally. The contemporary itself is in a flux. For someone who was born in one of its villages that remains only in traces,walked the streets and parks as they once were, has seen the traditional way of life being taken over by modernity, longing forthe years gone byisa daily affair.An encounter between the legacy and the new can spring many thoughts. It is with asense of lament, hope,concern,and even foreboding that Ekta Chauhan pens Sheher Mein Gaon, a book that chronicles the urban villages of the national capital.