Delhi

by R V Smith

  Flagstaff Tower, which in its present form came up after the Mutiny had been quelled, occupies a picturesque spot, which gives a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding area – and so does the Mutiny Memorial, also on the Ridge, just above the Subzimandi. A British doctor, Fergus Paterson, working for an Indian-owned hospital in London, who visited it, the Rajpura Cemetery and Badli ki Sarai recently, was pleasantly surprised to see their state of preservation. He thought, in no other former colonial country would they have maintained monuments that commemorated the officers and men who died battling against native freedom fighters. The doctor was able to trace the name of his ancestor on a commemoration tablet and photograph it so that it could find a place in the family album. As the Mutiny memorial looks down on the sprawling city of Delhi, it is not difficult to imagine why the British gunners picked the spot to fire on the sepoys massed up. This place now provides a safe refuge for young lovers trying to hide from the public eve. Whatever they may do may not be known, but they do scribble their initials on the tablets as reminder of their afternoon amours.

  As one drives down from this monument to Nicholson Cemetery outside Kashmiri Gate, one does not see any more reminders of the Mutiny, except for the city wall in the distance, pockmarked with the signs of the cannonading done by the Tommies encamped on the Ridge near Hindu Rao’s mansion.

  The cemetery, where quite a few of the British who fell during the uprising are buried along with their hero, Brig. General John Nicholson, is now so well-preserved that a U.K. High Commissioner, Sir Michael Arthur, who helped in its restoration, thought that it surpassed many of the cemeteries in Britain, with its tombstones giving a glimpse of the history of 1857. Besides the big epitaph on Nicholson’s grave, there are smaller ones telling us about the infants who died in those days. Had the poet Thomas Gray seen this graveyard he may have written an even more memorable elegy than he is famous for. Besides the ‘rude forefathers’, generals, soldiers, priests, nuns, and men, women and children from every walk of life sleep here in perpetual peace, along with the mother of the young British soldier, who asked the passing stranger ‘not to regard it as a place of dreary gloom’ since it happened to contain his ‘beloved mother’s tomb’.

  60

  Talking Drums

  he drummers of Delhi are among the lucky few to have survived the onslaught of modern times. As a matter of fact they are more in demand now than perhaps ever during the last fifty years. The influx of the Punjabis after the Partition gave the drummers a new lease of life. They are now employed to drum at wedding parties and processions when the young men in the baraat dance all the way to the bride’s house. But there was a time when drummers had other duties to perform besides playing at weddings. In the medieval day they were employed in large numbers to act as messengers. They had a code, of course, and this was communicated in a sort of relay until the message reached all the cities and towns in a radius of several hundred miles. Sometimes, the message warned of an impending attack and sometimes it gave news of a court proclamation that the emperor was journeying and would need fresh horses at such and such a place. And so every time the drums beat across the miles, people knew something important was afoot.

  During the 1857 uprising it was either the lotus or the chappatis carried by runners secretly at night that warned most villages and towns that the revolt against the British was to break out soon. Wherever the symbols could not be carried the message was passed on by the beat of drum. But all that is forgotten history. What matters is that the drum is still going strong in the capital when its companion, the shehnai, is slowly dying out and so is the dholak.

  Ghaffar, the dholakwalah, walks about the streets of the Walled City asking people to get their dholaks mended. His is a dying profession, for how many people keep dholaks at home now? The answer is very few. Still Ghaffar manages to earn a pretty penny though it involves long tedious walks. He carries his lunch with him, sometimes just three rotis which he can eat with some dal bought from a dhaba or may be chhole, which is cheaper. Tuning the dholak isn’t child’s play. It needs expert fingers to do so. When the ‘taal’ is good one can do astounding things with the dholak and thrill the listener to no end.

  Talk to him and he will tell you that dholaks were a prized possession once and much in demand during weddings and other celebrations. Nearly every family owned a dholak which was kept hanging on an inside room wall until the time when it was needed by the women of the family to sing some joyous or devotional songs. Since dholaks are scarce now, those who possess them are inundated with requests during the marriage season. The dholak is loaned and the owner and his or her relatives are invited to the function where it is played.

  Ghaffar plays the big drums during Muharrum. It requires a lot of stamina to do so during the ten-day commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain. When he was younger he could beat the drums for hours. Now he has slowed down because of age. His sons haven’t taken to this profession because there is hardly any money in it.

  However, if Ghaffar were to leave his old haunts and start making his rounds in New Delhi he would find more work as dholaks are still played at kirtans, which are becoming increasingly popular even with the women of affluent families. Somehow Ghaffar loves his old beat but loses out on a lot.

  But coming back to the drummers, there are a whole lot of them in the walled city, Patel Nagar, near Shadipur Depot, and Paharganj, who are employed during weddings and engagements and other social events. But lately they have been the most busy at the Puja pandals. On Holi too, they find good earnings and sustain themselves on tall glasses of bhang. The dholwalahs, as they are known, are particularly active at Lohri celebrations, where they beat their drums around the bonfires lit up in different colonies and also around election time. Some of them claim to be descendants of those who beat the kettledrums during Mughal days, but most belong to the Khatik caste who took to the drums only in recent times.

  61

  Temples of Antiquity

  he number of listed temples in Delhi is only forty-four but there are several hundred that have mushroomed all over, so much so that you will find them in every nook and corner, besides those on the thoroughfare routes. Among the ones that escaped destruction by invaders and have been classified by INTACH, there are some dating back to antiquity. The Nili Chhatri Mandir on the Old Ridge Road in Yamuna Bazaar is said to be of Pandava times and believed to be 3,000 years old. In its present form it is not such an old building, having been built by the Marathas over a pavilion erected by Humayun, the second Mughal emperor, with a blue tiled roof. The temple’s ceiling is now painted blue, hence the name.

  The Jogmaya Mandir in Mehrauli, where a floral pankh is offered during the annual Phool Walon ki Sair (like the Kalkaji temple) is also said to belong to the Mahabharata era and dedicated to Jogmaya or Yogmaya, the sister of Krishna, who escaped being killed by Kans at her birth and thus foiled the tyrant’s plans to get at the Lord, who was to end his reign of terror. Another Yogmaya Mandir exists in Naya Bans area, which was constructed in 1883. It has a single chamber and a domed roof and dallan or courtyard with an ornamental gateway. The reason for its erection was probably because of the difficulty the people of the Walled City faced in travelling all the way to Mehrauli to worship Yogmaya Devi.

  It is interesting to note that several famous temples are situated in Katra Nil, Chandni Chowk. Also Shivalayas and Hanuman mandirs predominate throughout Delhi. The oldest Hanuman Mandir is the one in Baba Kharag Singh Marg, which is highly venerated and was built during the reign of Akbar by Raja Man Singh, his foremost general and kinsman (since the Raja’s aunt was married to the emperor).

  When Raja Jai Singh built his Jantar Mantar during the time of Mohammad Shah Rangila in the eighteenth century, he also renovated this temple. Since then the mandir has undergone several renovations, the most recent in our times. The original building was roofed by a steeple, ornamented with paintings and glasswork. The floors were paved with white and black marble of Makr
ana. Near it is the antique Shiv Mandir.

  The Lal Mandir, opposite the Red Fort, is a Jain temple built in the early eighteenth century (during the fag end of Aurangzeb’s reign) and is a heritage building from where the silver street of Chandni Chowk starts. Adjacent to it is the popular Gauri Shankar Mandir built by a Maratha soldier. The Bhairon Mandir near Purana Qila (with its Rani Kunti Temple) is yet another mandir of the Mahabharata times and is believed to have been built by Bhimsen, the mighty warlord, who had carried the image of Bhairon on his shoulders a long distance. But before he could install it at the place of his choice the idol became so heavy that even he could not carry it any further and had to set it up at its present location. The temple building is a much renovated one, for the original was destroyed long ago. Liquor is offered to the deity here, and the beggars who throng it get their share.

  The Chitra Gupta temple in Paharganj came up in 1900. It has a double-storied gateway with five arched bays and a domed roof. The Mankachand and Visheshwar Nath mandir in Katra Nil, was erected in 1842 during the reign of Bahadur Shah Zafar. The Bhairav Mandir, also known as Mankachand Khatri’s temple, in Kutcha Ghasiram, Chandni Chowk also belongs to the late Mughal period. It is built on an earlier site of a Shiv temple and has a double-storied puja room. Bada Sivalaya in Katra Nil has its counterparts in the Bara and Chota mandirs in Jaisinghpura, near Connaught Place. The one in Katra Nil was built in 1816 in the reign of Akbar Shah II. Shivaya Ghanteshwar Mahadev in Katra Nil dates back to 1850. Though renovated, its canopy is remarkable. Dhumimal’s Shivalaya was also built in the same area in 1850. The one named after Pundit Hari Ram is not far from it.

  There are many other mandirs of note and fame (besides the Parsi fire temple and the Kali mandir) which excite a lot of piety and generosity, and mark out the capital as a place of temple spires, echoing to the sound of bells and conch shells. Among these is the Laxmi Narain temple built by the Birlas close to the Kalibari, which hogs the limelight on annual festivals along with the Kalkaji and Jhandewalan mandirs.

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  The Fall of the house of Joanides

  henever Mahurat trading takes place on Diwali night in Delhi, one is reminded of the fall of the House of Joanides, a Greek mill owner family. According to papers left behind by the father, Antonius Joanides came to India from the Levant in 1801. That was sixty-two years after Nadir Shah, who took away the fabulous Kohinoor diamond, along with the fabled Peacock Throne from the then Mughal emperor, Mohammad Shah. Before that, a Jewish diamond merchant, Sarmad had come to the capital after trading in Thatta (Sind) in search of precious stones and his gay friend, Abhai Chand, the son of a bullion merchant. In a similar fashion, the young Joanides also came, lured by Delhi’s antique gems and jewellery.

  But, while trying to find a foothold in Delhi, he enlisted with the British forces, and fighting under the command of Lord Combermere, won the distinction of being the first member of the assault party to enter in 1826, the stronghold of Bharatpur (famous for its ‘mud’ fort) that had defied all onslaughts, including the ones by the celebrated general, Lord Lake. Joanides was of course decorated for his bravery. When order was restored, Joanides who had adopted the Anglicized name of Anthony John, set up his business and soon became famous as a diamond merchant and mill owner. On the death of one of his sons, Nicholas succeeded him and renovated the family’s spinning and weaving mill, established in 1887. He was succeeded by one of his nine children, Sir Edwin, who set up mills in Delhi, Agra, and Lucknow. He had a private apartment in Hyde Park, London, while his brother, Sir George John had a palatial house in Rome, which was later sold to King Amanullah of Afghanistan. In 1920, Sir Edwin lost a fortune in one night while gambling at Monte Carlo on the French Riviera and after that lived on the generosity of his friend, the Maharaja of Gwalior till his death in 1935. His brother, Sir George and Major Ulysses John ran the business. The family’s fortunes began to decline in 1946, when the assets were divided, and Ronald E. John Esquire moved to the USA, where he became a ‘cotton king’. Countess Doris Marzano di Sessa, Sir George’s daughter, and her brothers, Capt. Ivan John and Maurice John then became the owners. The family in its heyday had permanently reserved rooms for guests in the Swiss, Cecil, and Maidens hotels in the Civil Lines, Delhi, Royal Hotel at Fatehpuri, and also in Simla and Lahore.

  The fall of the John family actually began (so say insiders) when the company’s shares fell on a Diwali night during the symbolic Mahurat trading that turned out to be a bad omen and led to sibling rivalry. The Delhi Stock Exchange had been newly established then. As fate would have it, the mills did not prosper after that Diwali day.

  Finally, Johns Mills passed on to a court receiver, who was faced with the task of settling debts and the claims of the employees and big traders who had stood by the mills all along. As often happens in such cases, a Shylockian complex took possession of the creditors and an historic institution that had no equal in the country at that time just crumbled away. One remembers that things went so badly for the family that it was reduced to short commons, and from luxury cars its members began travelling in rickshaws.

  Earlier, when the body of the Countess’ grandmother was exhumed and taken out from the Cathedral for reburial in the family memorial, the rumour went around that the real reason for the exhumation was that a rare diamond of great value had been buried along with the body and the family wanted to get possession of it.

  This Diwali, when Delhi was at its dazzling best, one had to tell an excited youngster that it did not compare with the Diwali of the Johns, when their mills’ complex glittered like a bride and their ladies came tripping majestically in bejewelled costumes. One of them died in Smyrna, Turkey, in an air crash in the second decade of the twentieth century and the accident made international news as it related to mill owners whose quotations then ruled the stock exchanges, Mahurat trading or not.

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  The Galis of Delhi

  aun Jaye Zauq par Dilli ki gallian chord kar, how true this observation was by the ustad of Bahadur Shah Zafar (when he declined an invitation from the Nizam to settle down in Hyderabad) is manifest even today, with people working on good jobs in New Delhi preferring to stay in the galis and kutchas of the Walled City, rather than moving out to the posh colonies, despite the dirt and squalor surrounding them. To bring home this point and focus on the historical aspects of these places, All India Radio’s FM channel has started a programme, Gali Gali Gold. The first to be covered was Kucha Patiram in Sitaram Bazaar. Patiram is believed to have been a wealthy trader who gave his name to the locality, which has as its neighbourhood Koocha Pandit, where the Kashmiris came and settled down during the reign of Shah Jahan after he moved his capital to the newly-built Shahjanhanabad.

  The Pandits earlier used to live in Agra’s Kashmiri Bazaar, before moving to Chillint Ghatia (when dancing girls took over that place) where the Rainas, Kauls, Kunjhrus, Dars, and Nehrus made their abode. Motilal Nehru was in fact born in nearby Maithan after his father moved there from Delhi in the aftermath of the war of 1857. Later, the family went to Allahabad where Jawaharlal Nehru was born. The Kashmiris rubbed shoulders in Chillint (so named as most of the houses in it were built of small chiselled bricks) with resident families like the Kakkers, Mathurs, and Sarins. The latter two were families of hereditary medical practitioners (like the Bagchis), the most famous among them being Dr Mukund Lal, the first MBBS of the city, who was appointed assistant civil surgeon after he had taken his degree from then distant Calcutta. Dr Mukand Lal was a fascinating person. He was standing in front of his clinic one day when he saw a woman being taken for cremation. On inquiring the cause of her death, he was told that she had died before delivering her child while still in the pangs of labour. That set him thinking and taking his gun he accompanied the mourners to Taj Ganj Ghat where just before the body could be set alight, he fired his gun. The ‘dead woman’ gave a shriek and delivered her baby. The mourners returned home singing and dancing with the revived woman and her bonny
child.

  Another incident relating to him was the opening of a grave, supposed to be of the family of Abul Fazl, in Bagh Farzana. When the grave was opened a body wrapped in green cloth was discovered but soon disintegrated on contact with fresh air. In the succeeding days several members of the family of the seths of Mathura, who had bought the deserted bagh, died one by one. The incident was reported in the Pioneer, then published from Allahabad, with Rudyard Kipling on its staff and later Winston Churchill as its war correspondent. Mukand Lal’s son was Dr Bhupendra Shankar, who is still remembered as the mercurial ‘Dr Bhup’.

  Nehru got married in Sitaram Bazaar, Old Delhi. The AIR team of Archana Ralhan, Shefali, Vijay Singh, and five others has also covered Suiwalan, where needles were once made for zari work, Masjid Khajoor got its name from a khajoor (date palm) tree planted in a mosque by a man who had returned from Haj after seeing such trees in Arabia; similarly Gali Imli was named because of the big tamarind tree in it. Katra Khushal Rai, was the place where St Stephen’s College was first opened and where the famous playback singer Mukesh is said to have been born before his family moved to Daryaganj. Besides Namak Haram ki kutcheri, there are more galis still to be covered, among them Gali Imam Wali or Imamia where the Bokhari family came and settled down from Bokhara during Shah Jahan’s time and took over the hereditary imamship of the Jama Masjid. Then there is the Gali Pahari which leads to Bhojla Pahari – an inhabited hill, Gali Dhobian, the abode of washermen, Paranthewali Gali, Gali Telian, where oil sellers lived, and Gali Cheetian in Sadar Bazaar (probably the lane was plagued by too many ants).