Last week was fairly uneventful for Delhi. Had some classes cancelled, some classes that ran 20 minutes longer than they should have, sometimes learned, sometimes not so much. The weather's slowly been getting warmer, which is nice. When I did laundry last week, it only took a few hours to dry instead of the whole day.
Friday came and there was yet another Cities of Delhi field trip. This one was to explore some urban villages in Delhi. The village of Nizamuddin near the IES Centre is also an urban village, but the two we visited last Friday were vastly different in just about every way.
The taxi that took us there had heart-shaped smiley faces stuck all over. The way vehicles are decorated here cracks me up.
The first village was Sultan Garhi, which is abandoned. It is also the home of the oldest tomb in Delhi, and we got to walk down into it. It was dark and eery and peaceful. There was a homemade oil lamp lit and incense burning, and a woman had just finished washing the floor. Very different feeling from the other tombs I've been to. The village itself was interesting, also; a lot of walls and partial buildings are still there, just overgrown, so you can see the layout of the village and get a sense for what it was like when it was inhabited.
A boy who had ditched school that day was following us around and showed us an open well that was really, really deep. There was also a group of army men doing some sort of training exercise involving clipboards and pencils. Some of them were in the structure where the tomb is located, so there was a pile of army boots at the bottom of the stairs there. Army guys don't look as tough when they're padding around an ancient tomb in socks and waving to American students.
The next village was Hauz Khas, which is quite close to Neeti Bagh, where I live. I had been by the main market, but I didn't even know the village part existed. It was like stepping through a portal to a different world: There's actual green grass, a pond, lots of trees, and very few people, comparatively speaking. On the drive there, we passed a petroleum truck. Petroleum in India is A-OK:
Hauz Khas was amazing. From my anthropological point of view, it's fascinating because of the way people have left the structures intact and fairly well preserved but have still kept it a usable space. The way people occupy and make use of public space is intriguing to me. And Hauz Khas is a good example of how India operates in general, I think: it's a place where stark differences combine and coexist as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It's old and of some historical significance, but it doesn't feel dead or distant or forcibly preserved as many historical locations do. Instead, it feels alive and contemporary while retaining the charm and essence of its own era.
And it's such a relief from the chaos that seems to define Delhi, like most big cities. First of all, I haven't seen a natural body of water in Delhi yet. There's supposedly this river called the Yamuna that runs along the eastern border of the city, but I'm not sure I believe that. I haven't seen it. And from what I hear, it's more of a sewer than a river. But this is pretty!
Also, I would like to make note of the fact that the fountain in the lower left-hand corner is made from a boat split in half. Badass.
Inside this urban village is also a pretty extensive though seemingly small shopping area. Lots of art stores and clothing boutiques and books stores and furniture stores. We were walking down an alleyway and out of the door of an art gallery came two tall, skinny, white European dudes lighting up cigarettes. Good to know those can be found everywhere in the world.
This sequel will have to turn into a series. Part tin (hindi for 3) of the catching-up series will commence once I have accomplished some reading for class.
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