Days To Come

Notes to Self, and assorted Clippings.Delhi, 14 February 2036.

I notice in the morning paper— "....Valentine’s Day was celebratedwith pomp and police protection in many parts of Old and New Delhi. Strayincidents of clashes between militants of the Laila Majnu Brigade and the AtmaNiyantran Sena volunteers have been reported, but there have been no seriousdisturbances. The annual meeting to commemorate the martyr couples in LodiGardens were held without any untoward incident. Rani Mukherjee-Ahluwalia readout an appeal for love and forgiveness. Veteran stalwarts of the Indian Oceanensemble performed political love songs together with Bay of Bengal and otheremerging bands. An appeal was made to repeal section 377 of the penal code."

...Somewhere in the Somali neighbourhood on the edge of Katwaria Sarai there isa house, an improvised three-storey reinforced fibre glass and sanitisedpoly-asbestos construction where you can look for used body parts, and if youare lucky, you will get what you went looking for. Spare irises to trick theiris scanners are in big demand in the ID grey market. Everyone has one, orneeds one. I am too old and don’t go out much, but my nephew insists that itis better to get it done before my iris scan dematerialises in the centralsecurity database. 

...Nothing is the same since the last war. Lutyenspuri is a dump. But thecraters from the bombings are all building sites now. It looks as if my dream ofhigh-rises dwarfing the old Parliament building might finally be realised. Infact, nothing seems to be able to stop the upward building of the folly known asthe Sonia Gandhi Memorial Hanging Gardens. Tajik construction workers loudlysing forgotten songs like ‘Kajra-Re’ on the Metro when they return drunkfrom construction sites on the riverfront near Majnu ka Tila.

...Chanakyapuri is now a ‘heritage zone’ and the onion domes of the formerPakistan Embassy are being declared a fine example of Delhi’s 20th-centurybuilt heritage. There is some talk of housing the National Digital Library inthe building.

...The abandoned houses of GK will be demolished to build a park commemoratingthe tragedy of 2036. The Ex Illegal Building Occupiers Association has demandedex gratia payment of 200,000 dinars for the suffering families of Jangpura.

...The Taj Casino has built a new riverfront crystal palace on the Jamuna Pushtabund, close to Jagmohan Memorial Hospital.
...Somewhere I spot an old slogan from the years when there was still anewspaper called the Times of India—Delhi, "From Walled City to WorldCity". Now there is a new one, on an ad that holograms the evening sky aboveNehru Place—"From World City to Wild City—Get Real at NOIDA PleasureDrome" and its got a couple of transgenic polymorphed bar girls with leopardskin inlays scored in to their skin, as they swing on a trapeze, together. TheBahai temple turns red in their glow.

I still like Delhi. 

This article originally appeared in Delhi City Limits, February 15,2006