[Reader-list] Posting: An Exploration of Conencted Spaces in Shahjahanabad

[Rumman Hameed]

Dear all

My fieldwork has moved from the private domain of the family to the public domain of the streets. I have been mostly hanging out in the galis (streets), mostly in the evenings. 

Old Delhi is threaded with narrow galis (streets), which mean many splendoured things for the residents. A gali is strictly a male space. It is used by men in varied ways, as a club (to socialize and to relax), as a play ground (cricket and badminton having replaced gilli danda, pittoo and kanche) and as a work place too. Many of the conflicts between the newer residents and older ones can be noticed in interactions among people in the streets. However, these same galis are notorious for the outsiders for being dark, narrow, tortuous, filthy and even dangerous. None of the residents ever described their galis as any of these, except for being filthy. The older residents blame it on the "baahar ke log jo aa kar yahan bas gaye hain" (the people who have come from outside and made Delhi their home). One notices an undercurrent in almost all aspects between the dilliwallahs and newcomers.

One notices a personalized nature of interaction in the streets. Women from their houses call boys standing/ walking in the streets and tell them to ask XYZ shop to deliver the grocery to their house and sometimes even those very boys are asked to bring the grocery. 

Sharing food has been a common medium through which communication has been maintained in Indian society, Old Delhi being no exception. What makes it interesting here is the manner in which it is exchanged, which I explained in the last posting. What makes Old Delhi more interesting is that there are many other unusual modes of interaction and communication. It is very common to 'borrow' things like bikes, cars and scooters, precious jewelry, and even houses for certain events from neighbours. For instance, for the functions preceding a marriage (such as those of ubtan and mehendi), people do not hire a community hall, they rather ask their neighbours to loan their house for a day, or if not the entire house, then a couple of rooms. Sometimes, the houses they 'borrow' are located in two different streets and consequently the guests are divided into two places. This does not create much difficulty because in Old Delhi rules regarding separate seating arrangements for women and men (zenana and mardana) are still observed. Often a broad gali is also used as a place where dinner may be served in such parties, after covering it with tents. 

One thing that is striking in Old Delhi, and probably in other old cities, is that people are conscious of being dilliwallah, of associating certain characteristics with Delhi. They display the identification with the place, its history and tradition and the pride in belonging. They are all among the oldest residents of the city living here for the last 350-400 years. This group of traditional elites is eminently and self-declaredly more 'cultured' and refined than other inhabitants of the old city. A few of the families have lived here for more generations than they remember and have almost no kinship or property-holding ties with rural areas. They call and consider themselves and their styles of life as 'urban' and as 'pure dilliwallahs'. The term 'dilliwallah', thus, holds a specific meaning and significance for them. 

One can not fail to notice a subtle tension between these new people who have made Old Delhi their home over the past 20-40 years. This migration in Old Delhi has occurred in waves. The emigration is invariably connected with violence; the mass exodus of Muslims obviously taking place during Partition with the majority of 'pure dilliwallahs' shifting to Pakistan, of Sikhs after the riots of 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and of Hindus after 1991 riots following the Babri Masjid demolition. The remaining population underwent a major shuffling within Old Delhi leading to the formation of distinct pockets of Hindus and Muslims. The immigration, on the other hand, has happened primarily because of economic reasons. Old Delhi is a wholesale market for many commodities that requires the presence of innumerable karkahanas (workshops) which translate into employment opportunities. Therefore, there is a deep presence of karkhandaari people in Old Delhi's population now. These people have come mainly from Uttar Pradesh (Meerut, Faizabad and villages around Lucknow), Bihar and West Bengal. Only women as domestic-help constitute the population from West Bengal. There is a large proportion of them from Bangladesh also, which one comes to know only during a drive by the authorities to remove illegal migrants. There is a seasonal sprinkling of Afghanis and Kashmiris, which come regularly year after year, but only for a few months and find cheap accommodation in Old Delhi. There are therefore obvious hierarchies in the neighbourhood.

I plan to delve more into the nature of these hierarchies and differences in the forthcoming days.

Rumman




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