So where does Delhi live?
Where does the heart of Delhi,
The real heart, the true heart of Dilli
Begin to beat.
Where does Delhi live?
At 18, with all the brashness
Of someone who had lived in a bubble
Of neatly drawn lines
I thought Delhi, ‘my’ Delhi
Lived in the meanderings of Hauz Khas.
I said,
No. I proclaimed,
That Delhi lived in pockets of North Campus
And of course, Delhi Cantt
And the great circle of CP
At Janpath and maybe the odd mall in Noida
And in some malls down South
And in the opulence of GK markets –
They have really good kathi rolls,
Go try them out.
At 18, I was desperate to belong securely
To a place. I never had.
So I made Delhi belong to me.
At least, I tried.
Every moment since
I have fiercely declared
My belonging.
At 22, I am secure in belonging
But insecure in the breadth of Delhi.
At 22, I see Delhi inching out, opening up, engulfing in.
It lives in Gurgaon now.
And a little bit in Paschim Vihar.
It lives in the cacophony of Kashmere Gate
And in the merciless sun outside Tihar.
It lives magnificently at the India Gate Hexagon
And it lives in Gali No 10, Prem Nagar –
I can find it now.
It lives on the blue line to Vaishali
And a little bit on the Green line
(I am still unsure where it goes)
At 18, I remember dancing in the deer garden
To Delhi Drum Circles
And thinking,
Surely this is where Delhi lives.
I see now,
That Delhi does live beyond Delhi Haat and that market
Opposite IIT.
But just like at 18,
At 22 I can still not tell you
Exactly where Delhi lives.
I can tell you however,
Where Delhi began.
It began when -
An 18 year old,
Fresh to Delhi,
Turned to her friends
And said,
‘It’s 7 pm and my first day here.
I should go home’.
And they turned to her
With matching grins
And said,
‘Stay out a little longer’.
