Ideas, perspectives are usually the domain of the elite. Certainly, in terms of finding a space. But a new anthology is breaking ground. It has urban planners, washermen, and even a maid discussing what sort of city Delhi could or should be.
Delhi, most agree willy-nilly, is in a mess. The glitz created by the Commonwealth Games is grossly superficial; it glosses over the hardships that the Games have caused to many. Too many, for comfort. As the city is re-imagined, dug up and built upon, the lives of its 20 million inhabitants, and the ways in which they negotiate the sprawling city, are also changing. Finding Delhi: Loss and Renewal in a Mega City examines the scope and nature of this transformation: what kind of spaces and opportunities are becoming available to some of the 20 million, and how much is being taken away from others. The ideas, of course, are not pegged to the Games alone, but are about the direction of growth that a city takes, the shape it assumes.
“I have really been concerned, upset and outraged at the way in which Delhi has become a split city – one level for the poor, the other for the economically and politically and socially empowered. I have been thinking of doing something bigger, more forceful. But also something that finds a way to link at least the many people from the empowered sections with these issues,” comes the backdrop from the book’s editor, Bharati Chaturvedi.
She continues, “Because I do believe that there are a lot of people not in the NGO sector who care about poverty, equity, etc, a book was the only way to find that space to make people think. I didn’t think of the book first – I had other ideas. But then the publisher and I discussed the state of Delhi, and we both felt that a book was in order.”
And so it was. The publisher and the editor worked hard at it, and in seven months the ideas had taken the form of an anthology. The book hit the stands earlier this month.
Chaturvedi, a Delhi-based environmentalist and writer, says the book is “about the loss of being able to belong to a city, the loss of being able to productively participate in the way the city works, and the loss of being acknowledged as useful – the last is for the urban poor in particular.” That’s the “loss” that has gone into the subtitle of the collection. And the “renewal” is about undoing all this.
The book, published by Penguin India, was launched during the Commonwealth Games. So does it fit into the scheme of things? “Of course,” asserts Chaturvedi, co-founder of NGO Chintan, which works to increase environmental justice and reduce ecological footprints. “The games are part of the plan to convert Delhi into a world-class city where only those who fit in will remain. My book talks of what happens on the way to becoming a world-class city – how much it takes away from so many.”
Yet, Delhi is also a place known for its callousness. How does she see people reacting to it (the book)? “I hope reading the book will make people think about what makes for a really good city – an inclusive, wealthy, safe, sustainable city. If I didn’t believe that people would read it despite the city being a callous one, I would not have poured my time into this book. It is a book, it is not a Bollywood blockbuster. It will grab less eyeballs and minds.”
Then there are those whose ideas and opinions one does not always get to hear, especially in a book. The contributors to the collection include a washerman, a maid, a fruit vendors and a wastepicker. So how did they react to the idea itself?
Says Chaturvedi, “They were quite excited at the idea of having a readership for their thoughts. The wastepicker says in the end : ‘Don’t just read this and forget us.’ It’s a whole new way to write to /address an audience because it is based on a more familiar (to them) way of communication, where you meet and speak one-on-one to people and that sense of a relationship – however ephemeral – with the reader is quite amazing.”
They went through the same process as others, except that Chaturvedi sat with them, explained the note for contributors. Their ideas were recorded, transcribed, translated, and then edited. It was gruelling work, but they met their deadline. Unlike many CWG projects.
Once the Games draw to an end later this week, the euphoria will soon fade away. It will be time for some hard talk and deep thinking. That’s where this book comes in.
