Walking the City

As we walked a little distance ahead, crossing neatly arranged rows of houses, bungalows and balconies, we came across a wall richly filled with ornamental motifs. It was on the other side of the road, but did catch my attention. Although not a particularly clean wall with patches of soot and stains here and there, it did look lively. Instantly, my eyes sparkled with surprise and my friend gave me a grin. It seemed like she possessed the knowledge of this wall from before hand, and had envisaged the scene of our approaching the wall. She was assured in mind that I would notice the wall, and was almost taking a test of my commitment towards aesthetic walls. “Good gracious, that wall reminds me of Mughal ornamentation,” I shrieked with joy! My friend, with the grin still on her face, said, “I knew you wouldn’t miss that wall. That’s exactly why I brought you here! Let’s go there now and click some photographs.” And thus it was, both of us walking through the Lodhi Colony Road and drooling over beautiful walls!

Most of what I know about Delhi is through walking. Walking its lanes and by-lanes, streets and gardens. My passion for walking (which I must have got from my mother and sister) found a new life when the city invited me to explore itself, unfolding both its beauty and ugliness. 

My acute fear of Delhi’s fast and furious buses and the usually stuffed nature of her auto-rickshaws adds to the fervour of walking. I thank the metro rail services for existing in the city, for otherwise I would never have stopped walking!

This does not however make Delhi an entirely walkable city. On the contrary, echoing what Ruskin Bond had to say about Delhi almost six decades back, the city itself is not amenable to walking, most of the footpaths being already encroached by non-pedestrians. It’s almost like Delhiwallas have forgotten to use their legs.

That being said, living on the margins of the city, I have realised the roads and streets of NOIDA are unwalkable still. It puzzles me and makes me question the rights of the pedestrian to exist in such a space. The unwritten rules of the e-rickshaw drivers confronts the unwary pedestrian, each cursing the other for not allowing enough space for passing through. As I have to wade through the road leading from the metro station to my accommodation, the crowd at the Atta Market invades my sanity. I reflect upon the ease with which vehicle drivers and the pedestrians and the street-shop owners co-exist in this ecosystem where each lives on the edge of the other. One barely fears a car accident in such a congested space!

The romantic notion of “walking the city” then derives from the multiple times I have briskly walked through the wide footpaths and greenways of Central Delhi. Getting down at the Supreme Court metro station, walking through the skyline, and then getting down on to the footpath to walk to any of my usual destinations in the Central Secretariat is always an absolute delight. Once, on my way to the IGNCA building, I was walking with earbuds plugged on to my ears. Oblivious of the people around me, I failed to notice a few police officials calling me till one of them came running behind me (I usually walk quite fast)!

I eventually got to know that the road was being cleared of pedestrians to allow the Prime Minister’s visit to the area. While a couple of other people held with me in that temporary custody hushed and showed discomfort at being late for work, I keenly observed the rules of the ceremonious event. 

It also reminded me of the other time I was walking through one of the boulevards of the Central Secretariat and encountered a march by the President’s Body Guards (PBG)! Mounted on their horses and camels, their confident stride through the busy road and their proximity to me made me reflect upon a time when marching soldiers and animals would reclaim the cityscapes. The clip-clop of the horses’ hooves close to my ears almost opened the doors to another world of adventure and wilderness!

While spotting a mounted troop is a rarity, what you do get to savour every time you are walking through the roads of Delhi are the people around you. On my usual way to and from the office, I pass by identifiable faces. Sometimes, I am compelled to shake hands with one of them or to share greetings with another. After all, we both are fellow travellers walking the usual way. The roadside shopkeepers, men sitting with the  equipments to polish shoes, itinerant men and women resting in shanties, their kids running around, or the leftovers of free food lying on the streets—all these beckon me with stories of their own. Here are people who have experienced both birth and death on the streets of the city. Here are people whose peripatetic lifestyle calls for inspirational stories to share to a larger audience. Indeed, this is another way of reclaiming the streets of the city that has very little to call her own.

One exciting aspect of walking the city is of course the desire to encounter medieval monuments across the landscape. Nestled in one corner of a busy street, guarded by barricaded walls, you may find a medieval tomb or even a hunting lodge! These monuments tell their own stories. While personally I am averse to the idea of attending heritage walks, I love walking through them on my own. Walking and trying to identify all those possible places where I belong. 

There is a huge stretch of lush green gardens, named ‘Kartavya Path’, in between India Gate and the Parliament House. Walking through this verdant green space, one could spot people doing all sorts of things—from practising Yoga to picnicking or simply taking a break from their government office job (a very old tradition for the Delhiwallas, actually)! But what is even more exciting is to catch sight of cranes eagerly waiting to feed on fishes, sitting along the edge of the pools and fountains. The sight of wildlife in the city makes my heart pump with joy. I stop by to click a few photographs—realising how thoroughly difficult it is to take ornithological photographs. 

The pleasures of walking the city are many. But most of all, it feeds my imagination as I get to see the city and her people through a closer gaze. Through seasons, through years, the city has changed her appearances. While walking through a congested and heavily-trafficked city may not be a cakewalk, it helps develop intimate bonds with the city. I almost feel like a chronicler of this city, noting down the stories of her people who live by the roads.