Given the hermit I am, it is not surprising that after two decades and five years of my relatively unknown existence in the capital, I chanced upon one of the Meccas of solitude in Delhi’s posh settlement - Hauz Khas Village - so late. You read that right, “village” but nothing like it!
Only last week, I along with three of my close college friends got wind of this area. Thanks to the Delhi Metro and more importantly a meeting of coteries in the offing (for quite some time now), I finally got to meet this place. As usual, none of us had inkling what the place is all about, so we entrusted our faith in one of the friends who accidentally did a recce of the area a week before.We took an auto from the Green Park Metro station to the village (40 bucks for 4, good enough). That 5-minute ride was filled with laughter bursts and pervert jokes and thus, quietly assured me of a great time ahead.
As our auto entered the lane leading to the village, we felt an icy breeze brushing our skin. It immediately made us tattle in unison – “the winters are here”. Whilst the first impressions of the place were not bolstering enough owing to a rather shady entry, we kept mum until we saw the whole shebang. Soon enough, our auto halted, we jumped out and what met our gaze the other instant was a big stone gate manned by three not-so-interested private guards. What caught our attention was a typical red sandstone carving of ASI that introduced us to a certain Mughal ruler tomb. After a brief lesson on history, we sneaked in.As we entered, a green patch of small land with a ramshackle tomb on its chest stood right in front of us. Frankly, that was the least we had expected to see after such a build-up! But that was it. Much before we could announce our judgments over the place, we were surprised at what we saw. On our right, as we moved ahead, a big green lake far down was pumping long fountains that washed the evening sun now and then. Wow. For a moment, I could feel the time standstill. For I needed time to absorb the incredible setting in my eyes.
Soon after we devoured all we can, we realized we were at an elevation surrounded by pieces of Mughal architecture. The whole landscape was dotted with photographers holding their DSLRs and point-and-shoot cameras, foreigners gazing and minutely inspecting the Mughal art, locals rambling the sides of lake, joggers, school girls and ofcourse the love birds. We particularly observed one aspect about the expanse which otherwise is aberrant for places like these in Delhi - the composition of the crowd. We could not see the usually visible rich-poor divide here. The upper crust of Delhi was comfortable gelling with the weaker section. There was no sign of uneasiness. And this, for me, was a bright red cherry on an otherwise scrumptious cake!We sat there for a while, basked in some tranquility when we decided to scout the place for more. While it was dark now, we could see a lot of people still trying to melt in the atmosphere and find peace with the place. Quietly, we exited.
We were back at the place our auto dropped us. From there we took the path leading to the Deer Park. The path was nothing but a narrow lane that seemed metamorphosed into an art ghetto. A place that smelled of nothing but art. Every house boasted of a medley of artsy objects, paintings peeping out of the glass windows, old hindi movies’ posters screaming colours, haute couture in hangers, fashion houses, art galleries and some half down shutters that tickled our curiosity. The whole area’s dense and damp atmosphere left us mesmerizing. Everything around was an objet d’art. Infact, we mistook an under construction building to be some creative art gallery! (Seriously.)The itsy-bitsy lane snaked for a while to unravel a bisected concretised road that shoots up direct to the same green lake we saw from the elevation. Though the sun had slept by then, it didn’t deter us to tramp down its sideways to admire the amicable ambience. Fortunately for us, the streetlights were off and the only source of light was the Moon. It was a setting straight out of Bollywood’s black and white classics that starred the moon with its clone shimmering in the waters below.
We moved back and took a detour only to find a clandestine promenade to the Deer Park. Needless to say, we were hell late for such a spot but we still managed to catch some deers grazing under a Halogen. One of the herbivore’s innocent eyes met ours and it jumped back in full force as if we were some ancestral hunters getting ready for the kill. We didn’t move ahead as there was no point wandering in jet-black dark.This was the last leg of our junket. I was particularly happy and surprised at the same time to see this side of Delhi. My friends were a satisfied bunch too. Though we were together all the time, Hauz Khas had the magnetic power that kept us withdrawn too. Strange, but true. :)
