This Sufi shrine tucked in the Central Vista lawns, close to Janpath, used to be a little island in the pond. Her mom quickly makes a video, with India Gate as the backdrop. Meanwhile, little Rashika overcomes her shyness and boldly breaks into a brief ballet-like jiggle. “Now we are looking for ice-cream, and can’t spot any ice cream walla.” They then went to the parking, sat on a bench and had their special meal. The family was excited since morning, and Manju had cooked chhole chawal for their “new India Gate picnic” but “the guards stopped us from eating on the ghaas (grass),” she says, laughing. The Mayur Vihar resident came with her kids by the Metro.
“We are primarily here to see Netaji’s statue,” says Manju. The family has been in the spanking new Central Vista for an hour, and is not minding the afternoon heat. Snuggled in the baby stroller, her younger brother Viraat, in extraordinarily spunky glasses, sees this as an opportunity to gather all the limelight. “Come on, Rashika, do one step please beside India Gate,” urges mom Manju Gautam, a “tuition teacher” who gives lessons in political science to graduate students. Little Rashika is always ready to break into a dance she has her own YouTube channel, after all. Then they walk on, followed by two foreigners, their arms heavily tattooed with butterflies and eagles. Now a bunch of five women and one child from GTB Enclave sombrely pose against a frame titled: “Refurbished gardens at Kartavya Path.” The only male member in the group snaps their photo from his mobile phone. Many visitors are posing against these panels for formal portraits, and their faces are inadvertently showing the same profoundness that one encounters in black-and-white photos of yesteryear. The panels might interest those who are serious about updating their knowledge of the area, but you should come here to see the crowd. Visitors are ambling, looking relaxed as they pass the panels. Its two walls are plastered with photos of the Vista. The long corridor comes as a soothing relief after the new extravagances of the sun-warmed grounds above. This might be an unlikely place to do some serious Central Vista people-watching: the underpass that goes under the busy radial road, and connects the India Gate grounds to the lawns towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Farther away, a middle-aged couple is holding hands, walking quietly. A little girl in red boots and toy revolver sleeps on her dad’s shoulder. Elsewhere, a woman walks in a blue salwar, so shiny that she seems to have jumped straight out of the disco age. The hat on his head is knocking against the hat of the woman he is talking to.
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Gentleman in a white mundu, pulled up to his waist, like Shah Rulh Khan’s lungi in the movie Chennai Express. “I’ve been to India Gate before, but this time too many barricades are here, too many soldiers with guns… maybe because it is the first day of the new Vista.” He goes back to his sketch pad, his eyes continually shifting to the statue. He shows his pad, each page depicting a Delhi monument that he drew during the ongoing trip. Amitabh Deshpande is a native of Pune visiting Delhi for a few days. Close by, a man is sitting with his sketch pad, drawing the canopy and the statue. This afternoon, two young labourers, Basharat and Danish, sweating under the sun, are standing there (see photo), reciting aloud manmauji shayri (fun verses) to each other.
The empty space in the grand canopy that once had the statue of a British monarch now has the statue of Netaji, his right arm in a salute, his visage staring at India Gate, at Kartavya Path (formerly Rajpath), and at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
There are no ice-cream carts, no chai-sellers with kettles in buckets. The eternal fire of Amar Jawan Jyoti has been taken from under the monumental arch and merged with the fire at the National War Memorial. But, at the same time, it is profoundly different. Everything around India Gate feels exactly the way it felt before it was closed for the big Central Vista redevelopment. Photographers pestering visitors to get souvenir photos clicked, their prints guaranteed in 10 minutes flat.
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