No subject

In the dead of the afternoon, a woman walked in. 

Middle aged.. her hair covered in a scarf… chatted as if addressing all who were present there.

Said that she could only visit a beauty parlour was when her mother-in-law was away in their village in Bijnor. 

Said that she was from Pakistan. But now lived in Mumtaz Hotel wali gali.

A postman knocked.

Asked if this was dada bhai’s home..

The woman wondered if the awry numbering of homes was deliberate here..to avoid what happened in Gujarat…

Late evening..

Two sisters walked in.

Looked at my mic and recorder.

Asked me about my work.

Said that they loved watching films at cinema halls.

Narrated the story of Dil hai Tumhara. 

They saw this film @ Golcha with their larger family settled in Praani Dilli.

 

 

 

 

 



 





---------------------------------
It's Samaritans' Week. Help Samaritans help others. 
Call 08709 000032 to give or donate online now at 
http://www.samaritans.org/support/donations.shtm
--MIMEStream=_0+38608_4383727383107_05215593258
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

<DEFANGED_DIV><U>
<P>Standing @ the gate&gt;&gt;02.5.03</P></U>
<P>Late afternoon. The gali was full of slanting shadows of electricity poles, night lamps and <I>Katias</I> (local electricity connection wires anchored onto the main lines with pride).</P>
<P>Javed bhai was on his cycle. Turned around the <I>nukkad</I> and looked confused. </P>
<P>Was collecting the cable rent for the month from house to house. </P>
<P>After handing out my payment slip he asked for house no. 173/3.</P>
<P>It should have been my neighbor’s.</P>
<P>But the house next to mine was numbered 567.</P>
<P>He looked irritated. Asked for a glass of water and moved on.</P>
<P>In the silence of the afternoon, his cycle made screeching sounds like an old engine.</P>
<P>The pamphlet he gave me was in black and white.</P>
<P>It had icons of different channels on its left and right sides.</P>
<P>The middle carried: Manoranjan Network wishes you a Happy Summer Vacation.</P>
<P>Manoranjan is the <I>raja</I> here…I remember someone say. </P>
<P>Raja was the name of the cable network that lost out to Manoranjan many years back. </P>
<P>Home cable gives the latest films (Hindi/ English) and Pakistani music videos. New shops or beauty parlors that opens in the area have their advertisement on the Home network. </P>
<P>One of the local offices at which Javed reports is at the Batla House Chowk. It is run by the sons of Bal krishan Yadav. They also own the oldest mobile retail outlet in the area.</P>
<P>Bal krishan offered me a chair and a glass of water as I settled to interview him. </P>
<P>Came to Joga Bai in 1972. "I was a handsome man then", he told me.</P>
<P>There was a cottage near what is know known as the Batla House <I>pulia</I>. Mr. Butler lived there. Batla house was initially Butler House.</P>
<P>" Who was this Mr. Butler?" I asked him.</P>
<P>" <I>shayad woh angrez tha</I>.." he said.</P>
<P>Bal krishan sells steel utensils in his shop. </P>
<P>His shop does not have a name. He does not believe in names and advertising. </P>
<P>A customer walked in looking for a pair of tongs. Bal krishan&nbsp;told him to check out shops in Okhla. </P>
<P>The customer said, " but here..the place where I’m standing is Okhla …isin’t it?" They exchanged confused looks. Bal krishan&nbsp;argued that it was Joga Bai. They argued for long. But the customer remained unconvinced.</P>
<P>From his shop I could see a building under construction. Iron rods were jutting out… freshly laid roof was supported by vertical wooden pillars…lots of dust..almost hazy.</P>
<P>Unplastered walls had layers of torn posters on it. It was a bit of Urdu, a bit of Hindi and English.</P>
<P>The next morning fresh posters of Real Cause NGO were put up in red.</P>
<P>On the other side of the road, at the Batla House Chowk, three women were drinking fruit juice. FRUIT JUICE the signboard read. It had faces of Amitabh Bachhan and Kareena kapoor painted . They had glasses in their hands and were smiling at all who were looking at them.</P>
<P>Another signboard in blue read :</P>
<P>Batla House Chowk <FONT face=Wingdings>à</FONT> </P>
<P>Muradi Road <FONT face=Wingdings>à</FONT> </P>
<P>Khalilullah Masjid <FONT face=Wingdings>à</FONT> </P>
<P>The women laughed as they drank. </P>
<P>Through the glass panes of Shankar Electronics, 8 TV screens flashed.</P><U>
<P>AB complex. Main Road. Zakir Nagar.&gt;&gt;22.05.03</P></U>
<P>I was setting up my mic, headphones and the walkman at <I>la femme.</P></I>
<P>The street horns were mixed with sounds of hair dryers… Radio Mirchi jingles… and the laughter of the vendors outside.</P>
<P>From a glass display which was full with bottles of aroma products, I could see an electricity pole almost heaving under the weight of <I>Katias</I>. A blue sign board in the shape of an arrow hung loose over the pole. It read: Gali no. 7. Zakir Nagar. Instead of pointing towards the Gali, it pointed towards the main road.</P>
<P>In the dead of the afternoon, a woman walked in. </P>
<P>Middle aged.. her hair covered in a scarf… chatted as if addressing all who were present there.</P>
<P>Said that she could only visit a beauty parlour was when her mother-in-law was away in their village in Bijnor. </P>
<P>Said that she was from Pakistan. But now lived in <I>Mumtaz Hotel wali gali.</P></I>
<P>A postman knocked.</P>
<P>Asked if this was dada bhai’s home..</P>
<P>The woman wondered if the awry numbering of homes was deliberate here..to avoid what happened in Gujarat…</P>
<P>Late evening..</P>
<P>Two sisters walked in.</P>
<P>Looked at my mic and recorder.</P>
<P>Asked me about my work.</P>
<P>Said that they loved watching films at cinema halls.</P>
<P>Narrated the story of <I>Dil hai Tumhara.</I> </P>
<P>They saw this film @ Golcha with their larger family settled in <I>Praani Dilli</I>.</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P><I>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P></P></I>
<P>&nbsp;</P></DEFANGED_DIV><p><p><br><hr size=1><a href="http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/mail/tagline/samaritans/?http://www.samaritans.org/support/donations.shtm"><b><font face="Arial" size="2">It's Samaritans' Week. Help Samaritans help others. <br>
Call 08709 000032 to give or donate online now at <br>
http://www.samaritans.org/support/donations.shtm</font></b></a>
--MIMEStream=_0+38608_4383727383107_05215593258--