European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse New Delhi by night a time of Hope and despair by Earleen Fisher associated Pressa ghostly fog descends on new Delhi Al night and silence prevails in sir Styls thai by Sunrise will again be e cacophony of Hanking cat Horna backfiring trucks and Buhust belching buses and scooters. To travel across new Delhi on a Winter night is to take a dip through the history the social strata the Hopes and despairs of a City where people have lived since Al least 2500 b c. The 12-mile drive is like a voyage through the nether world homeless people wrapped in blankets sleep Mummy like on the Pavc mails men in tailored clothing move darkly in the shadows and sacred cows Glide through the Groom like disembodied hindu deities occasionally the Bright lights or a late night Market or a glittering luxury hotel pull the night traveler Back into the momentary glow of a More familiar world. Midday Lempera turns of 75 and 80 degrees drop la 15 and 50 at night the accompanying dampness chills body and spirit. Rich and Middle class residents Al the Indian capital air snug behind the Walls and lowering Trees surrounding i hair houses the streets Are overwhelmingly me province of the poor who Are myriad in this Wilyot 6 million. The Niahal journey begins where Mathura Road crosses the ring Road a modern Urban bypass encircling the capital. As Mathura Road Heads North through the elegantly planned modern City of new Delhi it will change names several limes before it ends in a Angle of Small streets leading to the 17lh Century Walls of old Delhi. Al abridge near the ring Road. Shiv Sharma a 21 year old aspiring accountant is Selling hard boiled eggs to help pay of his College tuition. "1 though o eggs because they Are something people buy at Sharma said. I m hero seven nights a week altar he said he Sells 15 to 20 eggs a night. Al 1 25 rupees about 10 cents an egg he can make 25 rupees almost $2 on a Good night. The Bridge where billboards advertise Shik Akai shampoo and Western television sets conceals a nighttime Colony Al about \ ,000 truck Drivers who work 12 to 14 hours a Day hauling Sand from neighbouring Saryana slate to the capital Lor construction projects. Ram Avtar a 22-year-old trucker came to new Delhi seven years ago alter ailing to find work in his native farce Khabad District 160 Miles Southeast of the City he earns about 1.500 rupees s115 a month and sends Hall Back to Farouk bad to the i o he has seen Only twice since their wedding 11 months ago. Doli Nilolay i would go Home if there were work Avtar said sipping Tea under the Bridge As other Drivers washed themselves Wilh the icy water of an outdoor spigot. Back on top o tha Bridge the lights of the so 3 night hold Rajpoot Beckon More tall enl night people to the pussycat discotheque where a score of men and Whiee women in Blue jeans Jerk and Vav tile Ana minuscule dance floor. Further up the Lour Lane pavement now called or. Zakir Hussain Road after India s third president men wrapped in blankets trudge past shul tried shops. Then Bright i gals Mark a winding Lane where vendors sell hot Ood and Flower garlands. At a graveyard near Nizamuddin Aula mosque Nooi Jahan is unrolling quilts on a wooden platform where she will spend the night Wilh her 7-year-old son Mohammed Ismail. Page 14 the stabs and stripes it has been almost eight years since Jahan. Who reckons her age at 40 and looks so has slept in a House. She was pregnant when her husband a Carpenter died. I could t pay the . So the landlord threw me or she said. I be been very ill since he birth o my son. So i can t work. The mosque gives us free across the Road darkness descends again Al the on Tranco to the Tomb of the 16lh Century Mogul emperor Humayun. About 200 of us live Here sleeping on the ground said Jallard Hussein who nought he was about in years old. When important visitors come to see the Tomb the police move us. Otherwise no one disturbs in the daytime he collects manure from wandering cows to be sold As fertiliser. This earns him f 0 or 5 rupees 75 cents or $1.15 a Day. Just enough to my our stomachs his Molher. Basi an interjected. The Road remains dark until the luxury Oberoi hotel. Where a White gloved and turbaned Doorman snaps to attention to Welcome tote Ign tourists and local couples out Lor an evening of Indian 01 French cuisine costing As much As 400 rupees $30 a person. In the Marble lobby there s a Rustle of silk As Indian women in jewel toned Sari swirl past visitors in tailored suits. Soon he Road runs up to India Gate the 13fmoot High Stone Arch bearing the names of 90,000 Indian army soldiers who died in world War i and colonial Britain s Afghanistan Campaign. It s 10 30 p.m., and there s no one in sight except a Hall dozen vendors waiting hopefully Lor someone to buy their ice Cream Bais Flower garlands and balloons in summer this is the Rush said Tulok Chand clinging to vestiges of a 40-year-old balloon seller. A taller of Lour to lost his Job As an Auto Mechanic a Lew years ago. The Road is now named Kastriba Gandhi alter the wife of Independence Leader Mohandas k. Mahatma Gandhi and it s deserted As it runs up to Connaught place the vast wheel of concentric circular streets that form the Hub of daytime Delhi s commercial life. Beyond Connor Flohl place. Three policemen Man a sandbagged checkpoint where the Walls Are plastered Wilh Mug shots of suspected sikh terrorists but the most exciting thing that aver happened Al the checkpoint was the Nigel we caught a stolen motorcycle cons Abl Sud War Khan said. As he Road Narrows and winds toward the Walls of old Delhi in is lined with hundreds it not thousands Al people wrapped in blankets and sleeping Side by Side on the ground. Inside the Walls the City Springs o life in Small pockets. Cooks Al Hole in the Wall restaurants dish up Lizzi imply spicy food and Chicken Sellers Haggle Over prices Lor their caged and squawking merchandise next to Jama Masjid. A i7lh Century mosque is a line of bicycle powered rickshaws their Drivers finished with work bul still awake. Posters on the mosque s Lence exhort moslem to remember their Brothers who died in last summer s riots Wilh hindus the majority sect in India where religious diversity frequently explodes into violence. Bul the Rickshaw Drivers both hindus and moslem said hat Wes not part of heir lives. When you live on the pavement there is no hindu no moslem. We Are All Brol Here said a 23-year-old moslem Rickshaw an who Rel used to give a name. Maharaja grandeur by Seema s1rohi associated press he once glittering would of India s maharajas is frayed at the edges bul Many former princes and princesses cling to the old ways trying to retain the grandeur of another Lime. The Nawab and Nizamis still dress in Gold tissue capes on occasion Wear Pearl and Emerald necklaces own horses and Call each other your Royal a troop Al liveried servants hangs on every word they utter Polo and poker ill their Idle hours. Much of the wealth is still visible despite heavy taxes imposed by the Indian government. Princely Stales were absorbed into the Indian nation within three years of Independence from Britain in 1947. The government allowed lha sex rulers to retain their privy purses or special allowances until 1971 when the 279 Rajas maharajas and Nawab were stripped of their titles. The Iran Ilion from the glory of yesterday to the hard realities of modern India has been smooth Lor some and difficult for others. But Lor most it la not yet a riches to rags Elory. Mar Lami fies maintain a lifestyle of Mercedes benzes Post bungalows and socializing in lop clubs of London Anc Paris. Their sons still go to Elan and Harrow the prestigious schools in England. Gay Alii Devi the 68-year-old Maharani of Jaipur Sli lives in Ona of Tho family s three palaces. But tha grandest Rambath Palace where the James Bond pc Lapossy adv lure was turned is leased to a hotel Chain. Foreign tourists compels for reservations and Hope the Maharani will drop by Lor Lea. Tha Rajmatia of Royal Mother for Gayatri Devi Slit,1 called that. Although Royal lilies Wera abolished in 1971 _ spends Hall Iho year in Europe to escape the desert heat cd Jaipur and surrounding Rajasthan stall politics have attracted Many princely families Al least 30 of the 544 seals in us lok Sabha the governing lower House of India s parliament Are filled by Jesiona of bygone Royalty. Madhavarao Scandia son i the last Maharaja of Wii dior is the minister Al railways in prime minister Rajiv Gandhi s government the suave. Chord educated Scandia was the Host the Royal remnants biggest show in Posen Depinder saturday i
