Doing a Wish List As We Welcome 2022

There is lot to expect from 2022. So this blogger thought of doing a wish list as we welcome the new year. Here it is. If you find somethings missing blame Old Monk. And if you find some of it relatable then praise Old Monk.

Wish#1: One would have wished for AAP winning Punjab and getting our man AK to be the CM there but then this blogger has too many friends in Punjab. And it is not a part of Delhi’s tahezeeb or culture to wish for something that causes harm to others. Having said that – it will be big fun following the campaign trail in Punjab with our man AK on one side and Sidhu Paaji on the other. The rest appear non consequential as of now.

Wish#2: If Urdu made a revival and becomes the lingua franca of the city. After all if Delhi can claim a language to be its own then it has to Urdu. Yes, it is difficult to imagine this happening in these days of polarisation and pseudo nationalism but then what the heck! Imagine those scenes of road rage when the two quarreling motorists speak with each other in Urdu. Complete bliss! Imagine if Dilliwalahs discover a score of modern-day, iPhone clinging, Jack Daniel drinking Ghalibs with their moneys invested in the stock-market and a few start-ups. Visualize a face-off between the modern-day Ghalibs and Zauqs at Dilli-Haat (bad venue but then India Gate lawns are all dug up thanks to Central Vista Project).

Wish#3: If they could bring back the phat-phatiah – that four-seater which did rounds from Regal cinema in Connaught Place to Fountain Chowk in Chandni Chowk. Yes, these will have to be reconstructed on a Tesla platform to take care of the pollution bit but then isn’t this worth a call to that SpaceX guy?

Wish#4 & #5: Doing a wish list is a tough thing to attempt in times such as these. You may want them to undo the Central Vista Project or revive that application for getting Delhi the UNESCO Heritage City tag. And if one was to get a little greedy one would want politicians in the mold of Sucheta Kirplani, Subhadhra Joshi, Kedarnath Sahani, Jag Pravesh Chandra, Madanlal Khurana, Sushma Swaraj and Shiela Dikshit to represent the seven parliamentary seats in the Lok Sabha. But then it is simpler to wish for Ghalib to walk out of his haveli in Gali Qasim Jaan than expect the current corp of politicians to mend their ways.

More Wishes: Only if they could bring back Ghantewala or Standard Restaurant with its complimentary Brownie with coffee. If that Ramble Garden Restaurant in the center of Central Park came back to life again. And if DTC revives those U-Specials for University students (the current corp doesn’t even know what they are missing). Restore the old cinema theatres such as Regal, Chanakya and Archana. The list is long. We would need a Shah Jahan, Lutyens, Baker, E. Shreedharan, Pradeep Sachdeva combine with the backing of a DLF (you can’t do without them, can you?) to reconstruct Delhi of the old. And no, let Bimal Patel be. But then nostalgia ain’t as good as it used to be for it gets incoherent due to the AQI levels of the city. Oh Dilli!

Picture Courtesy: Sahil Narain