My Situationship with Delhi And It’s Monuments

I have a lot of friends who don’t live in Delhi and whenever they come to visit they always ask me this one question “Do you love staying in Delhi?” which always makes me (over) think, Do I love staying in Delhi? 

Let me give you some context about myself – I am a 26-year-old man who writes & makes comics. All my life I have stayed in Delhi. My home is in Delhi. I have done my schooling & graduation from Delhi and currently, I have a work-from-home job. So yeah till now I have technically spent all my life in Delhi. 

Coming back to the question “Do I love staying in Delhi?” I would say I love Delhi but I don’t like it. Wow, that sounded like a toxic man who can’t commit but honestly, what is there to like about this city? The air is bad. People are rude (stereotype?) & of course, we all know about the safety situation in our capital but still, I don’t hate living here which makes me wonder if am I in a situation-ship with my city. I think I am.

Let me trace it back to the first time I developed a thing for Delhi. It was March 2021. The first wave of Covid ended & the Second wave was around the corner. During that time I was talking to a girl on a dating app and she suggested we should go on a Historical heritage walk to Feroz Shah Kotla and that too at 7 am. My first thought was who wakes up so early in the morning but then I thought maybe it would be something new. So we booked our tickets and on a Saturday morning, I was ready, waiting for my date outside the entrance gate of Feroz Shah Kotla. I have never been to Feroz Shah Kotla. I was a little bit cranky and nervous. We met and then were pleasantly greeted by Anoushka Jain, who was our walk leader and also the founder of Enroute Indian History.

Our walk began and I realised I was getting hooked on the architecture & stories of the fort & how it served as an important centre in Delhi’s history. especially the story of Djinns of Kotla. Anoushka told us how Djinns get attracted to good smells, luckily I was not wearing perfume that day. Our walk or should I say my date walk went great and we also got free bookmarks (I am a sucker for free stuff). After the walk when I went home I kept thinking about the fort and researching the History of the Tughalq Dynasty. Does the story, history & Architecture of the monument ignite something in me? Maybe I developed a little crush on Delhi but was not ready to accept it.

After that the second wave of COVID-19 began and the whole country was under lockdown for three months but as soon as the COVID restrictions were lifted I booked another walk and this time It was the Night walk, Qutub Minar. Like Feroz Shah Kotla, It was also my first time at Qutub Minar. Seeing the humongous big lit-up minar made me feel butterflies in my stomach. I would totally recommend you to see Qutub Minar at night. 

Over the next few months, I kept going for the heritage walks. I went to Humayuns Tomb, Sundar Nursery. Meharauli Archelogical Park and Safdurjung Tomb. After every walk I used to be spellbound, I used to read up and ask questions about our last walk to Anoushka. But I was still not ready to accept my love for the Delhi monuments until my walk at Lodhi Garden.

So Enroute organised a Halloween-themed heritage walk at Lodhi Garden where they asked a participant to dress up as something and the best cosplayer will win a surprise gift (you know now how much I love freebies) & guess what? What do I dress up as? Drumrolls the great Mughal emperor Akbar.  I attended the whole walk in full costume. And of course won the competition too. But that day I finally realised I love Delhi & its monuments. I love its history. I will still not accept it but I will keep giving it a mixed signal. Maybe I am that man who can commit or this is me confessing my love with this article.