A yellow pipe is running down a Kaka Nagar wall, passing in front of a foundation stone. The inscription states that the Kaka Nagar Flats’ foundation was laid by Bhim Mohan Singh, junior vice president of the New Delhi Municipal Council, on August 22, 1970. The pipe has no respect for the lettering. See photo.
Delhi is dotted with such foundation stones. Fixed into walls, standing beside park paths, tucked near entrances, they often escape attention. Citizens might enter buildings for years without reading them. Those arranging the ceremonies, however, appear to have anticipated a wide readership with an interest in names, designations, honorifics and dates. Sometimes even weekdays.
At Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa Girls School on Lodhi Road, a stone slab on a blue wall records that S. Teja Singh, described as ‘retired chief justice Patiala’, laid the foundation on Sunday, April 20, 1958. Above is a line in Gurmukhi script.
These inscriptions offer a walk through the city’s more recent past. Nehru Park’s weathered foundation stone, almost hidden in the middle of the park, records prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri laying its foundation in 1965.
Shastri’s successor appears as prime minister on the foundation stone of Ghalib Auditorium, near ITO. Urdu lettering sits above English. The inscription records the laying of the auditorium’s foundation by Indira Gandhi, also chairman of the Ghalib Centenary Committee, on Sunday, February 22, 1970. Below appear the names of two architects and the committee’s secretary, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad, who became the country’s president four years later and signed the Emergency proclamation in 1975.
{{/usCountry}}Shastri’s successor appears as prime minister on the foundation stone of Ghalib Auditorium, near ITO. Urdu lettering sits above English. The inscription records the laying of the auditorium’s foundation by Indira Gandhi, also chairman of the Ghalib Centenary Committee, on Sunday, February 22, 1970. Below appear the names of two architects and the committee’s secretary, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad, who became the country’s president four years later and signed the Emergency proclamation in 1975.
{{/usCountry}}At St. Peter’s Church in Gurugram’s Palam Vihar, a single black stone records two occasions: the foundation “blessed and laid” by Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao in 2010, the same church “blessed and consecrated” by Archbishop Anil J.T. Couto five years later.
On Andre Malraux Marg, a stone records the road’s inauguration. The year is omitted, but the dignitaries are all accounted for: chief minister Sheila Dikshit, the French ambassador and the NDMC chairperson.
Some stones are unusually big-hearted in distributing credit. An easy-to-miss foundation stone records the inauguration of the “Beautification work of the Roundabout and space under Mahipalpur Flyover” by Delhi’s lieutenant governor on January 20, 2018—even the time is specified: 8.30 am. The inauguration having been taken care of, there is still room for a chief guest, an MP. Then come three guests of honour—mayor, standing committee chairman and leader of the house. Wait, there are four more eminences—area zone chairman, area municipal councillor, engineer-in-chief and commissioner. The roundabout must have felt quite honoured.
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