Delhiwale: Like chai by the Seine

A cafe that gives a most glorious view of the city’s river—the Yamuna

Is it Volga or Thames, Nile or Seine? What is this watery world? With bits of dry land jutting out here and there, the landscape looks like a vast archipelago.

The river slices through the Capital, travelling from Haryana to UP. Most Delhiites, however, experience it as a bridge to be crossed. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

This is Yamuna, and it is still Delhi.

The river slices through the Capital, travelling from Haryana to UP. Most Delhiites, however, experience it as a bridge to be crossed. For a long time, the term ‘Yamuna-paar’ condescendingly denoted the neighbourhoods on the allegedly wrong side of the river. Indeed, the Yamuna in Delhi makes its presence felt most forcefully during the monsoon, when it floods over its banks, managing to reach the news headlines. Or when it becomes so polluted that it forms picturesque toxic foam that look like drifting glaciers. Some rooftop Tibetan momo places at Majnu ka Tilla do look over the river, but there it seems barely alive.

But here on the fourth floor terrace of Cafe Karvaan, in south Delhi’s Abul Fazal Part 1, the Yamuna opens up like a grand riverfront. This foggy afternoon the watery panorama is giving the illusion of a sea—no exaggeration, you have to come here to check on the claim. The curvy road running by the river is clogged with cars and buses, and it does give the mild impression of being a poor country cousin to Mumbai’s iconic Marine Drive. Even from this distance, you can clearly see the birds flying over the river, and paddling upon its surface. A faraway tree is marooned in water, looking like the loneliest among the lonely.