Delhiwale: The two sides of Connaught Place

Connaught Place's Central Park and nearby dargah offer serene outdoor spaces with distinct characters. The dargah honors Shah Abdul Salam Faridi Fakhri Chishti.

Connaught Place is the Capital’s heart. Central Park is Connaught Place’s heart. The colonial-era shopping district contains two more similarly serene traffic-free outdoors, but they are seeped in a profoundly different character. One has a dargah. The other has a mandir.

Palmist Uttamji pores over a customer’s palm at his booth. (HT Photo)

The sufi shrine, across the busy road from Outer Circle’s G Block, comprises of a marble courtyard, lined with a series of stone graves. The dargah commemorates Shah Abdul Salam Faridi Fakhri Chishti. The mystic’s tombstone is sculpted in Arabic, a white tile attached separately on the top translates the inscription to English. The courtyard is amply shaded by the joint foliage of a neem and a khirni. This morning, the tree branches are crowded with twittering birds (their chatter is mixing harmoniously with the traffic sounds of Connaught Place).

Mohammed Mohiuddin, the dargah’s young spiritual head, appears in white kurta pajama. Introducing himself as the patron saint’s 40th descendent, he slowly walks towards the row of aforementioned graves. “These are of my ancestors…. and this grave is of my grandfather, and this grave is of my father-in-law.” He stands beside the last grave.

With its five dense peepal trees and many monkeys, the sprawling plaza outside Hanuman Mandir, close to Regal Cinema, is as serene as the dargah’s courtyard. Although it is crammed with small freelance businesses. This late morning, Pawan Kumar at Maurya Tea Stall is pounding the ginger sprigs to prepare a fresh stock of adrak chai; his tiny mortar-and-pestle is making a surprisingly loud thak-thak about the stall’s vicinity. Nearby, the cloth banner of Yadavji Chai Wale is trembling in the light breeze. Steps away, Kakoo Kachori Wale snack shop is doing brisk trade. While the next-door Future Point Computer Horoscope is yet to roll up its shutters for the day, palmist Uttamji is poring over a customer’s palm at his booth.

The plaza also has scores of henna stalls. a couple of tattoo booths, and a barber’s extremely modest establishment comprising solely of a suitcase filled with the most essential shaving things.

A boy now buys a bunch of yellow and blue flowers from Kapoor Florist. Within moments a monkey snatches the flowers from him, and starts to eat those with two other of his fellows.