Dilliwala!
The other day I was thinking about this city and one fact struck me, and that is till date I haven't come across anyone from Delhi Delhi. That means someone whose past generations have been in Delhi for forevet.
I am not talking about going back to 6th BC or anything but even a century will suffice.
Khushwant Singh's father must be the earliest settler I know. From what I remember he had some role in construction of Lutyen's Delhi. That must be somewhere in 1930s.
All the people I know have come here from some where else. Punjabis forming a major chunk and almost everyone's forefathers were from Pakistan. The way they say it is as if it's some kind of an achievement or something to boast about. Trust a Delhite to turn the most inane of things into something to brag about.
Seeing how many times the city has been pillaged, ransacked and it's whole male population decimated the chances are that the oldest specimen would be some poor muslim in the by lanes of Old Delhi. Most probably around Jama Masjid or related to it somehow.
Muslim cause they have ruled in some form for around 6 centuries over Delhi.
Poor cause during partition most of the rich families left for Pakistan.
Jama Masjid is a safe bet cause at least after Shah Jahan's realm it has been a functional mosque so it would be a constant source of survival.
I imagine a stooped, dark, withered, old man with a shabby white beard sweeping the humongous courtyard of Jama Masjid, totally oblivious to the fact that he has a lineage going back to the mughals or even Tughlaq and is the winner of my earliest inhabitant of Delhi contest!
I am not talking about going back to 6th BC or anything but even a century will suffice.
Khushwant Singh's father must be the earliest settler I know. From what I remember he had some role in construction of Lutyen's Delhi. That must be somewhere in 1930s.
All the people I know have come here from some where else. Punjabis forming a major chunk and almost everyone's forefathers were from Pakistan. The way they say it is as if it's some kind of an achievement or something to boast about. Trust a Delhite to turn the most inane of things into something to brag about.
Seeing how many times the city has been pillaged, ransacked and it's whole male population decimated the chances are that the oldest specimen would be some poor muslim in the by lanes of Old Delhi. Most probably around Jama Masjid or related to it somehow.
Muslim cause they have ruled in some form for around 6 centuries over Delhi.
Poor cause during partition most of the rich families left for Pakistan.
Jama Masjid is a safe bet cause at least after Shah Jahan's realm it has been a functional mosque so it would be a constant source of survival.
I imagine a stooped, dark, withered, old man with a shabby white beard sweeping the humongous courtyard of Jama Masjid, totally oblivious to the fact that he has a lineage going back to the mughals or even Tughlaq and is the winner of my earliest inhabitant of Delhi contest!
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