Gopal Krishna Gandhi, ex-governor of West Bengal, recently said in an interview that when he told his maternal grandfather and the great freedom fighter C Rajagopalachari of his deep desire to became a journalist, he retorted by asking him how he hoped to be a journalist given the fact that he had lived only in Connaught Place.
Perhaps, Rajagopalachari wanted to press the point that those who live in CP cannot have an understanding of this complex country. Gopal Gandhi spent his childhood in CP, as his father, Devdas Gandhi, was the editor of Hindustan Times and he was allotted a house inside the office building in CP. Incidentally, this distinguished author, civil servant and diplomat is also the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
Well, there is a clear-cut consensus among those who are lucky enough to either live or have lived even for a couple of years in CP that it spoils you. And, you deeply miss your days of CP once you move out from there. Despite the fact that you do not get to have too many neighbours, friends, and even grocery and vegetable shops are a rarity - the place still has a charm, which cannot be described.
"I have never thought of moving out of CP even though I have an even bigger house in North Delhi. While CP has changed over the years, and for worse too, yet it gives you immensely if you live here," says George Chiu, who owns a popular shoe shop here, which was started by his father over 60 years ago.
And Chiu is a very committed member of 'CP alumnus (read resident) association'. They are not ready to listen to any criticism of CP. CP lives in their heart.
Samir Chopra, MD of RE/MAX, still gets very nostalgic when he talks about the days spent in his family home in CP. While he has shifted to South Delhi a couple of years ago, the CP home very often visits his dreams. "I still miss those good old days when I, as a child, visited the Hanuman temple with my mother every Tuesday to offer 'prasad'; also, the visits to the legendary Ram Gopal Sharma bookshop in Shanker Market to buy comics. Now, when I go to CP with my kids, I immediately go back to those days of the 70s when I used to stroll with my father and grandfather in CP. Those were the days when CP was not so crowded. Even now I take a round of CP as and when I am close to it. It gives me a sense of belonging," Chopra says.
According to R V Smith, noted journalist, author and historian of Delhi, earlier on, the upper floor hosted a large number of British residents in CP, who moved out after India got freedom. Then, many Delhi-based Gujarati families too used to live here. It is worthwhile mentioning here that Nand Lal Mehta, the young man who informed the Tuglaq Road police station of Gandhiji's murder was also a resident of CP. He had a house in M block.
While Connaught Place is still the undisputed monarch among all the commercial places of the capital, the virus of commercialization is spreading like some epidemic, with many old residents of CP moving out slowly from here. Many families have shifted to other parts of the capital as their children complain that they do not have friends and a place to play there.
Sanjay Soni of CP-based Capital Real Estate Services says that now, not more than 60-65 families live here. Most of them have been living here since long and paying paltry rents. Many of them are also involved in protracted legal battles with their landlords. They know for sure that once they leave CP, they cannot get such a spacious place to live on such a small sum.
Aroon Kumar, a journalist, who lived in CP in the early 70s for almost two years and then worked in a newspaper there for over three decades, is a pucca CPwala. Recalling his days as a resident of CP, Aroon Kumar says that from a small town in Bihar, Madhepura, to Connaught Place was totally a new world and experience for him. During the early part of his stay there, he somehow thought he lived in some other world. And since then he has been addicted to the charm of CP and found many facets of it. "I really feel very restless if I do not take a round of CP. Even now, when I visit my home town, I miss this adopted home of mine," says Aroon Kumar, an editor of a webnews portal.
Take the case of Manmohan Shukla, a top executive of an MNC, who lived close to 15 years on the second floor of colonial-style bungalow in Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Says Shukla, "If you have lived in or around CP, then it is not at all easy for you to live anywhere else. Every important place of the capital is just a 10-minute walk or a pleasant drive away. You do not face any civic problems. Though, sometimes, you face a problem when the regular vegetable vendor or the guy who supplies milk at your place takes off. Then you have to go to either Bengali Market or Gole Market to fetch such items - barring those niggling little details, it is an absolute joy to live in Connaught Place.
Courtesy: times property dtd:-22-05-2010
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