Ahh, the famous Dilli Haat. Everyone who has either lived in or visited India’s capital knows it well. The shopkeepers and artisans that inhabit the Haat are rotated out every few weeks to make room for new talent. It’s basically an outdoor mall that you have to pay a fee just to enter. This keeps the wealthy Delhi-ites and NRIs in, and the “riff-raff” out. I know I’m a hypocrite for sounding scornful since I too shopped there, but the whole paying for admission thing never sat well with me. Sitting inside with my shopping bag containing the goods I just purchased I felt dirty looking out the metal gate at the people outside. Now it seems the Haat is taking its show on the road: to London’s Trafalgar square. The Hindustan Times reports:
London’s Trafalgar Square will wear an Indian look over the weekend with the arrival of Delhi’s famous Dilli Haat, the only difference being Lord Nelson will watch over the celebrations.
Marking its arrival London Mayor Ken Livingstone said at a press conference today: “London is home to the largest Indian community in Europe. We have established a warm relationship with Delhi symbolising the importance of the economic, cultural and social ties, which link our two great cities and our countries.
“We buy each other’s goods and services and invest in each other’s businesses and markets. There is a thriving exchange of tourists between our countries. Dilli Haat will offer Londoners a wonderful display of the vibrancy and diversity of India’s arts and crafts.”
Somehow I just don’t believe that the artisans that make it to London will be very authentic. Then again I’m not sure what “authentic” is anymore. No word yet on how many rupees the pigeons will be charged to enter.
I’m going to this. Will keep you posted.
Riiight. Because all the “authentic” artisans in Dilli Haat have enough money to go to London and make massive profits by selling little beads and trinkets for a 600% profit. I remember Dilli Haat when it was being built. Right behind my neighborhood in South Extension. They used to have a nice summer program for kids interested in arts and crafts like drama and stuff. I went there for the food, don’t know about anyone else.
It seems u were very frustrated & in a bad mood when u visited Delhi hat,cause its actualy a place for traditional Indian arts,& new upcoming talents,as far paying 10 rs. for entering the hat is concerned,its absolutely ok,any middle class indian can also bear that cost once a week,and they need to maintain that place,& pay the employees who r working there so,there’s nothing wrong in charging 10 rs.Finaly u get some fresh air there away from the polution of the city along with a joyful envioronment. And as far rich people & NRIs are concerned they will rather prefer to enter a disc in any 5 star hotel of Delhi,not Delhi hat,so Delhi hat is a place absolutely for middle class,freshies in job & college students,not for NRI’s & richs.
That is thought provoking. I live in the U.S. and have for the last 9 years. I’ve visited 7 or more times (mainly Bangalore & Madras) since then. It seems to me that in the last decade, the Indian middle and upper classes have lost themselves in the cities.
No more do people wear saris or salwaars because it’s just the norm. No more because it’s all around you. Nooo. Now people wear the “saree” because it’s “so ethnic dahling”. Suddenly urban India has begun to see itself through a western eye. Suddenly Indianness has been validated by the west, and urbanites now see themselves through the cynical and critical eye of the West, evaluating everything Indian with a fundamentally western mind.
What is authentic anymore in this western India, is anything that still manages to retain its eastern way of perceiving and thinking. We are all fundamentally affected by the British interpretation of anything, and we can never go back past that twist, but there is still some authenticity left in the people and the places to whom westerners are still foreign.
That is thought provoking. I live in the U.S. and have for the last 9 years. I’ve visited 7 or more times (mainly Bangalore & Madras) since then. It seems to me that in the last decade, the Indian middle and upper classes have lost themselves in the cities.
No more do people wear saris or salwaars because it’s just the norm. No more because it’s all around you. Nooo. Now people wear the “saree” because it’s “so ethnic dahling”. Suddenly urban India has begun to see itself through a western eye. Suddenly Indianness has been validated by the west, and urbanites now see themselves through the cynical and critical eye of the West, evaluating everything Indian with a fundamentally western mind.
What is authentic anymore in this western India, is anything that still manages to retain its eastern way of perceiving and thinking. We are all fundamentally affected by the British interpretation of anything, and we can never go back past that twist, but there is still some authenticity left in the people and the places to whom westerners are still foreign.