The year that was.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

We feel most acutely for what we have lost. As the year reaches an end, here’s an accounting of three profound losses that the city suffered this year. One is a tree, one is a tea house, and one is a bookstore.

Truth be told, this tree was never alive in our living memory. It had always seemed dead and leafless. Nobody could even tell what kind of tree it was. The woody skeleton, however, had stood upright in Lodhi Garden for many years. Its bare branches, ending in prickly tips, were in constant use as a resting place for birds in flight, just as the grassy ground below served as a lounge for the park’s picnickers. A park bench would usually lie under the tree. In June, the tree fell of its own accord. The only good aspect of the sad news is that no one was beneath it at the fateful moment.

Now to the second loss.

For a long time, the Modern Tea House in Haveli Azam Khan was a gathering place for Old Delhi’s hyperlocal poets. Every night after dinner, they would arrive at the chaikhana from their homes in nearby galis, kuchas, katras, chattas, and ahatas. Here, they would recite their new poems to fellow poets, testing the wit of their fresh lines before releasing them into the critical world outside the tea house. Sometimes these poets would have to be nudged to leave, because it would be time to close for the night. Founded in 1966, the tea house shut down in May. The proprietor said he had grown old, and with children settled into professions of their own, he no longer had incentive to continue.

The third loss occurred just this month. Legendary bookseller Surinder Dhawn closed his bookstore in Daryaganj.

But, dear readers, each loss gives way to something new. In the first month of the new year, we will show you the new substitutes for these three losses.

But be warned: the new year might bring more loss. This concerns Citizen Savitri. You must certainly be familiar with her, if not by name, then by face. The sari-clad lady is a living landmark of Connaught Place (CP). She has been a pavement vendor in a corner of the Outer Circle for more than 40 years. For a long time she would sell fruit, but around 2023 she shifted to selling trinkets (see photo). Increasingly, she says, there are days when she is barely able to make a sale. She recently told this reporter that she might stop coming to CP in the coming year. She said it only half-seriously, but if that actually happens, it will be an irreplaceable loss for historic Connaught Place.