Connaught Place: Delhi’s heart skips a beat, but hoping for revival soon

NEW DELHI: Resting on his motorbike that was serviced just moments earlier, Kamla Nagar resident Aamir Khan, 35, gently pulled his mask down to bite into a choco-bar as he awaited his friends in the inner circle of Connaught Place. “I have been dreaming of this moment for more than two months,” the ice cream aficionado said. It is not that he cannot get ice cream in his north Delhi colony, but the unique old-world charm of Connaught Place makes a choco-bar special.“There is something very languid and relaxing about this area. It truly is Delhi’s heart, and no matter where you live or work in the National Capital Region, CP always appears central and accessible,” Khan said.
The heritage shopping complex, recently cleaned and sanitised, is looking as unblemished and sparkling as perhaps when it was first opened to the public in 1933. New Delhi, designed by Edwin Lutyens, was built to impress, and its prime shopping plaza — named after Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, who visited the city in 1921 — did not lack in grandeur. While the nearby Gole Market catered to the daily needs of government employees who moved in after its transformation into British India’s capital in 1912, Connaught Place was meant for the city’s elite.
It is said that Connaught Place’s architect, Robert Tor Russell, was inspired by the Royal Crescent in Bath, England, and though it is not known if the then recent Spanish flu pandemic played on his mind, the idea of a sprawling plaza with huge open spaces, a central park, wide roads and an arcade with wide corridors and spacious shops now seems almost prescient in the post-Covid-19 world that demands social distancing from its visitors. It is this unique character of design and architecture that will help CP bounce back, believe the shop owners.
“Where else in Delhi do you find an open plaza with a green sprawl and covered corridors leading to shops that measure 1,500-2,000 square feet?” asked Atul Bhargava, president of New Delhi Traders’ Association. “Connaught Place is a lifestyle destination, and at this moment, the safest place to shop. The stores are spacious enough to ensure social distancing and the corridors are commodious if the nearly 300 illegal hawkers are evicted.”
At the moment, though the usual buzz is missing, the handful of customers when the market reopened has turned into a steady flow, most of the people gathering at fast food joints for coffee and burgers. “Working from home is stressful and we were eager to just step out. Though you can’t watch a movie or eat at a restaurant at the moment, a stroll in Connaught Place seemed like our best bet,” said Vijay Sharma, an IT professional, who was in a queue at a burger place with his wife Aditi. “Though we only planned to window-shop, I couldn’t resist buying a new pair of sneakers.”
Manoj Aggarwal of Mohanlal Sons, a fabled apparels store, said, “We opened on June 1 and business is not even 5% of what it should have been at the moment. In fact, it is costlier to open the shop than keep it closed.” But he hoped that by November, things will be back to normal. “For this, we need restaurants and cinema halls to reopen because they attract the crowds,” he added. CP’s four cinema halls are still closed. Because shoppers aren’t buying clothes, he said, instead of sherwanis and fashionable wear, “our machines are making masks”.
Masks, in fact, are selling like hot cakes at another popular shopping destination not very far away. Apart from the eateries, it is here that there is a semblance of a rush. The double-layered cotton khadi mask with tricolour piping is a coveted item at the flagship store of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), whose chairman, Vinai Kumar Saxena, said the outlet was selling products worth Rs. 5 lakh a day, mainly masks but also khadi kurtas, saris, honey, mustard oil and some other items. “The masks are washable, reusable, bio-degradable and affordable at Rs 25 apiece,” said Saxena.
The popular Janpath market, usually crowded with college students and tourists, is now almost deserted. “The only customers we now get are office goers. Tourists are our primary clientele, but they won’t be here soon,” said stall owner Ravinder Kumar. “Also, till Delhi Metro resumes services, Janpath will be empty.”
The enduring toy shop — Ram Chander and Sons — is getting customers, but it’s not the same for its effusive, ‘83-year-young’ owner Satish Sundra. “I can’t see the smiles of customers behind their mask and neither can they see mine,” he said. “Whoever now comes is in a hurry, buys what is necessary and leaves. There is no pleasure of opening up everything we have on offer because people aren’t browsing.”
The vintage United Coffee House is gearing up to tide the Covid-19 crisis. “In our 80 years, we have experimented and welcomed change and survived,” said Akash Kalra, the third-generation owner of the restaurant. “We will now have to adopt new methods of containing crowds, while ensuring the dining experience isn’t akin to being in a hospital.” As he prepared to wait out a challenging period, he added, “This new normal will be visible from July.”