A Khirki to Khotachiwadi

To Mumbai the labyrinthine alleys of Khirki village in New Delhi would be as alien as its 190odd gaothans would be to the capital What binds them is their determination to survive even as rampant development threaten to mar their existence Today reduced to urban villages mdash when they were once shining torchbearers of community living mdash the likes of Khirki either suffer from government neglect or closer home risk being bulldozedBut simultaneously a culture is also being lost Itrsquos what compelled Mumbaibased The Citizens Archive of India CAI to touch base with 24yearold Khirki resident Ekta Chauhan who for long has endeavoured to collect the stories of her people mdash the earliest settler being her ancestor Khoobi Singh Chauhan who migrated from Indore in MP to Delhi in 1145 AD and decided to till landToday Khirki is no longer the land of farmers In fact with residents haphazardly adding floors and eating into their own land to accommodate their burgeoning population the village struggles to breathe mdash some lanes are so narrow that just one person can pass at a time Yet 90 families of the Chauhans who Ekta describes as her extended family continue to live here There are others including the migrant population of Malayalees and residents from African nations and Afghanistan who reside on the fringes Itrsquos in the midst of this fastchanging narrative of Khirki Ekta and the CAI have collaborated to record the oral accounts of its elderly residentsBefore all is lostBoasting of Khirki Masjid a mosque constructed by KhanIJahan Junan Shah the Prime Minister of Feroz Shah Tughlaq 1351ndash1388 of the Tughlaq Dynasty and Satpula a 14thcentury dam built by Mohammad Bin Tuglaq which also served as the outer wall of the fourth city of Delhi mdash Jahanpanah Khirki is not just culturally vibrant but alsohistorically significantEkta a heritage enthusiast who studied the subject at St Stephenrsquos College Delhi and did her Masterrsquos in public policy at National Law School of India University Bengaluru currently conducts walks at the village over the weekend She felt an urgent need to tell Khirkirsquos forgotten story because of how little the present generation of kids knew about the place ldquoWhen I was a child my grandparents would tell me stories about how Khirki was this selfsufficient and thriving farming heartland with a lake of its ownrdquo she recalls ldquoBecause everyone was related to each other we were like a big familyrdquo she addsThe Citizens Archive of India team led by Malvika Bhatia right has collaborated with Ekta Chauhan for her project Dilli Ki Khirki PicDatta KumbharThings changed rapidly when the village land was bought off by the government during 1960s and 1970s ldquoThese farms covered what is now Select Citywalk Mall Saket district court colonies of Malviya Nagar Saket and Greater Kailashrdquo she says Not only was the place around the village transforming people also began losing their livelihoods Her grandfather was among the first generation of men to find jobs outside the villageWith the passing away of the elderly in her family and that of the rest the stories of a lsquolife livedrsquo were dying too ldquoI also felt a general lack of enthusiasm among my younger cousins to know more about Khirkirdquo she says This is when Ekta reached out to her former colleague Malvika Bhatia who currently helms The Generation 1947 project at the CAI where they ldquointerview anyone born before 1947 with a story to tellrdquo Khirkirsquos distinct story immediately caught Bhatiarsquos interest and CAI decided to back Ektarsquos project Dilli Ki Khirki ldquoThe idea is to interview residents mostly those over 60 years old and to get them to share their stories about life in Khirki before things changedrdquo says Ekta Bhatia and her team at CAI currently provide Ekta with the backend and technical supportldquoBefore she started the interviews I took her through the entire interview process and followed up on the questions she could ask the intervieweesrdquo says Bhatia After the interview is recorded on both video and audio the data is then shared with CAI Thatrsquos where CAIrsquos work begins ldquoWe extract the audio clean it up and then get down to the tough part of transcribingrdquo says Bhatia Since March Ekta has interviewed over eight residents and the archival material is currently available with the CAI They are also trying to acquire old photographs from the villagers which will be scanned and kept in the archivesEkta Chauhan 24 a resident of Khirki has been conducting heritage walks to highlight the historical significance of the village most known for Khirki Masjid a mosque constructed by KhanIJahan Junan Shah the Prime Minister of Feroz Shah Tughlaq between 1351 and 1388 PicNishad AlamEveryone has a storyMisri Devi Kaushik who is around 95 years old and currently the oldest surviving member in the village was Ektarsquos oldest interviewee While the interview didnrsquot last more than 15 minutes because of her poor health through Kaushik Ekta learned of how the Chauhans revered the Brahmins the minority community that she belonged to and resided in the village Khirki also had three separate wells mdash one for the Chauhans the other for the Brahmins and one for the untouchables The socalled untouchables were pushed to one corner of the village ldquoI have been told that some members from this community still reside in Khirki and it would be interesting to hear what they have to say about life hererdquo says EktaHer most interesting interview though was with 65yearold Nathuram Rai who belongs to the Brahmin clan called the Bhatts known to be designated record keepers of the community ldquoThey visit every village a villagersquos turn might come in 56 years and make a record of all the marriages births deaths etc Nathuramrsquos ancestors have been following this profession for ages Earlier the records were kept orally then maintained on palm leaves and now in handwritten notebooks Nathuram has around 150 villages in DelhiHaryanaWestern UP under him The community uses a script called the Chakaravarti script which is supposedly understood only by them and is passed down the generationrdquo she says It was from him that Ekta learned about the story of her ancestor Khoobi SinghMumbairsquos gaothans nextBhatia who recently interviewed a few residents from the East Indian heritage village Matharpacady in Mazgaon as part of The Generation 1947 project says it would be interesting to record the oral narratives of communities that have lived in similar neighbourhoods in Mumbai too However lack of funds is proving to be a huge impediment and CAI is looking for donations in order to undertake more projects Matias Echanove cofounder of urbz usergenerated cities a research collective which has been actively involved in preserving the stories of another heritage village Khotachiwadi in Girgaum says ldquoCollecting oral history is obviously important from a historical point of view because there is no better way to understand the city than from the point of view its inhabitants It is also important for urban planningrdquoWhile not on the lines of CAI Echanove is working on preserving Khotachiwadirsquos story too ldquoMany students visit Khotachiwadi mdash they take photos videos sketch the streets and bungalows Unfortunately none of that stays back This rich material dies in folders and drawers Khotachiwadi needs a heritage cell where it can collect this material We are systematically putting our work on Khotachiwadi online urbz_khotachiwadi We are also putting together a new site with interviews of residents and photos of their houses and chawlsrdquoCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates