भाईजान आओ नमाज़ पढ़ने चले

Yesterday...I reluctantly went out for an excursion with my friend...for a test drive actually. We had planned to go for the ride(that of a Harley) first and then go to Daryaganj to get my friend a guitar. Though my escorting guide accidentally abandoned me in the middle of the ride and I had to carry the whole 1200cc package(that kept on haulting in between) right through the middle of the unpredictable traffic of Delhi, the experience as a whole was a nice one. We left the slick humungous showroom after a while and caught the urban lifeline, the metro, straight for Chawri Bazar. We boarded off the destined station and found ourselves in the middle of a cobweb of narrow streets crowded with men, women, kids, rickshaws, trucks, autos, beggars, handicapped, rickety shops, showrooms, dogs and cows and yes offcourse, the scorching sun and continuous strident noises. Unaware of the exact route and aware of the possibility of getting struck in this cobweb, we decided to get a local vehicle and so took a rickshaw and told him to stop us by a guitar shop in Daryaganj. As decided, he left us by a traffic light and told us to walk further along the roadside for the shops. We stepped down the rickshaw and made our way through a zig zag pattern created by all the creatures mentioned above towards the roadside. After scouring through all the shops, we got us a decent guitar in a satisfactory price and then zipped straight towards a lassi stall by the end of the road to soak our throat. Now we were done with our itinerary and it was time for stuffing in a delicacy of the spot. My friend told me to visit "KARIM" situated nearby. We decided to go near the Jama Masjid and then ask the locals for the exact route. So we plunged into the vast chaotic ocean of the afore mentioned creatures surrounding the Jama Masjid. As I was moving through, the odour of rotten garbage, then aroma of chicken kept on gushing into my nostrils in turns. There were rickshaws embedded in between the crawling crowd, the peddler of which would be always standing on the pedals, pushing it too hard and making his way through the sludge of the chaotic crowd. Then there were some privately owned cars, very few, that would have the driver hung outside the front window, making his way by manouvers, both of the mouth and the car. There were a lot of momden people in that area, mostly wearing  plain white kurta and pyjama or Achkan with white caps. Some of them were slender while others were heavily built. The women would roam clad in Burqa while some had worn suits. I don't remember any of them wearing tees or jeans. Kids would wear whatever they deserved according to their stature. On the bank of the road were meat shops and restraunts stacked uncomfortably close aginst each other, with the owner clad in white kurta pyjama and cap and donning a long beard and kajal in his eyes. Amidst all this, a surge of strong odour of garbage visited me again that made me ask my friend why does the MCD not get it cleaned regularly to which he replied... bud it's a daily matter here... cleaning won't aid much. Our hunger and fatigue kept us moving towards KARIM deeper into this mesh. As we moved ahead, I could see the Jama Masjid moving towards me, full of crowd crawling in through the giant gate like ants, together in unison. The monument is a religious place, but it is imposing enough to give the viewer a parallax effect while gazing at it and moving through. I wondered what purpose could the religious building serve while being immersed in such unrest and frenzy. Anyways I kept moving. Suddenly amidst the loud noise, I heard a voice..."Bhaijaan aao namaz padhne chale" ( brother come let's offer our prayer). Hmmm...this caught my attention as I felt a guy say this and pass by me. That's it. My other senses did not care to perceive who the guy was or where he went. It was just my ears that captured the essence of that chaos. And within a moment I felt an unprecedented feeling of peace in that choas. A pure emotion of love and attachement sprinkled all over that place. I realised... that however busy the people there were, whatever profession they were in, whatever situation they were in, whatsover chaos they were facing... by the end of the day...they were a family, who would leave everything behind and gather together, and walk into that building to offer their prayer, together. Suddenly my perception changed, I could see how diverse they were in their profession, someone had a meat shop, while other a restaurant, yet another had a workshop and yet all were in the same kind of attire and persona and were peeping out of their shops, taking to each other. Meanwhile, we reached KARIM and ordered a mutton stew and a khamiri roti (that is famous all over India). Though we did not like the food (probably the lassi was not compatible with the stew) but our hunger was satisfied. We got out of the majestic KARIM and after a few minutes of pondering, decided to get into the Jama Masjid. We decided that we would not not go into the masjid (as we were too tired to get our shoes off) and would rather sit on the stairs and relish the peace in the chaos. So we made our way through the unattended scan machine towards the gigantic stairs. On the stairs were handicapped beggars murmuring for some compassion. I am not much of a giver, but the peace and ecstasy in me did not leave any room for reluctance, so I gave both of them what I could. Meanwhile my friend had reached the topmost stair, and was capturing the grandeur of the monument in his phone. I climbed up to him and then we both sat on the corner of that stair. I leaned back, and then allowed my soul to devour the peace and bliss out of the chaos. Our back was facing the masjid and we were facing the unkempt buildings  of the place. A T shaped road was woven closely in between the buildings and in that road was flowing a river of people, vehicles and animals, heading both ways, without any order but without a disorder too. Me and my friend, we both were sharing the same feeling of peace, and he told me, that Devdutt Patnaik in one of his '"TED talks" explained that India has an order in its chaos. We both could resonate with what Devdutt meant at that point of time. Amidst this a group of visitors caught my eye, standing at the corner, it was a family I guess, with three women completely clad in Burqua and four kids wearing Burqa, kurta and t shirt. I got this strange feeling, both a question and an answer in itself, that amidst this modern society, embracing all the changes coming in, how would it feel for them to still done those clothes and that lifestyle and embrace them as a part of their life. This alien feeling intrigued me with its beautiful mysterious nature. As I was emerging out of this yet another wave of bliss present there, I saw those beautiful kids approaching me, running through the stairs. I rushed out to get my phone's camera into action but I could manage to capture only one of them as they passed through, and I captured him all in his beautiful innocence, hopping through the enormous stairs. Then we observed some foreigners visiting with their cameras and a few locals in awe of them, who got themselves clicked with the foreigners. Then I turned my camera and got the monument clicked for the sake. We did not look back as the view ahead was far more beautiful. It seldom occurs to me, that the voices in my head come to a hault and give way to the tranquil... the turmoil present there had the same effect internally to me, all the noises inside my head were washed off for that moment. Then reluctantly we decided to leave the masjid as we were getting late for a yet another weird get together in the Connaught Place. The Jama Masjid and the Connaught place get together, both made me realise how peaceful and beautiful people and situations get, when we embrace them as they they are, and not their reflections upon us. We ran down the stairs and merged amongst the crowd, struggling our way out through the newly found brethren towards the urban lifeline, the metro.

PS : Do find attached the reference pictures below.