चांदनी चौक | Chandni Chowk | Moonlight Square

Being part of the former Shahjahanabad, Chandni Chowk – moonlight square – was built in the same era as the monuments in its proximity, its design being attributed to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s daughter, Princess Jahanara. The half-moon shaped market square is so named after the canals flowing from the river Yamuna, which once cut through the square reflecting the moonlight, canals which have since closed. Chandni Chowk is still one of India’s busiest bazaars.

So. New Delhi is the kind of city where if you attack it, there is just so much to offer. More than words can describe. But if you attack it fully, every now and then it will hit you back. In my case it was a plate of golgappas this week, (one of the most moreish and delicious Indian creations), that just hit me like a Tendulkar Six a few hours later. The roars of the crowd blew the roof off my toilet. What a humble, and frankly painful, reminder that my stomach lining is not what I thought it was and I took it on the chin, face down. I have no regrets.

Ring-of-fire episode aside, my first class took place with the trainee doctors at Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH), where the twelve volunteering students made greetings cards which will go on to be sold to raise funds for the Hospital. After stepping off a rickshaw in the morning I bumped into Dr Umang and mentioned not feeling 100%, though spared him the details, and within probably two minutes some medication for my stomach appeared.

The trainee doctors ended up having a brilliant time painting the cards with the materials I had brought from Chandni Chowk. The time seemed to fly by as I observed them working, their chit-chat reminding me of the birdsong at Sujan Singh Park, punctuated with tinkling laughter. We have an open discussion about some of the patients the students have seen so far and their experiences working at SCEH, something I am working to include within Art of Sevā, as ultimately their stories will be much more insightful than my own. The students and I outline a schedule to begin this task of capturing the patients’ visual stories just as they are; inspiring, shocking, heart-warming, heart-breaking, honest.

Given that this was the first day and there is a view to build momentum, the biggest outcome, for me, is that they had some fun.