Pradeep Sachdeva gives the impression of a man in a hurry. At 62, he would put many younger men to shame by his zeal and dedication. A noted architect and designer, he is deeply immersed in Delhi government’s Chandni Chowk redevelopment plan and has all sorts of ideas in mind.
It contrasts greatly with the Chandni Chowk of Mughal days, shown in an illustration. For two years, he has been painstakingly working out schemes to convert Chandni Chowk again into the Moonlight Street envisaged by Shah Jahan’s daughter, Roshanara. But congestion and encroachments are big problems to tackle. To persuade building owners (many of them involved in litigation) and shopkeepers to toe the line and make adjustments is proving a difficult task. But he is hopeful things will work out in the long run. The ugly overhead wires, the chaotic traffic, lack of toilets (particularly for women), finding space for tree replanting and parking, giving a semblance of order and cleanliness to the area are among the main headaches. However, the progress made so far has made Pradeep take heart.
Besides his smartphone, he carries a diary in which he takes down suggestions from historians, old Delhiwallahs, artists, planners, authors of books on Medieval India, owners of old maps and sketches, 17th century accounts of the Chowk and impressions of foreign travellers, who were fascinated by the Moonlight Square that did not have a parallel anywhere else in those days.
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That was the time when Shahjahanabad had emerged as a newly-designed city with wide spaces, in which even elephants, camels and horse-driven carriages could move about easily. Shops of various trades were concentrated in one place and the houses neatly built, with no electricity wires and no hygiene problems either, though a canal flowed mid-street. To bring back that ambiance is a Herculean task but Pradeep Sachdeva is not deterred.
The overhead wires are being put underground and one-way traffic plans are making good headway. The Chowk might not look a ditto copy of Begum Jahanara’s ambitious creations but it will, in time to come, make people wonder at the rapid transformation brought about and attract more visitors, particularly foreign tourists, interested in surveying vestiges of Mughal history in the new Chandni Chowk.
The busy architect is keeping his fingers crossed (when not thoughtfully stroking his beard) till then and racks his brains on the possibility of making provision for a central pool (to reflect the moonlight) and a clock tower also to complete the re-development scheme in toto. Over it, of course, he doesn’t have full control as those in authority pull the strings and the ground staff just remain cogs in the wheel of progress. How Chandni Chowk looked in olden days can be gauged from the photo reproduced from Roli Books publisher Pramod Kapoor’s collection.