New Dilli Haat - Pitampura: A place with a streamlined body but no soul.......On reading that a new Dilli Haat was inaugurated by the Government of Delhi, in a bigger, more spacious (their words, not mine) area, with a spice counter, etc., etc., I made grand plans and set out with my trusty camera to capture a few sights.....
After parking at Patel Chowk and boarding the metro, was looking forward to Pitampura, on the metro 'red line' .....
After passing a station called Netaji Subash Place (2 stations before Pitampura) , I look below, and I see a sight that looked a lot like how our 'old Dilli Haat, looks like. Realising that the Pitampura was a misnomer, got off at the next station and returned to Netaji Subash Place, from where the new Dilli Haat is literally a stones throw away.
On seeing the line of cars eager to enter the underground parking (Delhi Govt claims that they have space for 400 cars) I too entered the main portals eagerly.... (entry is FREE until 30th April) where my hopes and aspirations plummeted....
Where there is a certain rustic charm right when you enter the old dilli haat, here I could only see a mall like atmosphere, with back to back shops, streamlined in rows precise to a point.
Setting aside my scepticism, I went searching for the food area..... I mean, who goes to Dilli Haat to shop, and was met with further disappointments. The mall like culture is prevalent
here also…. There are two rows of food stalls on either side of a central amphitheatre. The old stone tables of the old Dilli haat still exist, but here, like at a mall, you have only self service, with the food taking an inordinately long time, and without the efficiency of the malls, the counter staff have no clue about the orders, and every time, they serve, you, they look with longing at the crockery, asking you 20 questions as to whether you intend to steal them…..It was then that I decided, that unless I have a serious problem in life, I am going to give this place a very wide berth…. because I want to go to a place to relax and chill out as we usually do at the old haat, not go to a place which may be technically perfect (it doesn’t look so) but lacking a soul……..
