Travel Diary: Hauz Khas Village, a little Brooklyn in New Delhi

Posted June 22, 2014 by @amanhimself in Essay / 0 Comments

No, Hauz Khas Village is not the most populous area of New Delhi, but it’s certainly a mini-Brooklyn.

Though it’s been twenty and one years, I have been living in Delhi, I have never seen such an inspiring place in this city of djins. But yesterday, a friend of me took there and I must say, I fell in love with the place. It’s a paradise for an artist to revive, and you get everything there, the yummy food (multi-cuisines), the art, the inspiration and the peace. What more an artist needs?

Hauz Khas is one of the more affluent neighborhoods in South Delhi, and is named after an ancient water reservoir by the same name. Hauz means ‘water tank’ (or lake) and Khas means ‘royal’, giving it the meaning, the ‘Royal tank‘.

Hauz Khas
Hauz Khas

This royal lake, is surrounded by the Deer Park, which is also one of the largest parks in the city. And yes, there are real deers inside it. Firuz Shah’s Tughlaq’s tomb is adjoining this lake, which is famous for many bollywood (indian-cinema) movie-shoots and a must place to see, even in the hottest weather (of course, you will find some shelter there).

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This place quite a Kafkaesque in a friendly manner. There is some mysteriousness in the peace this place endow, and if one looks around, he will clearly find himself in another world, a different place. It is hard to relate that it’s the same city where two-hour’s of traffic jam occurs in every two hours and is one of the top polluted cities of the planet. Next time I am definitely taking a book with me, and who knows the author of the book might be Franz Kafka.

 

The view
The view

The whole place is covered with fine paint and graffiti which are like gems carved in the walls, and they suit the place quite well and makes it look like an open art gallery.

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If you roam around in the thin streets of Hauz Khas Village, you will certainly realize why art holds an important factor in a human being’s life. It motivates people who live there, and plus the one who visit there. Surrounded by enormous artifact a person will definitely become a creative soul.

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Like many cafe’s residing there, this cafe called Smoke House Deli has a beautiful exterior, hand-drawn with sketch pens, yes, just sketch pens. The interior is quite exotic to, consider visiting there.

I know I compared Hauz Khas Village with Brooklyn of New York in the awe to see some Audens, Allens, Asimovs, Basquiats getting inspired by the place and producing some great works in the future. Anyway, it’s a cool place to hangout with so much creativity around you and it would be a perfect match by hanging out with creative people too.

Finally, the journey ended, where it started with a well known graffiti by Alena Vergnano.

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0 responses to “Travel Diary: Hauz Khas Village, a little Brooklyn in New Delhi

  1. “Kafkaesque in a friendly manner” – you must explain that further as I am positively intrigued. This place sounds fantastic and next time I’m in India, I will most definitely check it out.

  2. I have been to New Delhi but never got a chance to visit this Hauz Khas Village. Thank you for sharing your experience to us. If I visit Delhi in the future then I will try to check out this village. It seems like a place worth visiting.

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