Nowhere else do you see a better proof of the fact that India is an amalgam of so many communities than in the National Capital. Delhi has attracted various communities for generations together, leading to the creation of many community organisations across the city which aim at providing a home-away-from-home sort of platform to their people. Social and cultural gatherings aside, some also open their premises to provide lodgings to their people visiting Delhi.
A trip to Shree Delhi Gujarati Samaj on Raj Niwas Road can make you recognise the fact once again. Established in 1897, it is not only the oldest organisations of Gujaratis living in Delhi but is also certainly among the oldest such outfits that the city has today. Interestingly, it is abuzz with people, as also with pieces of luggage in all shapes and sizes. All of these people thronging the Samaj premise are Gujaratis — either leaving Delhi for home or their respective destinations further on, or checking into the city for a holiday or on work.
The Samaj has been running a guest house which over the years has become the favourite haunt of the common Gujaratis visiting Delhi. According to Virat Shah, general secretary of the Samaj for three years now, “There is no other community organisation that is doing so much service for promotion of tourism in Delhi.”
“You know how Gujaratis love travelling. They can be found everywhere. And in this regard, the Gujarati Samaj guest house has been quietly serving the purpose of tourism in Delhi for years. Each year, we host more than a lakh visitors,” he says. The obvious reason Gujaratis choose the guest house is “the familiarity factor.”
“We go all out to make them feel at home. We have a canteen that provides Gujarati thali for just Rs.65, also Gujarati snacks. Khakra, dhokla, oondiya, you name it and we have it here. The thali is so good that even outsiders come for it,” he says.
All the signs and boards within the complex are in Gujarati. “They can speak Gujarati here, particularly helpful for those who are not too familiar with English or Hindi. Then we have travel agents within the complex who help them visit not only places of tourists’ interest across Delhi but also popular destinations like Agra, Haridwar, Mussoorie, Shimla, etc.” The profile of visitors includes “Gujarati traders, students and women’s group and Gujarati NRIs too.”
A walk around the guest house convinces you about the number of annual visitors that Shah has quoted. It is a three-storey building which has 70 spick and span rooms plus three well-turned-out air conditioned dormitories and 12 non-a/c dormitories, also a huge covered veranda where people can retire for the night.
Shah says bookings through its website are accepted but not during June-July and Diwali time “because of the huge rush.” The added rush between June and September is also because the guest house is where the Delhi Government accommodates the Mansorovar pilgrims, the only way non-Gujaratis can use the premise. “We accommodate the Mansarovar pilgrims in our air-conditioned dormitories. We charge Rs. 200 for each bed while all our rooms are below Rs. 1000,” he informs.
The 117-year-old Samaj, with 3500 Delhi Gujaratis as its members, also runs a senior secondary school adjacent to the guest house. “It has 1200 students out of which 500 are Gujarati kids. We have Gujarati as an optional subject in the school,” he says.
Yet another popular feature is its Shah Auditorium. “It is the largest auditorium in the area with 700 seats. We let it out, also regularly host cultural shows for our members. Many times, we bring troupes from Ahmedabad,” informs Shah, associated with the Samaj for 15 years now. The list of visitors to the Samaj includes famous Gujaratis such as Gandhi and Patel. Also, Narendra Modi.
“Modi visited the Samaj as Gujarat Chief Minister thrice. We visited him the day after he took oath as the Prime Minister and invited him to the Samaj to felicitate him,” he says.
The earlier generation set up the Samaj on Raj Niwas Road “because this was the popular area where most Gujaratis preferred to settle down in Delhi.”
However, with the city expanding a lot over the years, there are now quite a few apartment buildings elsewhere where Delhi Gujaratis can be found. “There is Gujarat Vihar opposite Preet Vihar in East Delhi with 110 plots; also Gujarat Apartments in Pitampura and Umiya Sadan in Dwarka. Now, we have about 25-30 area-based Gujarati associations in the city but Shree Delhi Gujarati Samaj is still the mother of all of them,” relates Shah, who also runs a magazine on his own for Delhi Gujaratis.
Naturally then, the Samaj premise becomes the hub of Delhi Gujaratis during the annual Navratri. Shah says, “All nine-days, we have dandiya only for Gujaratis here.”
So, next month-end, one part of the school will turn into a competition ground all nine nights for dandiya with chanchi cholis and ghagras going in circles doing the Garba.
