Not that I have not gone past it. Not that it has not planted in me a spot of curiosity, when I have gone past.
But somehow, I never peeped in to see what might lie behind the frayed, ill-fitting curtain that has hung oddly from its doorway, seemingly for years. Never bothered to know what must have held together this place with such a distinct old-world look that stands so starkly dissimilar from the rest of the real-estate goldmine that is New Delhi’s Connaught Place today.
The signboard says, Gospel Hall Assembly. What place is it anyway? The books on Jesus Christ strewn about in its old glass showcase certainly hint at its Christian roots.
As if curiosity has a mind of its own, I find myself lifting that curtain, mistaking it for a place I am looking for in CP’s H block. As soon as I winch up the nearly worn-out curtain — its dark maroon hue clearly claimed by age, I am in an alternate world! A bit familiar, because the curtain has been familiar for a long time. A bit strange, because I never expected to find such a spot of silence in the middle of CP.
It is a tiny, spartan hall with strips of wooden benches and tin chairs arranged in rows. At the end of the hall stands a chair and a table with a lacy cloth over it, and some books. On that chair sits a smiling man, asking me at once, “How can I help you?”
Instead of answering him, I throw questions at him: “What is this place?” “Who are you?” “What do you do?”
It is a prayer hall, open to any believer in God, in Jesus Christ, he says. I find no Cross, no statue of Jesus in it, only some boards that have framed quotes from The Bible.
“We talk about spirituality, how to attain peace of mind in today’s fast-paced world. Anybody is welcome,” he says. Is it attached to any church? “No, it is a church in itself. We are not attached to any denomination of Christianity. We just believe in Christ,” he states, by now giving me his name, Benjamin Alexander, a native of Kerala who came to Delhi in the early ’80s because his parents were working here.
Benjamin has been working at the Gospel Hall Assembly since 1988. Everyday, at 10.30 a.m., he takes this chair, waits eagerly for anybody to come in, “to talk about God”, and returns home at 6 p.m. Monday is his off day. Strangers come in, even foreign tourists, apparently driven by curiosity.
The Gospel Hall Assembly has 50 members across Delhi who assemble at this prayer hall every Sunday and Wednesday evening for an hour to “sing in praise of Jesus, study The Bible, taking home only peace and devotion for God.”
Can he give me something to read about the history of the place? No, he has nothing at hand. “The Assembly was started by a missionary from New Zealand at his house in Delhi in 1937. When more people joined it, he shifted it to this place in 1942. After Independence, the building went to the LIC of India, of which it has been a lessee.” Since the real-estate price has hit the roof across CP, LIC, he states, “increased our rent to a real high two years ago. We are paying them, thanks to donations organised by our members,” he says.
Being a Wednesday, I enquire if I can join the members in the evening prayer. Benjamin okays and at 6.30, I find myself sitting on a bench with 20 others in tow. Most are men. Few children of members; four women, with their heads wrapped in white scarves. They sing songs in Hindi about God’s greatness from one “Ahyatmik Geetmala”; also a few gospels from The Bible besides discussing some Bible teachings before saying Amen for the day. The sound of screeching cars and blaring horns from the peek-hour traffic on the road just outside gets drowned by the tenor of their gospel singing.
Prior to the prayers, Benjamin introduces me to his wife, Gloria, and a young member, Vani Valson, studying at St. Stephen’s College. An East Delhi resident, Vani tells me, “I don’t believe being part of any denomination of Christianity, I believe in reaching God and that is why I am here.” Her parents “have been coming to this Gospel Hall Assembly for ages.”
Wiki comes to my rescue in finding out more about Gospel Hall believers. Internationally, such a group is called Gospel Hall Brethren, a group of independent Christian assemblies who are theologically evangelical in nature, and historically are a part of what is sometimes called the Open Brethren. Such an assembly of Christians apparently first took place in Jerusalem in 32 A.D. Gospel Halls are popular in the U.K. and Europe, also in America. In India too, Benjamin says, “There are a lot of them now.” The one in CP is certainly the very first in this region.
I thank myself for entering the hall; it has helped me see beyond the curtain, a life unknown to many like me in Delhi but nevertheless an element of the city for the last 72 years.
