Erstwhile homes of the Nehru-Gandhi family — be it Anand Bhawan in Allahabad, or Teen Murti House and 1, Safdarjung Road in Lutyens’ Delhi — have been converted into museums and preserved for public viewing. However, one such home that served as the venue for Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Kaul Nehru’s wedding in the Walled City has faded into oblivion.
No easy task
Haksar Haveli, located in Sitaram Bazaar, was once a two-storey building that was the family home of Kamala Nehru. The family later sold it and all that remains of it now is a crumbling wall that can be seen behind a row of small commercial establishments. Negotiating the narrow lanes of Sitaram Bazaar to find the haveli is no easy task as very few shopkeepers and residents have heard of Haksar Haveli. Only a few senior citizens were able to provide directions, that too when asked for directions to “Nehru ji ke sasural ka ghar ”.
(Left) One-year-old Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi with her parents Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru. Haksar Haveli where Pandit Nehru got married is in a shambles.
A peepul tree, garbage and remnants of a wall are all that is left on the plot of land where the haveli once stood. A small but strong gate keeps trespassers away. There is no signage identifying the haveli, let alone providing any information about its history.
S. K. Jain, who owns a grocery store across the street, says he came to the area in 1971 when there was still a Kashmiri family living in the haveli but they soon moved out and since then he has watched the structure crumble slowly.
“It was a beautiful two-storey house in which two people used to stay. The house was well-known then as the place where Nehru got married. But after it was sold, the new owner put a guard at the gate and did not maintain it,” says Mr. Jain.
No memory
Other residents in the area are quite amused too see the plot of land that nobody cared about suddenly getting so much attention. Abdul Mueed, who has grown up in the area, says “I am 38-year-old and have lived on this street all my life. I do not remember there ever being a building. Only these ruined walls that have deteriorated further with every rainy season,” he says.
Another businessman Deepak Gupta, who lives on the same street, says he was told by his parents that when the building existed it had a large hall and therefore the owners would rent it out for wedding functions and other cultural events. “The heritage is lost like most parts of the Old City. We can now only look at the plot and imagine that there once stood a grand building and picture it decked up for the wedding of Jawaharlal Nehru and feel proud that it was here that he celebrated a momentous occasion,” said Mr. Gupta.
On Thursday, there was a flurry of activity at the haveli as the Delhi High Court, while hearing a petition that illegal construction was going on at the heritage site, ordered an inspection of the property by authorities, including the Commissioner of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and police officers. Unfortunately, nothing remains of the Haksar Haveli, apart from memories of it passed down orally.
