EVENTS CULTURE ADVENTURE DELHI’S MOST RACIST LANE? NOT AT ALL, SAYS OWNER

A prominent fashion designer’s recent allegations that a certain lane in Shahpur Jat is barred for Northeasterners sparked a furore on social media. We talk to the residents and bring you both sides of the debate NORTHEAST = CHINA? WE’RE DOING OUR JOB

Once merely a shadow of the popular Hauz Khas Village, Shahpur Jat has made quite a name for itself due to the burgeoning number of fashion boutiques, eateries and murals in the area. However, the popular urban village recently found itself in the news, when designer Jenjum Gadi in his Facebook post termed one of its lanes, Dada Jungi House, as the “most racist place in Delhi”. His friend Jimmy Golmei, a 32-year-old Manipuri man, was allegedly harassed by residents in the area.

“My friend Jimmy had come to meet me and as I was not at the studio, he decided to wait at an outlet in the Dada Jungi lane. When he came out of the cafe, a guard rushed towards him and humiliated him. The guard told him he wasn’t welcome there and that he should leave immediately. These people are very rude and very racist and it is not only Jimmy, I have myself experienced such behaviour quite a few times,” said Gadi, whose studio is near the lane.

The incident impelled us to do a reality check at the allegedly ‘racist’ Dada Jungi lane. Here’s what we found: We met a young resident who lives near Dada Jungi lane. When we asked him whether the residents disliked people from the Northeast, he seemed bemused and hesitated to answer at first. On probing further, he said, “Yeh log China se aa gaye hai, aur jab China ka maal India mein ban hai toh in logon ko ek lane mein jaane ko naa mile to ismein kya badi baat hai?” Despite our efforts to enlighten him that people from the Northeast are very much Indians, he stuck to his claim and asked us to not trouble him. Once at the lane, we questioned one of the security guards there, who denied any such incident outright and claimed that it was his job to keep the “wrong people” out. “Yeh aam raasta nahi hai, private property hai. Yahaan ya toh customer aate hain yaa dukaan waale, baaki hum kisi ko bhi allow nahi karte. Humein yahaan ke landlord ne saaf bol rakha hai ki jo galat lage, usey andar matt aane dena, toh hum wahi karte hain,” he said. He then asked us to go talk to “Pradhaanji”, the landlord, if we needed any further clarification about the lane policy.