Connaught Place: A classic case of heritage let down by inadequate policy

You can tell that the place is buckling under this substantial mass of people. Dhruv Munjal revisits a public pity; photos by Dalip Kumar

I  curse myself the moment I deboard at the Rajiv Chowk Metro station. Coming here on New Year’s Day is almost never a good idea, but today looks particularly bad. Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi’s inescapable vortex of chaos, is teeming with more people than usual. At the gate I exit from, entry has been temporarily suspended. A Central Industrial Security Force guard is holding back a large, argumentative group of people. “Andar saans nahi ayegi. Wait karo (You won’t be able to breathe in there. You must wait here),” he tells the group, before making an exception for a pregnant