Delhi Talkies

Arvind Kejriwal’s Delhi Oral History Programme, launched by Delhi Archives in collaboration with Ambedkar University Delhi, is a unique endeavour as it attempts to document the capital’s heritage using voices of its citizens. Spearheaded by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the interviewed individuals narrate the city’s stories, and thus add to a rich audio library.

Dr Geetanjali Chopra, an academician with over 10 years of experience in research and administration, comments on the initiative — “The project is a very welcome decision. It’s going to be a reservoir of knowledge for all those who want to know about Delhi.”

Connaught place in the early 1900s

However, given that this is an old initiative that has just been revived, Geetanjali questions, “Is the project just being revived in order to interview more people? 100 interviews within the initial two years is a good start, but what beyond that? Are we going to use all the histories that were documented earlier to take out something more meaningful in terms of books, short films or feature films?”

The project has already started to record the interviews of 100 people from across all sections of society — a process that will take two years to complete.

Rikta Banerjee, a history graduate, has always felt that every nook and cranny of a place has its own story to tell. She says, “Be it a place with documented historical importance or, perhaps, a crammed 10-feet lane in front of your house. The same goes for our country. Documenting certain places has let us come across their diverse pasts. Things that had been hidden away, that only locals know about.”

Qutub Minar

However, how does one ensure that these stories are reliable? Luckily, for that, the library will also include documents to substantiate the spoken information.