A group of like-minded individuals in Mayur Vihar, who seek to set an example of community participation in“CARING with the elderly,Promoting a HEALTHY you,For Women & Youth EMPOWERMENT,& a regenerating Environment.”
LYN is a group of Mayur Viharians from cooperative housing societies and neighboring areas who have got together by answering a simple question, “What can make our neighborhood better?” Since the past two years this group has been involved in a lot of activities that aimed to empower women, elderly and youth as an integral part of the society by increasing their involvement in in thinking about the area as a well as their own healthy routine and duties.
Our Activities include discussion meetings, fun events and neighborhood walks that assist us to document what our neighborhood needs to keep itself, clean , green and safe.
LYN has initiated programs to create a sustainable environment by engaging local administration to create a safe locality and maintaining cleanliness of roads and parks. For this we call upon RWAs and leaders of Mayur Vihar and ask women, youth and elders to be proactive to make LYN initiatives collectively.This fact-findin-report-1 is an example of activity that generated a document for the leaders and civic authorities to improve our neighborhood. LYN also holds awareness talks on wellness. For example read this report on LYN event at Bhagwatdham, an elderly peoples home in our neighborhood.
LYN motivated neighbors to celebrate environment day, women rights campaign and has attempted linking with care service workers. Care for the aged has been one of the major endeavors of LYN and has been developed using multiple trips to a home for the aged. With the cooperation of the three NGO’s (SAFP, CDT Foundation, JUS).
A task that LYN does is to inspire residents to change to better environment. One of the activities is to generate manure through bio culture compost beds in Mayur Vihar. Residenst are being asked to make tree guards from a loose brick net that as a bed of kitchen waste mixed with bio culture . The bio culture when mixed with the wet kitchen waste helps to compost it in a way the tree/plant can directly absorb nutrients from it. If wet waste is segregated by domestic workers and house hold people at source, dry waste can be recycled in a cleaner way with a better dignity to the waste collectors. Do this yourself in your own neighborhood with your own resident welfare association MAKE YOUR OWN COMPOST BED
The LYN members begin to record its history through heritage walks. The first Mayur Heritage walk was organised on November 1, 2014 . Its report below is an interesting read.
On the nippy morning of 1st November, 2014 a diverse group of old and young, natives and migrated stand on the street in Patparganj market with a seemingly unknown and undefined purpose. The group looked rather motley; a child of about four year age, teens and past teens, young professionals, retirees, house makers, veterans in seventies and eighties tells its composition. The avowed purpose emerges: what is the near and far history of this place where we live? Some members of the group have bits and pieces of past events which are shared. Some of this is, what can be called, netted history from internet. The group starts moving towards Chilla village. Conversations begin. It is talk with walk. Information keeps flowing, experiences shared, old times recalled. Some curious onlookers gaze too. The ‘walk’ goes round the corner of Chilla village and ends in a park in front of Samachar Apartments near Mayur Vihar Extension Metro station, where we share the known and the not so known.
So what were the known unknowns? Why the name Patparganj? The word “Patparganj” is onomatopoeic. It reminds the sound of running horses. In Mughal times, chieftains were called “Dus Hazaari”, “Bees Hazaari”, “Tees Hazaari”, implying commanding “ten thousand”, “twenty thousand”, “thirty thousand” horse mounted warriors. The king would be saluted in Shahjanabad. The horses would be stabled across Yamuna river. So Patparganj became abode of horses. Horses did not come alone, they brought their keepers and as the economics dictates, fodder for horses and grains for keepers were naturally needed. Some kind of grain market developed. With time the market matured.
Cut to East India Rule: In September of 1803, Mahaad Ji Scindia’s Maratha army under French General Louis Bourquien attacks Delhi from the east. English Commander Gen. Gerard Lake fights this army from Lal Qila side. General Lake reports that Maratha army was at least three times more but he successfully used smoke screen and created an illusion of English army retreatment. Maratha army was tricked, attacked and defeated. The battle ground was Patparganj. Pandit Jagat Swarup, oldest member of the group in his eighties, tells that Patparganj and Chilla were two big Panchayats in this area. The older population were a few grain merchants – Jains and Vaish, some Brahmins and many Gujjars. Kalia Ji in the group has studied Delhi well. He tells, and some others verify, that this area was called “Dabar” meaning Yamuna water would flood this land and keep it swampy for months. This is opposed to the topography of Chandni Chowk side which was on relatively high land. But this swamp was beneficial. The soil became fertile and area became naturally green. There was seasonal cropping. The area had some natural and man made ponds – large and small. After rainy season, many inhabitants of Patparganj would dig the land and use this soft soil to plaster their houses leaving a pit behind which turned in to ponds. There is a story. Once in Chilla to Patparganj area flood water remained for quite some time. After the flood, Gujjars in the area got the area cleared of mud and claimed their own. The story needs to be substantiated. Another, folklore told was that a girl named Sahiba killed a bore, and the place was named Sahibaganj even before it was called Patparganj. The Jain temple in the Patparganj market is at least 300 year old and appears to be erected by early Jain traders. The current day Pandav Nagar was actually the land holding (Zamindari) of Pandits (Brahmins). Chilla area was a big centre of milk products, especially Mawa, in north India. It may be because of large Gujjar population in the area who kept milch cattles.
Last few decades witnessed a rapid and planned transformation of the area. Nizamuddin bridge widened, Noida link road revamped and Yamuna Pushta road made. Society flats were built and new commercial establishments came up to meet demands. Metro connectivity, and now its new line under construction in the area, add another dimension. Patparganj market expanded to Acharya Niketan and Pratap Nagar side . The old Patparganj thus gave way to new realities and new hopes.
LYN facilitated Jagat Swaroop Ji whose family is living in this area since five generations and he himself has lived a rich life of 88 years and very active socially and professionally. The participant’s social and intellectual profile was quite appealing and their contributions was thought provoking.