DELHI, THE CITY IMPERIAL 13

Such can be the whims of Nature even in this
Imperial Capital.

It is dawn. The traffic through the Ajmere Gate
starts flowing towards New Delhi; the wheels of bullock
carts roll, slowly and heavily^ over the dust-covered
road The clatter of horses3 hoofs awaken the tried
clerk who sleeps in the verandah of his official quarters;

the railkraan bursts through the gate on his bicycle that
was primarily designed to carry only himself, but
actually carries also a multitude of milk pails* Another
day has definitely dawned in Delhi; a hazy sun appears
to rise above the row of buildings across the road.

The morning soon grows into day and the tide of
traffic swells. Earlier, the labourers—men, women, and
their children—had sung their way to work, and tourists
had come from everywhere in tongas heavily loaded
with suit-cases and hold-alls. The bright sun indicates
half past ten as the tide of traffic still swells—tongas,
ekkas, bicycles, buses, lorries, vans, clerks, head clerks,
and gazetted officers all moving towards New Delhi. It
is past eleven and the shrill whistle of the steam train
tells of time, place, and distance—another train has
come from somewhere in India all the way to Delhi.
In New Delhi, a stream of cars runs up the broad road
that divides the Imperial Secretariat into two blocks,
North and South—the "upper four hundredn are
coming to their administrative work.

Older than New Delhi and newer than Old Delhi is
the quarter that lies beyond Kashmir! Gate. This part
of Delhi was, not so long ago, what the new city is
today. The avenues, parks, buildings and. spacious
bungalows in colonial style, and the hotels with a comfort