In Residence

When my father built Sujan Singh Park (named after my grandfather) he didn’t thinkthat his sons, their children and even grandchildren would end up settling down in theseflats; he had higher hopes of large bungalows with sprawling gardens. These flats,designed by Welshman Walter George, were cheap and the government took large chunks of itfor a rent of Rs 800 each. Even so, many flats lay vacant and my father would give it toany friend in need. Now it’s hard to get people to vacate, and many of them sub-letfor anything up to Rs 1 lakh for a flat! I like it as it’s snug, with its fireplaceand patch of garden at the back. There is not much community feeling here, and we knoweach other by our dogs. We meet only when there is a death in one of the flats. But somewell-known people have lived here—the dancer Indrani Rahman and former governorRomesh Bhandari’s parents, as well as Jaya Jaitly’s mother Meenakshi Chettoor.Jaya, who was June Chettoor then, was the heartthrob of the locality with her dark goodlooks. Now Dilshaad Begum and her daughters are the most spectacular beauties living hereand whenever I pass her flat I look up, hoping she’s looking out of her window.