These photographs and stories here are from my time in old nooks of Delhi, Bhopal, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. In 2009, I set out to explore Delhi streets, to walk and look and find where my gaze may feel drawn. As I began my initial wandering in Munirka, I was struck by forms that spoke of recent and receded times: mehrabs or arched doorways, old bavis or wells, a medieval gumbad or domed shrine.

I then stumbled into the dargah of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki in Mehrauli in south Delhi. The music drew me. I returned several times. I would sit in a corner and look. Faces became familiar. Few words were exchanged. On one occasion, an elderly gentleman explained the meaning of Urs, and then narrated the story of a Turki begum and the Sufi she was drawn to.


Mehrauli, Delhi (2009) 


 
Mehrauli, Delhi (2009) 


There was a sense of the past collapsing into the present. The Sufi saints of past centuries are no longer here. Their lineage is alive, in however different a shade. Basheer bhai, who sells roses outside the Mehrauli dargah, will tell you the story of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and his single, unlocked cupboard with meagre belongings. The Khwaja said: I have nothing to lose, so why lock my cupboard? If anyone wants something, let them take it. It is as though Basheer bhai heard this himself, that he was sitting beside the Khwaja.


Bhopal (2009) 



Ahmedabad (2009) 


This is how I cherish wandering: slowly, quietly, hoping to merge with the surroundings, even while I am so aware of my conspicuous presence. My intent is to look. My gaze is often turned to faces and to spaces. It is here that there are glimpses of the story of a place. These are themes that revealed themselves as I walked and found my pictures: spaces and the human presences they harbor, the Worlds of Long ago speaking in the Present.


Ahmedabad (2009) 



Ahmedabad (2009) 



Ahmedabad (2009) 


The qasbah, in medieval times, was a settlement, larger than a village, smaller than a town. Here resided traders and artisans alongside soldiers, kazis or law givers and administrators. It was a world unto itself, drawing on the resources of the surrounding landscape, protected as small citadels are.


In modern times, our cities harbour diminished qasbahs. Here are remaining settlements that have brought together a diverse and connected group of inhabitants. Fort walls no longer exist. There is little protection at all and the transformation works its way almost seamlessly. In the rapidly changing times we live in, it is difficult to anticipate what comes next.


Dongri, Mumbai (2014) 



Mehrauli, Delhi (2014) 


What may most affect the life of a settlement is the closure of its spaces. But even if the spaces of the Doorway and the Street and the Courtyard are erased from the lives we know, there is hope that they may remain in our memories. And there is hope that we will create spaces afresh where we next live.

Diba Siddiqi works at the Centre For Learning in Bangalore, where she teaches social science and art in the middle school and gardens with all of the children. She is a keen photographer and practises the art of printmaking in her darkroom at home.