Delhiwale: A G20 monument

Two white butterflies are flying over countries and continents, but are totally oblivious to the grand geography. They now pass over the Indian Ocean, gradually turn towards Northern Africa, and head to southern Europe.

The butterflies are chasing each other over a map of the world, here at the public park in south Delhi’s M Block Market, in Greater Kailash 2. The world map came up a year ago, as part of a much larger installation to mark the G20 summit that opened in Delhi this day last year.

In a city of monuments and limitless ruins, the G20 setup looks like one more relic of the capital’s multi-layered history. This afternoon, the area around the installation is empty, except for a few birds, a few squirrels and the aforementioned butterflies. With no breeze, the flags of the twenty nations hoisted on this section of the park as part of the whole G20 shebang are lying limpid—the Canadian flag’s red maple leaf though is instantly identifiable. The stately flagpoles alternate with the statelier Grecian columns; a crow is perched atop one of the columns.

The garden has already been celebrated on these pages, but that was long before its G20 addendum. Be assured that the rest of the green grounds remain as green as they were in the past. The place looks particularly magical in the September light, when the sun is able to crack through the rainy clouds. The sunshine then turns the tree leaves into glares of gold. However, as soon as a random monsoon cloud blocks the sun, the light vanishes, forcing the spellbound visitor to finally register the prosaic universe of bazar commerce. The park is ringed by M-Block Market’s posh businesses (bakeries, luxury spas, jewellers, etc).

The park has a walking track spread around its entire border. Another track cuts through the park’s centre, scissoring it into neat halves. (The birds above might confuse this straight narrow path for the archetypal canal that flows through a geometrically symmetrical Persian garden.)

When the sun reappears from behind the dark clouds, its delicate light again sprinkles gold dust on the tree leave and the cement benches, and also on the G20 installation, which, at least this overcast afternoon, is looking as rooted to the park as its grass .Soon two young men Veer and Aman settle down in front of G20.