Essay: A Longing for being unknown in the vast territories of Delhi by Tripti Moolchandani

Tripti Moolchandani writes a personal essay drawn from her experience of moving to a big city from a small town, attempting to talk about the liberation that one experiences by being anonymous in a metropolitan city.

“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself’’, 

The opening line of the iconic modernist novel, Mrs. Dalloway, very concisely puts into words what I feel I have been missing out on, in my small hometown. Clarissa Dalloway, the central figure of the book, is a middle-aged woman who is seldom in sync with the present and keeps dwelling on her past relationships. Though deep down content, Clarissa constantly evaluates the decisions that have shaped her present life, especially her resolution to marry the more settled politician Richard Dalloway over her needy and wavering childhood friend Peter Walsh. Pursued relentlessly by the past and pained by a great divide between her public and private identity,  Clarissa finds a glimmer of hope roaming in the streets of London. Walking in a metropolitan landscape for a seemingly frivolous activity like buying flowers is an exercise for self-affirmation. It helps her achieve a liberating sense of anonymity, away from her personal and societal expectations.