23/04/2021
Today, I'm missing Naaz. And I want to share something I'd written about it when we were shooting at the Hotel.
"Shooting Naaz has been like sitting at my grandmother's house. I am comforted by the light and air, time slows down and the days pass. The hustle-bustle of Purani Dilli is all-encompassing. There's so much life and too many stories to be attracted by, and then one returns to Naaz. I always wondered how could it be possible to light such a cramped space, but the light finds its ways of creeping into the hotel. Through an air hole in the hallway, or tiny windows in the empty rooms, or passageways that make the hotel seem like a maze or beautiful jaalis that almost painted shadows on the yellow walls of the hotel. Naaz has been confusing, almost often lacking drama but possessing so much character. It's a dirty green colour building that seems so fascinating from the outside, and people have so many expectations from it- for all the stories, anecdotes and mysteries it may possess. But you enter the hotel and realise the stairways are too steep, and the galleries may be a little too dingy and rooms smell like they've not been visited by people for too long. Jama Masjid is just a stretch of a hand away, but it's too big to be yours's and yet every person who works in the hotel finds themselves comforted by the big monument. I've seen them steal some time in their day and just look at the 'gumbaaz' of the masjid for some time, maybe until the 'azaan' gets over or the day is ending. Naaz was too alien, like a hotel, but the beds put one to sleep sooner than they'd imagine and that's why maybe, people keep coming back to it, like home."
I would keep photographing shafts of light that would stream through the crevices of the hotel. To remembering Naaz Hotel and keeping it close to me
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Via Ghania Siddique
