A Beginner's Guide to Chandni Chowk...Part-II

A straight walk into Chandni Chowk led us to Chunna Mal's Haveli on the right. Lala Chunna Mal was one of the wealthiest men in India during 1848, the time when he built his sprawling haveli. A banker, Lala Chunna Mal financed the railways in India. With 120 functioning rooms, and the ownership still with his descendants, the haveli is flourishing, though Chunna Mal was considered as a Brit-loving traitor...can't say much about that!


The haveli is a very famous landmark of Old Delhi, and has probably changed little since its construction..

The Ballimaran area is famous for its 'Hakim"s or doctors. The most famous alley here is called Galli Qasim Jaan. I will not call it the Stratford-upon-Avon of India, and draw a comparison between two unparalleled literary figures, Shakespeare and Mirza Ghalib.

That's right. Mirza Ghalib lived and died in the alley you see above. It is crowded to bursting point most of the time, yet the rickshaw drivers display remarkable good-naturedness. If you get in their way, instead of the usual 'Get out of my way' that you'd hear anywhere in Delhi, here they say 'Badhte chalo, badhte chalo' which means 'Go forth, go forth'.



The home of the great Ghalib was treated foully till just a few years ago, an STD booth and a public urinal being run here till the Archaeological Survey of India protested. Ghalib always had one sadness in life, which was his not becoming the court poet, Zauq occupying the coveted post. Ghalib also pined away for his children, all 13 of whom died without crossing the age of 2. However, Ghalib loved his city, which was a cultural center, with all night music performances being held here (called mushaayras). The haveli is made using thin, dense Lakhori bricks and thick Deccan bricks, which are held together by mortar. Cement was not used at all, and the building is completely earthquake-resistant.


An interesting incident once occurred here during Ghalib's lifetime. Ghalib's neighbors were all mango-haters, and Ghalib loved mangoes more than any other fruit. Ghalib was sitting in his yard eating piles of mangoes with his neighbos trying to convince him that it wasn't such a good fruit after all. A donkey ambled by. Ghalib held out a mango as an offer to the donkey. The donkey sniffed it and walked away in disdain. At this, Ghalib's neighbors burst out laughing and said:
"Dekhiye, gadhay bhi aam nahin khate!" ("Even donkeys dont fancy mangoes!")

at which Ghalib promptly replied:
"Gadhay hee aam nahin khate!" ("Donkeys alone don't fancy mangoes!")

CONTD...as Part-III 'The Spiritual Lap of the Journey'...
Part-III to be up by tomorrow.

A Beginner's Guide to Chandni Chowk...

Chandni Chowk seems to be the current favourite with Bollywood, and hence the viewers. It is an area that tends to be romanticised by most Delhi-ites, those, that is, who have seen it from afar, or have never seen it at all. With all due regards to the respective crews of Chandni Chowk to China, K3G and Delhi-6, the movies have captured Old Delhi rather shoddily.

My friends and I were daring enough to venture into CC a few years ago, and boy, what an experience it was!

Here's the story...

Digging into a pile of junk in my desk drawer, I found the large notepad which I used to always have with me. I had walked down the streets of Old Delhi with it in my hand, scrawling furiously like a waiter taking down orders from a host of invisible guests. I noticed a couple of pedestrians shaking their heads at me out of pity, as one would at the deranged.

We started our journey from the Victorian Town Hall, the erstwhile Lawrence Institute. It has previously served as a cultural/educational center cum club to the British, with Indians barred from entering. Civic affairs are now conducted in its bowels, and the only souls present here are Indian...

This building might be familiar to those who have seen Delhi-6, with Sonam Kapoor aka Bittu dancing with doves on the road opposite town hall. It must be noted here that doves are a rarity in pollution-clogged Old Delhi, and are only an aesthetic addition in the movie.

Through the trees in the garden behind Town Hall, a red brick building was peeping through. This served as a railway station during the Raj, and had (and still has) two roads leading out of it. One, into Chandni Chowk, and the other, through which we had entered the garden, led straight into the erstwhile Lawrence Institute. It once had a board proclaiming 'Indians and Dogs not allowed' planted at its head. At the front of the Town Hall stands the statue of Arya Samaj leader Swami Shraddhanand, where Queen Victoria's statue had earlier stood. The Queen now stands at Delhi College of Engineering (or so I've been told).

We set off, plunging into the heart of CC, or in Urdu, چاندنی چوک
Chandni Chowk is a collection of many smaller bazaars with telltale names, like

Ashrafi Bazaar: Ashrafi meaning 'Coin'

Johri Bazaar: Johri meaning 'Jeweller'

Kinari Bazaar: Kinari meaning 'Corner'

Chandni Chowk is a coconut-shaped area of land between Jama Masjid and Red Fort. It has a single divider running its entire length, which used to be called Neher-e-Bihisht, the longest canal in India. Before turning into a divider, Neher-e-Bihisht enjoyed a brief stint as a tram rail during the Raj.

Chandni Chowk has a total of 1,560 shops apart from those inside the Fort. The most famous and romantic 'ilaaka' of CC is Ballimaran, 'Balli' meaning stick, and 'Maran', a system of pulling water. Shahjahanabad was the only city in the seventeenth century with running water coming right up to people's homes. People would simply come out and draw water from the canal.

I felt goosepimples of nostalgia erupt on my skin as I remebered galli-hopping in CC as an eight-year-old, with relatives over from U.P. It was one of my cousin Mausi's weddings, and fourteen of my relatives were staying with us for two days in our two-bedroom South Delhi apartment. They had come for the sole purpose of buying a wedding dress from CC, for the Lucknow wedding...

...CONTD...

Keep checking this blog for Part Two of A Beginner's Guide to Chandni Chowk...