Old Delhi

The areas around Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar, Sadar Bazar etc are my favourite places to walk around. The narrow lanes and roads, the old and unkempt buildings on both sides, the crowds, the shops and markets, rickshaws and autos, the eateries, the squalor..... it is absolutely a potboiler of all these and something more.....

The savories and sweets, the delectably made samosas and paranthas, the tasty and spicy curries and the aroma of food..... it is like a sensual paradise....

And now, onto some more heavier stuff. the Chandni Chowk area which is just opposite to the Red Fort is a market and redidentail area all mingled together for centuries and are myriadly complex in their nature and existence. The shops on both sides of the narrow alleys, selling everything from artefacts to cloth, silverware to provisions.... it is simply incredible that so much could co-exist side by side in asuch a cramped yet ahppy co-existence. It brings one to the Moghul Style eating houses and to Karim's, the high altar of such culinary art.

The Paranthewaley Galli.... need one say more. It is impossible because the paranthas have all kinds of fillings and one loses ones way in the labyrinth of taste......... it is heaven.......

The famous Jumma Masjid.... red sandstone built, just like the historic Red Fort/ Lal Qila

I find these old and dusty alleys, these unkempt yet beautiful buildings.... they all seem to tell a story and I would love to connect to that.