Chandni chowk, is like a second home to me. Yet every time one visits the old city there’s a freshness to it. 29^th was last of the Sundays’ that August could offer to us and it was like cherry on the cake when it’s designed for a visit to Chandni Chowk. A bunch of 11 people, some our regulars, others new, looked get-set-go for the walk. Walk started with Digambar Jain Lal Mandir followed by Gauri Shankar temple. Being a bunch of enthusiasts everyone wished to visit inside each of these places. However in a 2 hrs heritage walk it becomes difficult to do so. Still there were quite a few places we managed to explore. I tried to give maximum facts and details about the same. The group already looked very keen to know more as a lot of questions were being asked about the history of these landmarks.

This time, I decided to also focus on by-lanes of Chandni Chowk by by discussing various wholesale markets one can visit to on weekdays including for bicycles, electronics, spectacles, camera, saris etc. Continue Reading This Post

A walk in Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad) was organized for IIT Delhi Alumni on 11 October. The weather was excellent and old friends getting together looked ready to enjoy themselves. The walk began with a round of introduction and Kanika Singh, the walk leader explained the places we were going to see. We started a little after 9.00 am and Chandni Chowk, the main street was already beginning to get crowded. The flower-sellers were busy selling marigold and dhatura (a poisonous weed) to visitors to Gauri Shankar temple. Food shops had started their business, their kachoris, samosas, jalebis and lassi were extremely tempting. Shahjahanabad is wonderful precisely because it combines food with history like no other place. We entered into Parathe wali gali and glanced at photographs of former Indian Prime Ministers eating at the famous shops in the gali. Except, someone noted that Nehru seemed to be eating rice and not parathas! The shops at kinari bazaar were starting their day’s business of selling goats and other embellishments for clothes and decorative items. Continue Reading This Post

At Digambar Jain Lal Mandir

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