Have always heard of Chandni Chowk and watched my family visiting it for shopping but had never been there. But when I get to know that we are supposed to research in that market I was little excited. But my excitement changed into disappointment when I reached there. The first thought in my mind was that the place was stinking badly, the smell of people chewing and spitting pan everywhere, men peeing on the walls which were such a pathetic thing. The only thing I hate the most there was that men’s washroom was built just beside a temple there. I just don’t understand how people could build a washroom just adjacent to a temple where a person is not even allowed to walk without removing shoes. Then when you are entering in the main market through a main gate there too people have built a ‘’sochalya’’ and every person passing by have to cover his nose so that he could resist his nose to breath that smell. How a man can pee in open washroom and that too in crowded place??

Delicate embroiders like lace, thread work, embellishment, borders, stonework and gold/silver work is what you will find the moment you set foot into Kinari Bazaar.

“Modern Ways” is the shop I interviewed; it deals in kinaries/borders. A small shop situated in the lanes of chandni chowk; kinari bazaar. 

When I walked in the owner was busy doing his work, and asked me “what I wanted?” I told him I was a student of Pearl Academy, visiting chandni chowk for research purposes. He then told me “I could come back after about half an hour and then he would answer all my questions.”

After about 40 minutes when I returned to the shop I realized that the person I spoke to was no longer there, instead someone else was present. On speaking to him I came to know that he was also the owner of the shop and the son of the person I had previously spoken to. He then told me that his father had left as he had to take care of some work, so I decided to interview him.

I told him I was a college student and was here to do some research on kinari bazaar; he decided to answer all my questions.

The first thing I did was look around and observe his shop, the work on the kinaries, how he kept all his stuff, how he stored his products. He kept his products in cabinets with glass doors and he also stored extra borders or kinaries in plastic bags behind the counter.

Prabhu Kumar

 While talking to him I asked him his name, he told me his name was “Prabhu Kumar”.  

He told me that had been working in this business for nearly 18-20 years. The shop itself had been run by 4 generations of the Kumar family, maybe in the same business but a bit different as they had changed their product according to customer needs.

During the conversation Mr. Kumar also told me that majorly the customers demanded borders which had hand work, because they are prettier and the work done on the borders is delicate.

 Mr. Kumar also told me that earlier they dealt only in “Gota Patti work”. Now the shop sells borders/kinaries which are mainly used in Indian wear; saris, lehngas and suites.

Hand work: 9m rolls sole at Rs100/- m

The only problem faced by him is traffic, as he travels by car from Preet Vihar to chandni chowk, then walks from the parking area to his shop. Also “modern Ways” faces storage problems because the shop is small and there isn’t enough space to put everything. They have a godown, but it’s not nearby, thus they keep a little extra in the shop.

I asked him how many customers does he get on an average, “There is no specific number of customers. It varies from day to day.” is the reply I got.

After leaving his shop I realise that one must change according to and with time; just like “Modern Ways” which changed its needs according to its customers need. This is what everyone must learn to do, at least I did. 

As i continued my walk in the gali's of kinari baraaz, I saw a vendor selling colourful laktans ( hangings) which caught my attention... I tried to ask Him a few questions but as and when i took my step forward i immediately stepped back because he used to get busy with his customers. This happened at least 3 times before i actually reached him. I wonder how does he even manage to attend so many customers at once in that small stall. As soon as i got there, i saw this man who was not more than 25 Years and two other people who were there, helping him. I asked him if he could help me in answering a few questions as it was my college project, he agreed on it. His name was Akshok and was 24 years old and lived in sonia vihar. He started his stall 15years back, all by himself. 

 

 

 

I  asked him if he had changed anything in this stall since then and if not will he like To make any changes ? he simply smiled and said that he didnt change anything , and neither does he want to change anything about his stall or the products Which he was selling, he was happy and satisfied with what he was getting. I inquired about how many customers does he get to attend every day ? he said that he doesnt know exactly but around 50 and mostly housewives and young girls were his customers.. Just then a lady came started to ask him to replace her latkan.. While this was going on, i asked the names of the other two people, out of which one was his nephew, karan and the other was his younger brother ravi. I saw these white plastic bori's in the corner and below the table i asked them that "do you keep your things here"? ravi replied "yes, because there is no other place".. Also their stall was very disorganised. When akshok got free, he told me about the material used which were velvet, plastic, glass, jarkan and many more. He used to bring laktan for immediate sale purpose from mehar and supplied in bulk only when the order is placed 20 days before. I questioned him about the range and he told me that he had variety from rs 30 to rs 400! along with latkans he sold beads as well.. I observed his selling procedure and how he used to talk to his customers. I stopped for a while looked around and curiously asked him that what he did during his free time ? he smiled again and said i get bored and play games on my phone.. 

 

I asked him if he faces any problem ? he said that he doesnt really face any difficulties here but the police takes "hafta" from him. With this our conversation came to an end and i bought a few beads from his stall before leaving.

 

 

After i left his stall and started moving ahead, i felt it was a different experience altogether.. In today's time people are so busy in their own world and dont have time for others. It was nice to spend some time and get information which i could have never found on the internet or any other source. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reason behind my title is, the umbrella which was hanging on the stall urged me to choose that vendor. When I was exploring the Chandni Chowk market and looking for a shop which I had to choose for my project, what attracted me was this umbrella which that Ramesh Cholle khula Wala Uncle has hanged above his stall to protect it from sunlight and rain or maybe from birds.

On the day of my second visit to Chandni Chowk, I was enthusiastic. I had all the things in mind which kept me thinking until this day. I was ready to explore this place in an altogether different angle.

After entering Kinari Bazar, I started silently observing the place, its ambiance, the people , surroundings and the architecture.

While taking a stroll in Kinari Bazar, I landed up at a place where many people had circled a small table placed in the corner. On moving a few steps forward, I saw that it was a ‘chai stall’.

I went to the ‘chaiwala’ and on asking, he told me that his name is Sumit. I asked him for a cup of tea. He kept engaged in the process of making one for me and the other people. I told him that I was there to explore the market and explore his stall for a college project. On listening to this, he very politely requested me to ask whatever questions I had while he served his customers. He did not want to stop his work as he earned money on daily basis depending upon the number of cups he sold. 

I respected him and started asking questions as he continued to work. The first question that I asked him was where did he live? “Kinari Bazar only”, he replied. He told me he had been working and living in the same place from six in the morning till eight in the evening everyday for the past twenty-five years.

“Aapke ghar mein kaun kaun hai?”, I asked. “Main,meri wife aur do bache-ek bees saal ka ladka aur ek terah saal ki ladki” he said handing over the tea cup to me. “ladka 12^th pass hai aur ladki school jaati hai. Ab ladka mera kaam mein haath batata hai” he added.

I kept silent for a while since I was observing his stall and the area around it. His stall was just a table and an ice box over which he kept a stove, utensils, cups, ingredients and biscuits. Besides the table was a broken dustbin. 

I asked him from where did he get water, milk and other things for the tea he made to which he replied by saying that milk was bought from a nearby milk dairy, water was taken from an MCD connection and other ingredients from a departmental store in the same locality.

After asking a few more questions, I asked if there was anything in that locality or his stall to change? “itne saalo se issi se ghar chalate hein...yeh badal gaya toh ghar kaise chalega....” he said. On persuading him a little more, he said, “ sankri galli ke wajah se samaan andar laana mushkil hota hai. Dukaandaro ko chai pahuchane ke liye haath mein garam cup uthake leke jaana padta hai. Bas aise chhotti chhotti cheezein hein, baaki toh kuch nai.”

I clicked a few photos of him and his workstation and observed the place a bit more.

Before leaving I paid him Rs.10 for the tea cup and thanked him for giving me his time.

While going back home, I felt inspired by Sumit. He had a small business and a family of four to feed. No luxuries, no source of enjoyment, only work yet no complains with the way all went.  

"He who asks a question remains a fool for five minutes, He who does not ask remains a fool forever."

After all my obsservations and explorations, I was very enthusiastic to choose my final problem area. After finalizing my shop, I decided to interview the shopkeeper to get more information about how he works and all the other processes.

While I was going through the lanes of Chandni Chowk a small shop with few beads and some utensils filled with water caught my attention. I went closer to see what the guy with colored hands was doing. I realized that it was a beads dye shop. The boy told me that his name was Najum and is eighteen years old. I asked him from how long was he in this work. He told me that he was doing the same thing from last 10 years. He also said that all his brothers are in the same business and have small shops in Chandni Chowk only.

I wanted to ask some personal questions so I asked him if I should continue. He said,’’Jab tak mere ko koi dikkat nai hogi puch lo.” I asked him about his customers and earnings per day. His customers were around 20 to 25 per day and he didn’t reply to the second part of my question. I understood that he was not comfortable to answer the question so I started asking him about his studies and came to know that he was 10^th fail and did not like studying.

 I asked him “Kitne paise lete ho dye krne k?” He said that he charges Rs 40 per kg to dye the beads and gives back the beads to the customers in fifteen to twenty minutes. He added that it takes 5 minutes for crystal beads to get dyed and fifteen to twenty minutes to other beads. He had eight colors and mixes them to produce new colors. The basic colors that he had were Pink, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Copper and black. I asked him how he manages to do neon colors and colors of two shades on the same bead. 

He said, “Usk lie machine ki zroorat hai Jo mere paas nahi hai.” I realized that he is not satisfied with his earnings and wants to do more, but when I asked him if he faces any problem, he said ‘’nahi, kuch b nahi.” Also he didn’t tell me anything about the cylinder he uses for gas and didn’t let me take pictures of his gas cylinder also. 

When I knew I had collected enough data for my research, I thanked the shopkeeper and bid adieu to the hustle bustle and aroma filled streets of Chandni Chowk.

Just when we stepped out of the metro station at chandni chowk and walked forward.. What I saw in this market in the first place was a sea of men rushing up and down everywhere on all the roads. It appeared as though all the people were just rushing to some very important mission to and fro on the roads and this sight of the crowd frightened me. As we crossed the narrow street and reached at the 'NATRAJ BHALLE WALA'  I saw how people were pushing each other just to place an order the food joint.I continued my walk, clicking pictures and observing different activities of the people, hearing all the honking and the small shopkeepers promoting their products by shouting '50 rupee mey lelo' and much more. After crossing the construction area which was taking place almost everywhere, the clogged dirty water, the garbage dumped in every single corner. 

 Then we reached the road which lead to the 'RED FORT' reaching there was not as easy task, we had to cross the road in running traffic, people pushing each other, cars and auto wala's  honking all the way. We clicked many pictures and selfies near the old, red, heritage monument ..

then we took a rickshaw ride, asking the rickshaw wala a few questions on our way to  KINARI BAZAAR, which is famous for all the lace and bead work, along with other items which are commonly used during the weddings..  As we entered this bazaar, struggling through the small, narrow road where the wires were handing from infinity making them appear like a criss cross scary web of a spider. where  all the rickshaw wala's had to cross their way anyhow, not caring about the people walking on the same road. That place was dingy and claustrophobic having the smell of sewage and urine all the way. We stopped at the shops to ask the shopkeepers a few questions and some of then just refused to answer !  But the other were helping us with full enthusiasm in our research work.

After hours of walking, we were tired and hungry, just then we went to the famous 'PARANTHE WALI GALI' And had lunch there..No wonder why it's so famous ! After a few more interview sessions we came out of the Gali's and saw 'THE FAMOUS JALLEBI WALA. We got some of it packed and headed back towards the metro station.. The first day at chandni chownk was really worth it. I hope the rest of the trips there will get more interesting. :D