Chandini Chownk Ki Galliyan

''Its better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times.''

When I stepped out of the metro Station at chandini chownk I saw people running here and there, selling their products, rushing for their works. It seemed as if everyone was in a hurry to do something. Lanes were overcrowded and people were busy buying and selling. There were noises of people negotiating over prices of the products.

We started our day at Chandni chownk with Food, since our first attraction to visit the place was food. We went to ‘Natraj Bhalle Wala’ and tried their famous dahi bhalle. There was no place to stand and we literally had to fight for our turn.  After that we moved on for our research. We went inside the small ‘’Gallis of Chandni chownk’ and tried to explore the atmosphere. There were sound of vendors everywhere. All the ‘thela walas’ were busy promoting their products. The market had everything from watches to toys to jewellery, fabrics and what not. You just take the name of the product and yes its available in Chandni chownk. From small vendors to big wholesale shops, everything is available here. Walking and observing things and people, we reached The Red fort.

We clicked a few photographs and selfies talked to some people and decided to take a rickshaw and go to KINNARI BAZAR- market popular for laces, suit hangings and wedding materials. Five people in one rickshaw, it was really a different experience. We went inside the shops, tried talking to shopkeepers about their products but most of them were busy selling their products. Some of them straight away asked us to go to some other shop when we asked them for an interview. Yes of course there were few shopkeepers who gave us some valuable information about the place. They told us that the market is there form the time of British and foreigners still love visiting the place.

We could actually see it as every lane we crossed there were foreigners trying to buy the laces or interact with ‘Rickshaw valas’. After exploring this place we decided to move on to ’Nayi Sarak’. It had numerous wholesale and retail shops selling stationery items. It also had few shops of clothes. We talked to people, observed them and tried to understand their problems. Though named Nai sarak, roads were all cracked and narrow. There were electric wires hanging all around the bazar. There was an onslaught on our senses by a cocktail of automobile fumes, aromas of Indian spices and perfumes, cooking oils and masalas;  cycle rickshaw bells, hawkers’ vocal cords and blaring music and a mish-mash of electrical cables, sign boards and decorations.

After hours of exploration, we were hungry and couldn’t resist ourselves from going to the famous ‘parathe vali gali’ and try their parathas. They were actually very yummy and I made sure to visit the paranthe vala again. We ended our day by eating jalebis from the famous ‘jalebi wala’ of Chandnichownk.

Aalu paranthas at Paranthe vali Gali

Apart from all the messy places, over crowded lanes, traffic and roads clogged with water, our day at Chandni Chownk was really amazing. We had a different experience all together and I would love to visit the place again to get more familiar with the place.  We are yet to explore some famous areas like katra Neel and flea market and looking forward to our next visit!