After my first visit to Chandni Chowk, I was a bit confused as to which part of the place to take as the final topic of my research. 

Everything of the place was so attractive and different that I could not decide a particular area of research. So I decided to go back to The Chandni Chowk. This time I decided to study its parts in depth. I wanted to know each and every part of Chandni Chowk. I had made plans to visit the place on weekend. 

CHANDNI CHOWK

KINNARI BAZAR ENTRANCE

Last Saturday, I woke up and got ready for my another exciting visit to Chandni chowk. This time I was a bit confident and knew what parts to explore. I had surfed the net for some particular places that I would like to visit. So I started my research with 'Katra Neel Market'. 

It took a lot of time to reach the market. Asking people, searching for it on google maps and taking pictures I finally reached themarket. I researched about the place, tried talking to shopkeepers but did not find anything different. So after doing some photosessions I headed towards 'Chatta Chowk'. When I asked 'Rickshawalas' about the chowk they had no idea about the place. Fianlly after asking around five to six rickshawvalas I came to know it is known as Meena Bazar and is near Jama Masjid. So i got a chance of visiting Jama Majid also. It was a very beautiful sight though a bit confused. The place was surrounded by small vendors selling different things at low prices and ofcourse bad quality.

JAMA MASJID

After going through places and visiting Jama Masjid, I headed towards Dariba Kalan, a maket of jewellery and antique produts. I saw it while going towards Jama Masjid. I was attracted to it becauseof antique shops and silver jewellery. I bought two silver rings from the market.

Chandni Chowk, originally meaning "moonlit square" or "moonlit market", is one of the oldest and busiest markets. It’s a marjor attraction for tourists and as well as wholesale traders. It’s a densely populated market which has been around for more than three centuries and till date remains one of India's largest wholesale markets. Though the alleys are too narrow for comfort, waves of people can sweep you away if you remain static for a moment on the street. The whole place is interconnected by intersecting webs of small alleys, with tea stands or pan wallas at almost every corner you turn.

The main attraction here is that you can find almost anything in a small confine. If at one corner you find fabrics and laces at the next turn you would find food. The famous Paranthawala gully or Chatwalla or Jalebiwalla, they all have made a strenuous effort in maintaining their trademark which has only surged their popularity.

The place I visited and observed was “Kinari Bazaar.” On entering the market the first thing you think about the place is that all the shops are so beautiful. Festivals, weddings, engagements or any other occasion- all you have to do is pay a visit to kinari bazaar.

Kinari Bazaar

Stores cater to the needs of all types of religions- Hindu, Muslims or Christian- wedding or festival; all the necessary elements are available here. You can find the best type of embroidery, borders, laces, stone work and gold/silver work.  The prices are also very reasonable.

As you walk down the streets of chandni chowk, it’s a totally different experience as compared to walking inside a mall. Once must be visited by every Delhite..! 

"Yeh Chandni Chowk station hai.....This station is Chandni Chowk". Just when I heard  this in the metro,I was all geared and ready to enter one of the most busiest places in Delhi! This place welcomed me as I had expected it to, will people in bunches of hundreds moving here and there and everywhere. It seemed as if people were aimlessly walking and wanted to go wherever they could. 

After stepping out of the metro station, we headed towards a way where most of the crowd was going. In the beginning, it was difficult for us to find space to land out feet on the ground while walking (by saying ‘find’, I literally mean it). After walking a few steps we finally made sense of the place and realised that we had reached our first destination, ‘Natraj Bhalle Waala’. I was excited to taste bhallas from there. After waiting for some time, our chance finally came and we grabbed a plate for ourselves. I remembered all the praises my friends had done and those which I’d read online about this place which made me even more excited. As I took a bite, I didn’t like it at all. I understand the fact that everyone has different tastes but at that time, I just wanted to shout at my friends who’d asked me to specially go and eat from there.

Natraj Bhalle Waala

After our ‘not so interesting meal’, we headed ahead. We walked ahead and started observing the place. On closely observing the surroundings, I realised that besides the crowd, this place had a lot to offer. The old architecture of the buildings gave us an essence of the ‘Mughal Empire’. The carvings on the railings of the balconies and the doors, everything had the essence of the ‘Mughal Empire’.

On entering the famous ’Kinari Bazaar’, I realised that this place had everything any designer needed from swaroski to laces to fabric hangings. I was struck when i see the variety of sequences and laces. After moving a few steps ahead, we even figured out that this market also offered products related to wedding invitations and trousseau. I now know why everyone who gets married demands for their invitations be printed from ‘Kinari Bazaar’.

A shop at Kinari Bazaar

 We started our research work from this market. We visited different shops and asked the shopkeepers and customers about the market. The first shop we visited, ‘Aggarwal Beads Center’ was recently renovated. We talked to its owner and found out that all the laces , buttons, sequences, etc that was available in the market was manufactured in Kolkata and China. Likewise, we visited a few more shops and talked to the shopkeeper. On asking various shopkeepers about the problems that they faced in this busy market, all of them stated about almost similar problems those were, traffic, garbage problems, sewage blockage system, hanging electric wires, etc.

After exploring ‘Kinari Bazaar’, we headed towards ‘Nayi Sadak’. This market is famous for book sellers and shops which sold fabrics and readymade clothes. We talked to a few shopkeepers in this lane too. Some agreed to talk to us and answer our questions while the others refused straight away.

After exploring these lanes, we were too hungry and tired so we visited the ‘most talked about Paranthe Waali Galli’. We all ordered while I was scared of tasting it after my horrible experience with the bhallas in the morning. I was happy enough to see that this place actually offered good food!

36,Paranthe Waali Galli

After eating, we visited the ‘Red Fort’ and clicked photos and appreciated its everlasting beauty.

On our way back to the metro station, we stopped at ‘Old Famous Jalebi Waala’ for some dessert. The jalebies were mouth watering. After eating a few bites, we headed towards the metro station.

After leaving this place, I personally realised that this place has many things to offer like toys, electric gadgets, clothes, fabric, etc.

We went back home looking forward to our next visit.

''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.

Life do we really know what it is..? No we don’t. So once in a while we must remind ourselves what it is.!  I went to a 5 year old and asked her what life was, her answer made me think about how easy life is and how much we complicate it.

Every day, every morning it’s the same routine. But then there are days when u just want to stay in all day and do absolutely no work. I've had that day today, slept most of the morning in. Waking up to an amazing day, it’s almost the end of winters but the cold wind blowing make u wanna stay and go back in both. A breakfast of choice makes for a great start, so after this I have nothing to do all day. As afternoon sets in I decided to do my favorite thing, “baking”. A chocolate cake with dark chocolate icing is just what I decided to make. Alright so ingredients check, and now one of the best parts the preparation of the batter. Once done it goes into the oven, all I do is go into my reading corner with a magazine.

*phone calls*

Me: I've just made a cake icing yet to be done.

Srishti: I’m on my way…:D

{Blah…talk’s n talks...}

Bye.!

*Back to the cake*

It’s all ready and perfect with an amazing soft n spongy texture. So I pulled it out and let it cool, meanwhile I prepared the dark chocolate icing for the cake. 20 mins later when the cake had cooled I poured the icing over it and trust me, I’m pretty sure I saw what heaven could feel like. Once the icing had settled i put it on a cake stand and kept it on the table.

As evening set in it got a bit chilly, so all I did was get a blanket make two cups of hot coffee and cut two slices of the freshly baked cake and just as I sat it down in the balcony the doorbell rang. My friend had arrived, together we sat and enjoyed the cake, coffee and the best company either of us could ever have.

Well that was my day...full of me and my favorite things..! ;)

Life isn't easy and neither is it as complicated as we make it. Once in a while live a day free of complications, if not then visit a 5 year old and ask him/her what life is that will definitely change the way you look at life.

Exhibitions are like flowers, they bloom and then they die and exist only as memories or pressed in magazines and books.

I heard that raising a puppy is a difficult task but I still wanted to experience it. After years, my wish came true of having a puppy in the house. I was sitting in my room, watching TV.. after a while the door bell rang, I went to open it and I was surprised ! It was my mom holding a 2 months old beagle in her arms, wrapped in the blanket. It was the best surprise I ever got. I held him in my arms and it was like I was holding a new born baby. 💖

Everyone in the house was equally excited. He was sitting on his bed and looking up to all of us with his innocent face. I immediately called up my friends and told them about this and their reactions were equally priceless. We all sat there next to him thinking what should we call him, after a long discussion we decided to call him Vegas. Everyone started to call him Vegas and he was utterly confused thinking what was going on. He went to bed with all his new toys and started to play with them. It was late night and I couldn't sleep as he was in my room 

,continuously fiddling with things around him and I couldn't stop watching those little things what he was doing. 💖 I can never forget the day when I got my best gift. ❤️