Rickshaw Jam in Chandni Chowk

Chandni Chowk or "Old Delhi", is the former seat of government from the long-gone Mughal Empire.  More than 150 years ago, before British colonization, it was wealthy and beautiful.  Today it is crowded, littered, dusty, dilapidated, ensnared in electrical wires and often reeking of urine.

But behind the filth and chaos and chockablock crowds is a thumping marketplace where almost anything can be purchased, if you can find it.  In Chandni Chowk many of the small businesses can trace their lineage to the Mughal era.  Family shops in jewelry, textiles, brass iconography, woodwork, paper, musical instruments and restaurants often market their wares as having provenance of that period.  There's also tens of thousands of new businesses in modern concerns like photo copying, cell phones, electronics, cameras, auto parts, tools, machinery, computers, sewing machines, kitchen appliances and more.  The thrill of exploration is trying to find a neighborhood that sells the thing you want because the same businesses congregate on the same street or alleyway.  You'll find all the paper and card stock dealers lined up together, all the jewelers together, all the sari vendors together, on and on.  Competition must be fierce and I don't know how merchants make a living but I have noticed that most of the sales receipts are made from blank tablet paper and feature only the hand-written price tally to be paid in cash so Old Delhi may also be India's largest black market.

The first time I experienced Chandni Chowk I paid for a rickshaw because I had no idea where I was or how to get anywhere.  Now I know my way around and I can walk faster than anything with wheels.  The pictures below offer street scenes of typical Old Delhi.  The first shows an intersection with a police officer directing rickshaw traffic.  Notice all the stores are paper related; books, stationary, wedding cards, etc.  The second picture shows a rickshaw traffic jam; this is why I choose to walk!

A police officer directs rickshaw traffic in Chandni Chowk, paper district.

A rickshaw traffic jam, Chandni Chowk.