Chandni Chowk

Chandni Chowk Review

This was Delhi's former imperial avenue, where the Moghul emperor Shah Jahan rode at the head of his lavish cavalcade. That scene is hard to picture today, as bullock carts, bicycles, taxis, freight carts, cows, auto-rickshaws, horse-drawn tongas (two-wheeled carts), and pedestrians create a constant, breathtaking bazaar. As in the days of the Moghuls, commerce is everywhere: astrologers set up their charts on the pavement; shoemakers squat and repair sandals; sidewalk photographers with old box cameras take pictures for a small fee; medicine booths conceal doctors attending to patients; and oversize teeth grin from the windows of dentists' offices. Peer through a portico and you might see men getting shaved, silver being hammered into paper-thin edible sheets, or any other conceivable form of commerce, while outside a goat blithely chews vegetables from a merchant's cart.