Delhi and New Delhi, the same city but with years of difference. Old Delhi, few hundred years, built by successive dynasties, New Delhi, built by the British in the 1920s. Old Delhi is a place that excites and worries at the same time. As soon as you get out of the metro you can tell that you're there, the streets are messy, the crowds are different, and there's not a lot of space so the buildings just keep going up. As you go through the town in the autos you can see massive Brahma bulls carrying carts full of dried chili bags, monkeys along the along electric wires above, dogs everywhere trying to cool down, and vendors occupying every inch of space. Markets are everywhere in Old Delhi, and they rotate. The flower market starts from 3am to 9am and then rotates to the chili and spice market: and let me tell you, that spice market will clear up your sinuses but also make you feel like your whole head is on fire.
Making our way up, we headed to stairs that would take us to the top of the square that held many of these markets. It felt like the stairs would never end because the height of the buildings were almost seven stories up, each floor holding storage units, residence and just empty space. The view was like no other, you could see the city for miles, but you could also see, on the other side of the square, many people bathing in the sun.
We explored the ground level and the top level, and the bottom level, through underground passages that only locals knew about. Our DelhiByLocals guides were definitely local!
As guides took us underground, we realized that it almost seemed like a city below a city, in reality it just leveled out again, but “how” was the question. Each square we went through was a different kind of market, there was a watch market, a button market, a wedding market. I'm sure if we needed blankets there could have been a market for that as well. Even when it was hot!
This whole adventure lasted from 7:30 am to about 12 pm. It was a marvel that so many markets could be visited in such a short time. With the rising heat came the rising exhaustion, so it was time to head back underground to the metro. Old Delhi is a city within a city; it seems like in this “age of the new,” an ancient place still retains its touch of Old.
Natasha L