Roaming around in Chandini Chowk

Walking in Chandini Chowk, Delhi in 90s


Chandini Chowk had been a great stress buster for me in 90s and early 2000s. Used to get a bus from Mayur Vihar to ITO and from ITO to Daryaganj and another bus to Chandini chowk , yes it was quite a deal. But when I bought my first Bajaj scooter, the distance and weather did not matter to me. Delhi's hot weather or extreme cold weather too did not deter me from exploring Chandini Chowk and adjoining areas. I loved the chaos there, I used to wonder on items being sold in shops there. I bought many electric items from there and then bunked classes in college to see all 'B' and 'C' grade movies in all old wobbly theaters in Chandini Chowk. Man , I miss those days!!!

One of the old cinemas hall used to be Kumar cinemas bang on the main road. Tickets were cheap and I could afford to buy balcony ticket. Screen was awkwardly placed for the balcony tickets, it was at 40 degrees below the horizontal line and it really surprised me that the view was still clear and awesome.


Pic: Kumar Cienams

In front of the cinema, you could see these road side ear cleaners with skills and tools to clean ear wax and carry out small surgeries too. I had heard about how sometime they puncture the ear drums which was quite scary but I still saw them occupied most of the time cleaning ears. It seemed that nobody cared !




Golcha in Daryaganj was one of my favorite the cinema theater, I have seen here many morning shows of English movies and other Hindi movies like Chandini and Saudagar. Every sunday, when shops are closed, the front pavement was used the second's book sellers and man, it was an experience.



Nair sarak in Chandini Chowk is mecca for students. I have spent many weekends there from school to college days scouting for books in discount rates. You can easily get a rebate of 30% on all books and if you stick their for hours and with good bargaining skills you can get 50% discount too.
I bought Resnick halliday Physics, JPH, MDH guides and kunjis  during school days to Quantum Physics, Digital Electronics and other computer science books during graduation and post graduation.

Front View Of Book Shop - Aggarwal Book Centre Images, Nai Sarak, Delhi-NCR - Book Shops

There are so many sweet memories associated with Chandni Chowk that it cannot be written down in a blog and I will savor those memories till end. I miss it so much today !

/sK

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