Delhiwale: This way to Gali Kalyanpura

Mohammed Tahir, a healer in Old Delhi's Gali Kalyanpura, helps people with inner djinns. The narrow lane is bustling with life despite its gloomy atmosphere.

Mohammed Tahir is an unusual type of healer. He is said to help rid people of their inner djinns and bhoot. The healer’s hoarding (hand-painted by the Walled City’s iconic Shakeel Artist) is hanging at the mouth of the lane—a long, very long lane.

A curtained door flanks a wall scarred with a pile of gunny sacks. (HT Photo)

This cold gloomy evening, nobody being accosted in Old Delhi’s Gali Kalyanpura has any gyan to offer on the story behind its name. The easygoing chap at M.S. Mobile Communication suggests badgering the street’s elderly folk. But the elderly face at the facing stationery shop says that those who would have known a story or two are lying buried in Dilli Gate Qabristan.

Whatever, the first part of the long street is tightly squeezed between the congested Kalyanpura tenements. The multi-storied housing has squeezed the sky too, turning it into a pathetic stripe of grey smog. Despite the frigid weather, the lane is teeming with puckish kids, some are fighting. The indifferent grownups are walking along briskly, including a mohalla recycler crying hoarse: “kabadi walla, kabadi walla.”

The lane was formerly full of “donkey wale,” says a passerby, suddenly looking surprised on spotting a baby donkey tethered to a window bar. “I’m seeing a donkey here after many, many years!” The animal is padded in a warm blanket.

This portion of the long gali culminates in a small yard. The precious breathing space is marked by an envelope-making sweatshop. Farid, Nazim, Suhail, camera-shy Shahid, and Suleman are hard at work over stacks of cut sheets, but the friendly comrades are simultaneously flinging jokey commentaries on the passersby.

The next stretch of the street is impossibly narrow—two of us cannot walk hand-in-hand. Steps ahead, a curtained door is flanking a wall scarred with a pile of gunny sacks. The sight is surreal, see photo.

Meanwhile, the gali goes on and on like a never-ending web series. It goes past a stairway scrawled with AC mechanic Fardeen’s mobile number (the number works!), past Ima Bakery (the coal-fired oven has a super-tall chimney!), and past Peepal Wali Masjid (its peepal tree now existing only in people’s memories!).

The darkened lane finally hits the fading daylight, ending at Ganj Meer Khan.