Delhiwale: This way to Gali Master Shiv Prasad, Part 2

Plaster peels from the walls, old brick shows through, and one white door is decorated with painted flowers

Plaster peels from the walls, old brick shows through, and one white door is decorated with painted flowers. Gali Master Shiv Prasad lies discreetly in Turkman Gate Bazar, sandwiched between the modest establishments of Jawed Lassiwala and Muhammad Doodhwala. The lane is so narrow that it stays dark even at noon. At its dead end, where the lane opens into a small square and the afternoon daylight finally enters, a young man steps out of a doorway.

Gali Master Shiv Prasad lies discreetly in Turkman Gate Bazar, sandwiched between the modest establishments of Jawed Lassiwala and Muhammad Doodhwala. (HT Photo)

This Old Delhi street was written about years ago. New info has since come to light, making another visit necessary.

The young man is Umair, see photo. He is heading to his family’s handicraft shop near Kali Masjid. He points to the wall opposite, saying—”Chaman lived there. She was the sartaj of all the hijras.” (The term hijra is one many members of the community continue to use for themselves, alongside kinnar, though the broader term transgender has also become common in recent years.)

A newer building stands where Chaman’s house once stood. Umair remembers the old house from childhood. He would watch it from the window of his home opposite. It was double-storeyed, cream-coloured, and entered through a large wooden door. It had a well. Many transgender people lived in Chaman’s house, Umair says, including one called Mona. Umair was too young at the time to remember much about life inside the house, but faintly recalls being invited to a party held there. It was the birthday celebration of a child whom Mona had adopted.

The house was eventually sold; its inhabitants moved elsewhere.

While this young resident of the lane remembers something of Chaman, he has no idea of Master Shiv Prasad, after whom the lane is named. A nearby shopkeeper once described that mysterious Master as a long-ago musician living in this lane. Older residents also recall that this lane, along with a few other galis, housed many deras, a colloquial term for households of transgender people. Led by a guru, each dera had its own area of work, often far from home. There they danced at houses where weddings or childbirth celebrations had recently taken place, collecting money in exchange for their blessings. In their own neighbourhood, they lived discreetly. By now, most have left Old Delhi. Not one is left in Gali Master Shiv Prasad. However, one elderly person continues to live in a neighbouring street. She quietly sits each evening on a chair by a paan stall, wearing a white kurta and a check lungi.

Decades ago, a young photographer began visiting a house in Old Delhi. Now an internationally renowned artist, she confirmed last week to this reporter that the house stood in Gali Master Shiv Prasad. And it was Chaman’s home. Among the friendships she formed there was one with Mona. That friendship eventually gave rise to the book Myself Mona Ahmad, by Dayanita Singh.