Delhiwale: High tea at 5AM Ramzan

During Ramzan, Old Delhi's Jama Masjid and Matia Mahal Bazar come alive at 5am for Sehri, showcasing unique food scenes before the day's fast begins.

Every year during Ramzan, Jama Masjid in Old Delhi is strung with lights. The surrounding lanes glow with lamps and buntings, drawing selfie-seekers in search of the right angle. Across the road, in Matia Mahal Bazar, pavements fill with snack stalls selling sevai and khajla, tied in tight bundles. Carts are stacked with dates from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Coconut parathas—made only in this month—reappear. “Come late night,” seasoned chroniclers of Ramzan advise. The script is familiar, faithfully documented by Instagram reel-makers.

Young Faizan is brewing a new round of garam chai. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

Less often suggested: arrive at 5 in the morning. This is Ramzan in a quieter register.

For a month, Muslims observe roza, fasting from dawn to dusk. Iftar—the evening meal that breaks the fast—is communal, leisurely, photogenic, and very well-known. Sehri, the pre-dawn meal before the fast begins, is lesser-known. Not as showy, it is edged with urgency, and usually observed at home. But it also stages a mild spectacle in Old Delhi’s early morning streets.

Take this unearthly hour of 5am. Matia Mahal Bazar is still crowded, but it is not the midnight surge. The market lights are on. People are busy over the Sehri meal. Groups of young men are leaning over shared plates of biryani; a few couples are walking hand-in-hand, checking out the dining options. Restaurants are packed. At Kabul Sweets, the man at the counter is wearing an Afghan cap in the style of Ahmad Shah Masoud. Next door, at “Shaheen Bagh Wale” Afghani Samosa shop, the tray at the counter is piled high with its primary offering. As for Haji Tea Point, known late at night for kunafa and shahi tukda, is serving fresh, hot halwa with puffy pooris. At the street-side, vendor Saddam is ladling out slow-cooked haleem. Irfan is shallow frying parathas on a blackened griddle bordered with chappali kebabs. Young Faizan is brewing a new round of garam chai (see photo)—the too-too sugary tea is sealing the lips shut! While a barefoot Zubina is urging passers-by to buy her ten-rupee balloons.

Now the loudspeaker from Jama Masjid cuts through the hum. “Sehri mein sirf paanch minute baaki hain”—five minutes left for sehri.

The warning tightens the air. Final bites are taken. Tea is swallowed standing. Counters are wiped down. Stray dogs nose through piles of food discards.

Soon, sirens from very many mosques begin to sound across the old quarter, overlapping. The fast has begun. The streets start getting deserted. As the first light gathers, municipal workers with brooms come into view. They were already at work in the pre-dawn darkness.