Delhiwale: Enigma of a shadowy egg stall

Perched under a grand peepal tree, the owner of this ethereal stall makes omelette with a fakir-like countenance

Though we love lounging around this omelette stall we were hesitant to talk about it.

Dalbir Singh at his outlet outside Pragati Maidan Metro station. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

For one thing, the owner, Dalbir Singh, isn’t very keen. “Sorry, I don’t want my stall to become the Taj Mahal,” says the elderly Sikh who’s been running it since 1952. “I don’t need your publicity!”

He, however, became our friend over the course of several evenings.

This singular stall outside Pragati Maidan Metro station opens every evening and after the sun has gone down.

Perched under a grand peepal tree, the barely lit stall drowns under the shadows of its multitude of leaves resembling the canvas of an impressionist painting. When the leaves — and their shadows — tremble on breezy evenings, the stall seems to move, like a slow river boat.

The owner, who came to Delhi all those years ago as a Partition refugee, has a charming unpredictability about him. Sometimes he chats, and at other time he withdraws and barely utters a word, remaining as quiet as a fakir sworn to lifelong silence.

Nearby, there’s the lane stretching right into the Metro station, teeming with boisterous food stalls decked with fairy lights and marigold garlands. By comparison, our unembellished stall shaded by leaves seems almost ethereal.