‘The outside world is ugly’

When all of Ballimaran had turned commercial, the haveli of the Hakim Ajmal Khan, the royal hakim, survived the onslaught.

When all of Ballimaran had turned commercial, the haveli of the Hakim Ajmal Khan, the royal hakim, survived the onslaught. But only till 1960, when the vagaries of time prompted the occupants to convert the place into shops and a guesthouse. There are no traces of the old haveli now except for the grand entrance.

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There is no end to congestion at any given time of the day. So much so, the only original occupant of the place Masroor Ahmed Khan (64), the great grandson of Hakim Ajmal Khan, points out, “I do not step out of my house for 8-10 days in a row, thanks to the congestion and clutter outside.”