Vowels of the street in Old Delhi’s Chatta Sheikh Mangloo

In Old Delhi’s Chatta Sheikh Mangloo, each door on the long winding street is marked with an ‘O’ or ‘E’ painted in yellow. While easing up the Coronavirus-triggered lockdown, the Delhi government had announced that shops could finally open for business on an “Odd-Even basis”, and that’s what the ‘O’s and ‘E’s allot.

In one famous scene of the Arabian Nights, a thief paints a mark on Ali Baba’s door so that his companions can visit later at night to murder him. But Ali Baba’s wise maid notices the mark and paints a similar one on each door of the neighbourhood to confuse the robbers.

Shops in Old Delhi’s Chatta Sheikh Mangloo (Mayank Austen Soofi)

It is this scene that one feels transported to while walking in Old Delhi’s Chatta Sheikh Mangloo. Each door on the long winding street is marked with an