Mood kharab kar diya: DU students' Janpath shopping plan goes awry

Delhi-based students share disappointment in Instagram Reel as Janpath market faces closures due to BRICS Summit.

The plan was simple: head to Janpath, browse through its familiar lanes, bargain for clothes and trinkets, and perhaps return with a haul that was worthy of showing off. Instead, the Wednesday afternoon shopping trip of Delhi University (DU) students Riddhi Arora and Ria Kumar turned out to be a bummer! Reason? BRICS Summit!

A glimpse of the closed street-side stalls at Janpath market, as recorded by Riddhi Arora and Ria Kumar on Wednesday afternoon. (Photo: Instagram)

This duo’s Reel (with more than 68.3k views) from Janpath captures their disappointment who appear to arrive ready for the market’s familiar chaos, only to find parts of the street-shopping zone closed. Their reaction, sums up rather perfectly in the Reel’s caption: Mood kharab kar diya; as they came across a rather Delhi-specific plot twist with tarpaulin-covered streetside stalls, and an unusually quiet stretch of Janpath.

Arora, a final-year student of Janki Devi Memorial College (JDMC), tells us, “Pehle toh flea shops band dekh kar and road kharab dekh kar I thought may be MCD has barred the street sellers from setting shop here. But then seeing a lot of popular stalls shut, I couldn’t control and ended up asking the shopkeepers about what was the actual reason. That’s when we got to know that it’s because of the heightened security due to the BRICS Summit in Delhi that all our favourite hawkers have been moved for the time being from this market. In fact, we also don’t know when will things be back to normal. My DM is flooded with this question ever since I uploaded the Reel!”

Adding to this, her buddy, Kumar, a final-year student of Keshav Mahavidyalaya, says, “Gujarati Lane is open, in fact, but the main Janpath market is closed. So those coming to Connaught Place must skip it lest they feel disappointed later.”

This is likely to resonate with anyone who has is already making weekend plans to shop around Janpath. Fellow Delhiite, you may want to reconsider that plan altogether! With the Capital preparing to host the BRICS Summit, security arrangements have tightened considerably across the city. Alongside deployment of thousands of security personnel, traffic movement on roads has been controlled and several routes are expected to see restrictions and diversions between September 11 and 13. A shopkeeper at a tailoring store in the market informs on condition of anonymity, “We are hopefully that by September 14 when the market opens, things will be back to normal. But can’t be certain right now.”

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