Or the impact or whatever you call it of globalisation on the neighbourhood market or pinkoliphaunt rambles on about days gone by because nothing interesting happens in her life currently

Somewhere in the middle of Delhi, tucked snugly between very comfortably wide tree-lined roads named after sundry Mughal and Rajput rulers and other Indian and non-Indian personalities – mythical or real, lies a little market called Khan Market. It’s smaller than most shopping areas in Delhi and the only reason for its mention here is that I grew up on one of the surrounding roads way back in the 80s and 90s. I grew up in a nice part of Delhi *sigh*

It did have a slightly upmarket tinge to it, primarily because it’s in the middle of the central government and diplomatic residential areas. But it also had a fair amount of a regular neighbourhood market flavour to it. It was a sort of local market for all of us who lived there courtesy the GoI. You went there to bank, buy groceries, stationery and stuff like that. You didn’t however go there for clothes, not even after the funny little 'boutiques' opened because they were sad ones, and you didn’t go there much to eat either, although there were a couple of places you could go to, because they were again sad, until a pizza place came up but then you didn’t eat that much pizza then either. And although Biotique did open an outlet you still bought stuff at the 24 hour chemists’.

There were excellent bookshops though, including one where I found a Penguin orange edition of the now clearly out of print Mike at Wrykyn.

But now, I’m quite sure more than six years after leaving Delhi, my parents will not quite recognize the place they used for their daily shopping in the crazy Saturday morning haunt for the not at all poor that it has become now.

So I took pics while I stopped there, between a wedding and a shopping spree, for a few nibbles at an organic food place above a bookshop that wasn’t there earlier.

So here we go...

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OTOH, Sunday morning traffic at Connaught Place, Inner Circle.