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Here is the quick easy way to destroy the most beautiful street in Old Delhi. The Delhi Walla is talking of Galli Chooriwallan, the street of the bangle sellers. The most beautiful part of the street is a tiny stretch where it merges into Chawri Bazaar. Here’s a world of dream-like lakhori bricks that are no longer used in construction. Looking at the old-fashioned wooden doors and window screens, it seems impossible that the earlier times have passed away. Overhanging balconies are held in position by elaborately carved brackets. The entire effect is ethereal.

This morning, however, I discovered that the walls have acquired a new look. They stand painted with bright colours and designs, much like the flyovers and pavement walls in the newer parts of the city so famously reclaimed by our radical artists who want to bring art close to us commoners. 

But right now my praise for the well-meaning artist-vandals is probably misplaced. A dweller in the street said that the stretch was actually painted over by a company—for a TV commercial shoot. The disgraceful company turned out to be Puma. 

Grrrrrrr!

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