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Chandni Chowk, Tram

Inside the city the wind blew free through the length and breadth of Chandni Chowk, raised dust in the streets and by-lanes, lashed the stalwart trees that stood in rows in the middle of the bazar from Fatehpuri to the Fountain and beyond. Men shut themselves up inside the houses or in shops. At noon the city seemed deserted and dead but for the grating noise f tram cars that plied throughout the day, though few people used them. In the evening men came out when the sun had gone down and the water had been sprinkled, and the city hummed with noise...
- Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali, perhaps the best English novel ever written about old Delhi and the twilight days of its Muslim aristocracy, first published in 1940 (with some help from Virginia Woolf).


Trams Cars first came to Chandni Chowk in around 1910 and were running around till 1960s. There are now plans for the tram to be reintroduced.

Previously: Chandni Chowk's Paranthewali Gali
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Comments

  1. DipenOct 9, 2009, 3:59:00 PM

    Kolkata still has it.....I Know Mumbai had it when it was Bombay once....This one surprised me...So even Delhi had it..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vinayak RazdanOct 10, 2009, 11:09:00 AM

    Kolkata has it...we all knw thanks to slo-mo sequence from 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara' :)

    But yes not many people know about Delhi's Tram service.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJan 7, 2010, 3:27:00 PM

    You know what, OUR SHOP is still there in the pic. on the Left hand side.

    The Pic on the left is the main gate of Fatehpri Masjid I think no one noticed it!! and 3 shops after that is our shop.
    see it on google maps or whatever. Our website is www.rdsons.byethost8.com there you can see the exact location!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vinayak RazdanJan 7, 2010, 3:58:00 PM

    Incredible!!

    ReplyDelete

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