The neighborhood right next to mine is called Shahpur Jat and it is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city because it is this bizarre mix of local working class shops tucked into miniscule niches along the alleyways and really upscale boutiques and cafes. What's particularly interesting about Shahpur Jat, actually, is that the local shops and restaurants are not like, part of the charm attracting upscale places to the neighborhood (you know, like how NYC;s meat-packing district capitalized on the neighborhood's former grittiness to entice people into its $20 cocktail clubs); rather the grittiness here exists side-by-side and competes with with the upscale stuff.
(As a side note, I also like Shahpur Jat because I think it has the best collection of doorways in the city--several of which have already been pictured on this blog).
So, for example, this is what a normal street in Shahpur Jat looks like:
However, if you turn down the wrong alleyway, you get to this:
The first picture above was taken looking down the alleyway. The second picture above was taken looking up from the alleyway so you can see just how close these houses are built together. Now, even though it's broad daylight at the time these pictures were taken there is literally NO light illuminating some of the Shahpur Jat streets because of how closely things are packed together.
Don't believe me? The below picture was taken about 20 second later than the above two. See, broad daylight:
Now if you were to walk say 30 seconds from where I took those dark pictures you would stumble across a slew of high end fashion boutiques and quirky home goods stores like these:
[This one has a tea shop in the back!]
And, if you were to keep walking another 45 seconds you would come across several delightfully relaxed cafes with well designed outdoor decks and fancy looking coffee drinks like the below.
Other features of Shahpur Jat include a tremendous amount of progressive street art and it appears to be the center of India's dyeing industry (like, color dyeing--I'm not trying to suggest its filled with old age homes or something. As you walk down the streets every other nook is filled by some guy dipping a big swatch of fabric into boiling dye. (Sorry, I don't have any pictures of this)
So, there you have it. Shahpur Jat--one of my favorite and most enigmatic neighborhoods in Delhi.
(As a side note, I also like Shahpur Jat because I think it has the best collection of doorways in the city--several of which have already been pictured on this blog).
So, for example, this is what a normal street in Shahpur Jat looks like:
However, if you turn down the wrong alleyway, you get to this:
The first picture above was taken looking down the alleyway. The second picture above was taken looking up from the alleyway so you can see just how close these houses are built together. Now, even though it's broad daylight at the time these pictures were taken there is literally NO light illuminating some of the Shahpur Jat streets because of how closely things are packed together.
Don't believe me? The below picture was taken about 20 second later than the above two. See, broad daylight:
Now if you were to walk say 30 seconds from where I took those dark pictures you would stumble across a slew of high end fashion boutiques and quirky home goods stores like these:
And, if you were to keep walking another 45 seconds you would come across several delightfully relaxed cafes with well designed outdoor decks and fancy looking coffee drinks like the below.
Other features of Shahpur Jat include a tremendous amount of progressive street art and it appears to be the center of India's dyeing industry (like, color dyeing--I'm not trying to suggest its filled with old age homes or something. As you walk down the streets every other nook is filled by some guy dipping a big swatch of fabric into boiling dye. (Sorry, I don't have any pictures of this)
So, there you have it. Shahpur Jat--one of my favorite and most enigmatic neighborhoods in Delhi.
No comments:
Post a Comment