‘Some gave money, some didn’t. Everyone was trying to save their lives, how could we ask for money? I must have made around 15 trips in this short stretch,' said a rickshaw puller.
At Delhi’s Partition Museum in Delhi, Vinod Nagpal, Sohail Hashmi, Kamlesh Jacob, and Satish Jacob recounted memories of the vibrant mohallas and forgotten flavours of 1950s Kashmere Gate.
Want to explore Old Delhi’s lanes and rich history? You can connect with 10-year-old Anabiya, 16-year-old Kajal, 17-year-old Chandni, or 21-year-old Heena.
Veteran architect Ashok Lal attributed the now irrevocable change in Old Delhi to the influx of trade. First demographic change came with Partition, and the second with the railway station.
Hazrat Shah Waliullah Library, built as a one-room sanctuary during the 1987 riots, is bursting at the seams with thousands of Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Hindi, and English books.
More than 50 bookstores lined Urdu Bazaar in the 1970s, but just 5 are left, all struggling to survive. It’s the last throes of an era of Urdu printing, publishing, and poetry.
In the last decade, at least five havelis have been restored. It’s a labour of love that needs deep pockets, patience, and a passion for the past—all to bring Old Delhi to its former glory.
UCBs accounted for 1.8% of total industry credit in September 2025—down from 2.2% five yrs ago—showing that they are losing ground to faster PSU banks.
This is the game every nation is now learning to play. Some are finding new allies or seeing value among nations where they’d seen marginal interest. The starkest example is India & Europe.
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