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Delhiwale: This way to Kona

Jan 17, 2025 09:14 PM IST

The Kona, a quiet corner in Haveli Azam Khan Chowk, contrasts with the bustling lanes, housing a few residents amid the lively street life nearby.

Straight, short and lean, the gali quickly hits an impasse, ending into a doorway veiled by a flashy red curtain.

Muhammed Wakeel, left, with friend, Muhammed Yunus. (HT Photo)
Muhammed Wakeel, left, with friend, Muhammed Yunus. (HT Photo)

The short gali deserves to be recorded—because it’s there!—and because every big and small Walled City lane commands a unique personality. One lane near Turkman Gate Bazar for instance is shorter than even this lane, called Gali Nal Wali (already chronicled on this page).

This lane though has been denied the formal status of a gali. It is simply referred to as Kona. Kona means corner, and the lane indeed lies in a corner of Haveli Azam Khan Chowk. A pedestrian-friendly intersection, the chowk is like New York City—it never sleeps, energised by the hyperactive life of its many converging streets, teeming with humans, goats, dogs, cats and rats.

While the other three lanes merging into the chowk lie packed with groceries, bakeries, and chai stalls, the fourth—Kona—is bare of street life, and is discreetly lined with a few house doors. The sole consolation to its voidness is that it directly overlooks the chowk’s popular paan kiosk (founded by Salauddin, now administered by son Nafeesuddin). This cold evening, a bunch of elderly men are sitting silently by the stall. They all live in the vicinity, but only one of them is a dweller of the Kona. This gentleman, the introvert Muhammed Wakeel, is smoking a beedi. A retired rickshaw puller, he lives in the Kona with his brother’s family. In fact, the aforementioned red curtain marking the end of the Kona is the doorway to his home.

After overcoming his initial shyness, Muhammed Wakeel condescends to give an oral survey of the Kona. He does so in a succession of declarations, each sentence punctuated by an uncomfortably long pause. “The gali looks empty but has its share of residents. There are five houses. Each house has many rooms. Each room has many tenants. All of these people have come from outside Delhi. They live here because they have jobs in the area. One works at the Karim’s restaurant.”

He lights a new beedi.

Meanwhile, the Kona’s desolation is growing intenser in comparison to the chowk’s heightened 6pm bustle. The chowk’s life fades only after Nafeesuddin shuts down his paan stall, at three in the morning. After which, for the next few hours, the chowk becomes as forlorn as its corner Kona.

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