Artistic Persian Lane: We Promise This Street Will Make You Forget All Cafes In Delhi
Persian Lane: This Lane Will Make You Forget All Cafes In Delhi
I was gawked at when I asked a couple of auto Rikshaw drivers about a street in Delhi. They looked at me like I was looking for an indecent place, a place where people from good families don’t go.
I had to come across the weird stair and remarks like – tum kaha se ho? Ye konsi gali hai? Raat me khulti hai? Kitne bje jao gi? Well, I don’t blame them; the name of the street was such!
The street had a rather gazing name- “Champa Gali”! I am sure it leaves a mark on your memory too. If told to imaging, this might just be a street with women dressed in sarees’ and cheap dresses, while they seek men and devouring them to get money and perform “Business so to say”.
But! This was different! Champa Gali, is a street situated in Saidulajab village of South Delhi. It was rather scary and dingy to enter the lane at first, but then I saw light from the sides of an iron gate, it was huge and I was scared until I saw people with disposable coffee cups in their hands walking outside a black gate.
The decision to call it Champa Gali was taken after Blue Tokai, a cafe with an on-site roastery, brought in a lot champa plants in the street.
Its Facebook page describes it thus: “A rustic street in the lanes of Saidulajab, reviving old sheds into a places filled with life -- Art, Culture, Handmade goodness, Design, Chai & Coffee.”
A black gate opens for you a street so vivid, photogenic, and yet full of rural vibes that for once you forget what Delhi genuinely looks like! The honks, the pollution and the people fade away once you step inside the black door. All that remains is an arty signage of its establishments, a green cloth canopy covering a part of the street and a rural touch to everything around. From the interiors of the tiny cafes to the fragrance of the Champa Gali, everything took me away from Delhi in a whiff, and a sight.
The place was so beautiful with limited crowd, stones and pebbles decorating the walls with lots of planters, people were reading books, sipping coffee and spending time with away from the crowded Delhi street cafes.
To my surprise this is the only place that does not serve alcohol in Delhi of what I have known so far!
Highlights of Champa Gali -
Its poetry evening, music gigs, book launches, making the place an important spot on the city’s culinary and cultural map.
The street is a strange compressed lane that takes you down a spectacular sight of Persian art and impression.
Cafe's to visit-
Reading room of Jugmug Thela
Blue Tokai, a cafe with an on-site roastery
Jugmug Thela, a retreat for the eyes
SOHO cafe, one of its kinds
-Written and Edited by Nimrat Kaur for PTC News
