So I have just returned from Chandni Chowk and need to share my impressions.

I was a bit surprised when I stepped to the auto-rickshaw stretch of the road out front and the driver that had adopted me last night ditched me for another driver. Oh well, so much for the drama, overblown it seems, that I established in my last post.  So after one driver tried to jack me on the price I found a more reasonable driver and we were off.

He dropped me on a corner across from the Red Fort, a massive fort built by Muslim rulers centuries ago out of, you guessed it, red stone. It is pretty impressive and the front wall seems to stretch on forever. I will try to go in some time soon.  So I step from the auto-rickshaw and head down the street, not quite sure where I am going, but trusting the shop-wala's scent for money will alert them to my presence, and thereby indicated the proper direction for me to go. In about a block I saw the beginning of what could be nothing else but an Indian market. Not the romantic market of films and our oriental imagination, though those do exist and parts of this market have that, but this is mainly just shop after shop, edge to edge for blocks. I see, on my left, mostly electronics and tons of stores selling almost exclusively watches.  On my right, across a 4 lane street there is a little more variety, but mostly bigger shops. And McDonalds. 

So I walk for a bit on my sid of the street, meandering down gallis, basically narrow alleys. Here is a picture of these:

Before long I begin to wonder why all I see for blocks in either direction is watch and clock vendors, with a few others scattered in there, but all related in some weird way. I keep going trusting that this famous market is not all watches and soon my faith is confirmed. I wonder around and find that each section, not clearly demarcated in any traditional sense, is dedicated to a particular craft. And each goes on forever. I was doing fine with my sense of direction, which is I admit a bit limited, as long as corners stayed at 90 degrees, but then one came at an odd angle and I was lost. It's all good, right. Juest keep walking it will all work out. hehe.