Once known as Shahganj, during the reign of Shah Jahan, Paharganj was one of the first marketplaces outside the fort walls of Delhi. It remains a marketplace, bustling, crowded and noisy, but with such vibrancy, charm and atmosphere that its numerous hotels, basic as well as upscale, are home to all sorts of travelers. Certainly, the proximity to New Delhi Railway Station and Connaught Place helps to make it a travelers’ hub and a backpackers’ haven, but there is really much more to Paharganj.
For most visitors to the area, it is a market unlike any other in Delhi because of the liberal sprinkling of foreigners. They are all over, walking in the streets, buying in the shops, eating in the cafés, and drinking and chatting up a storm in the bars. And they range from the first-time tourist to Indophiles who live in the guesthouses for months and years on end.
Paharganj had always been an important part of the city, but it saw a facelift of sorts when Lutyens’ Delhi came into existence. And, during the 1970s, after India had been drawing the flower children and hippies for a while, Paharganj got on the backpackers’ map. It has never looked back since. My own first encounter with Paharganj was typical. Exiting the railway station, I was mobbed by rickshaw wallahs and went along with the one who promised he would get me the best hotel of all. As we went through the streets, there were foreigners around—on foot, visiting a number of hotels before picking one. Unlike them, I settled for the one the rickshaw wallah ferried me to.
