Head champi, oil massage, chaat-paranthas and other such things… Delhi has also seen a relaxed life! – Delhi Assembly Election 2025 traditional professions of Delhi NTC

The country’s capital Delhi is ready for assembly elections 2025. Whether it is the effect of urban planning or the need of time, the picture of Delhi has changed rapidly in the last few decades. The city of Delhi went from ancient to medieval and then suddenly became modern. The design of roads and buildings kept changing. Delhi is in front of us today with increasing number of cars on the roads, modern facilities like metro and rapid rail. But before this, Delhi used to be a peaceful Delhi and there were some professions which were seen only in Delhi. Which used to be an integral part of people’s lives. Let us go to that time when Delhi used to be a peaceful Delhi and not a bustling one.

‘The whole city’s face is full of sorrow,
The condition of the heart is the condition of Delhi…’

This poetry fits perfectly with the conditions of modern Delhi with pollution, smog, traffic jams and railway congestion. This poetry tells that while modernizing Delhi gained a lot, it also lost a lot. While the capital gained political power and dominance, luxury malls, shining city and money, this city also lost clean water, clean air, empty roads and peace of life.

The country’s capital Delhi has modernized rapidly in the last few decades. Gleaming roads, flyovers, crowded market places, grand monuments, tourist places, 3-D cinemas, skyscrapers and modern facilities like metro-rapid rail, all these are the identity of modern Delhi. But all this has also added to the hustle and bustle and lack of time in the life of the common man. But common life in Delhi city was not always like this. Once upon a time, this Delhi was also known for peace and tranquility. Where people used to enjoy Ramlila peacefully, used to spend family time peacefully in the parks, when everywhere crowds of people were seen sunbathing in the parks, people playing cards, people singing songs and people surrounded by people showing magic. Oops… what were those days…

Who is the real Delhiite? No clear answer can be given to this question. This Delhi has seen many sultanates being formed and destroyed, this Delhi has also seen independent India taking shape and this Delhi has kept molding itself into a new form every time. Because people kept coming to Delhi in every era and kept integrating into the society here. Kept changing its culture and social life. Foreign invaders kept coming and people from different parts of the country, lakhs of refugees who came from Pakistan at the time of partition also got absorbed in this Delhi and this Delhi remained everyone’s Delhi. The culture here also continued to become everyone’s culture.

In his book, Rajendra Lal Handa very well depicts independent India, its changing society and the changing face of Delhi in the 1940s and 1950s. Handa writes- ‘Delhi was once famous for its confectioners, parantha vendors, salma sitare vendors, chaat vendors and tangewalas. Today, no matter what else is happening in Delhi, these people are not visible. The majority of confectioners now belong to people coming from outside. Therefore, instead of Sohan Halwa, Sindhi Halwa is now sold more. The business of parantha vendors has also slowed down because instead of one parantha vendor, there are now four Shami Kebab and Gosht Roti vendors. And the chaat vendors were taken away with Chole Kulcha in their hands.

The fashion of Salma-Sitare and Gota-Kinari is no longer the same. Anyway, fashion has a deep connection with the society. As society changes, fashion also changes. Now the matter of horse carriages. At least 80 percent of the old horse carriages left Delhi. His tone of conversation was also different and in his free time, he used to fly kites while sitting on the carriage waiting for passengers. Even today, the wealth of politicians and ministers has not reduced in the capital Delhi. Many stories of servants and royal rich people have been famous in this city. Emperor Shah Alam was happy with his work and made a barber the inspector. Similarly, the fortunes of many other bakers, gardeners, ordinary soldiers etc. also arose here. Emperors kept coming and going and Delhi remained and so did its magic.

Before this he had amazing charisma. I used to often visit the house of a friend living in Old Delhi who belonged to a very rich family. Whenever I went to their place in the evening, chaat and curd were always served to me. Actually, people of Delhi drink less tea etc. in the evening. Mostly consume chaat only. I saw two-four shops selling chaat. His silversmiths were the best. Many servants, crowd of customers, daily sales worth hundreds of rupees. It was found out that a chaat seller near the Imperial Bank pays a monthly rent of Rs 70 for a small room. Imagine how high this rent was in 1936, when a good house could be rented for Rs 40. This shows how prosperous the business of the chaat vendors was.

On the means of entertainment of that time, Handa writes – ‘These were the only means of entertainment in Old Delhi. Rich people used to consider traveling four-five miles in a two-horse phaeton as entertainment. At the most, he sat on a bench in Qudsia Bagh for half an hour. People of the middle class used to enjoy themselves by roaming around or sitting in the huge grounds in front of Jama Masjid and Red Fort. Dozens of groups were seen sitting here and there in these grounds in the evening.

At some places, there was a game of cards, chaupar or chess and at some places poetry was recited and songs from films were sung. At some places, serious people used to discuss the market price and prices of gold and silver while smoking beedi. Some fond and courageous people used to dress up after the meal and go to the railway station and take a walk on the platforms as a medium of entertainment. Yes, there was not that much crowd in the theaters. People of this business considered Delhi as the third class center of their business.

One thing was seen everywhere in every street and lane of Delhi – Palki. This was the only means of transportation within the city for the veiled women of Delhi. In the morning, when many Hindu women used to go to Yamuna for bathing in palanquins, there was a crowd of palanquins like the carriages at railway stations.

From time to time, bets were made between the groups sitting in the parks, sometimes regarding the outcome of the war between Hitler and the British, and sometimes regarding the battle between pheasants and quails. In this game, people passing by were also invited to choose the winner and many times the gatherings used to last for a long time.

When people settled in New Delhi, the life of Babu people was a life of maximum satisfaction and happiness. But the style of those selling goods to them was also no less. The reputation of the babus was very good. Shopkeepers also preferred lending over cash. Due to this his customer was tied. The buyers also believed in living a wealthy life and considered the loan as an addition to their income. A small incident comes to mind. A gentleman from my village, Mr. Jamaluddin was an assistant in some office. Lived luxuriously. Children studied in English school. A cook, maid, gardener etc. were kept. He had also kept a motor car. One day he came to my place for dinner.

I asked- Hazrat, you have a lot of expenses, will your salary also be enough?

Said- Yes, things are going well. The salary is Rs 250, the expenses are much more than this. But there is no problem. Loan up to Rs 100 per month is easily available. The number of such generous people was very high in New Delhi.

When the capital New Delhi was inaugurated in the year 1931, houses and roads started being built rapidly all around. Babus were brought and settled there and shopkeepers, horse-cart drivers and other artisans also came to these areas in large numbers to serve them. New settlements were established. When the focus of the city changed, the old traditions of the areas of Old Delhi also started changing.

Handa writes the story of one of his friends- ‘Our friend Kailash is a rich family. Bhura lived in front of him in Ballimaran. He was also a family barber. There is hardly anyone else in Delhi who can match him in the art of head champi. Many times I too had the privilege of getting massaged by Bhure. Did he use to massage by joking and clapping? Sometimes he would press his forehead with his fingers like a tube has to be pressed while putting it inside a tyre. But this also had a method, an art. To someone watching from a distance, it might seem like a brawl, but the owner of the head would find immense pleasure in it. Kailash often used to sleep while having his head kissed.

Head shampoo, oil massage… these sweet words were heard in every park or garden of Delhi in the evening. Dozens of Bhure Khan’s brothers used to roam in the parks of Delhi with towels on their shoulders and oil pans hanging in their hands, which contained two or three colored bottles. Those people had complete authority over the art of head champi. The person who once got Champi done was forced to get it done again after a few days. In every park, two-four people were seen getting their heads shaved. This art was at its peak during the period of Muslim kings but its influence remained intact till this period. Champi people would rest at home throughout the day and would come out of the house at sunset and return by 10 o’clock at night with one to three rupees in their pockets.

Today, there are many head massagers in Delhi but the number of people who are fond of getting massage is decreasing. Nowadays, Ganderi vendors, Kulfi vendors and gram-peanut sellers are mostly seen in the parks.

There is another old profession which has been deeply affected these days. That is the work of Itar-Fulel. The old people of Delhi, no matter how well they wore clothes, unless they wore ear rings, they considered their attire incomplete. It was not the case that only rich people were fond of other things. Earlier people used to roam around doing other things, but now this hobby is also coming to an end. The traditional non-traditional business of Delhi has almost ended.

Another traditional business of the people of Delhi was the pickle-murabba business. Beyond mango-lemon and galgal, Delhi was also famous for pickles made from bamboo, acacia leaves, acacia beans, kirondo, banana leaves, pumpkin seeds etc. It used to be a separate requirement to follow the etiquettes of Delhi in marriage. This business has also gone into the abyss. How will bamboo and seeds fare in front of nutritious food items like turnip, carrot, radish etc?

There is another profession of Delhi which is disappearing. Now those who remove earwax are nowhere to be seen. There was a time when these people used to roam everywhere in Delhi in their distinctive costumes. These people used to be a boon for idle people for whom passing time was a problem.

9 out of 10 people remain idle in the courts, their business used to run well there. Apart from this, in railway passenger cabins where passengers had to wait for a long time for trains, they used to pass the time by removing earwax of the passengers. In the year 1945-46, when there was a flood of employees in the secretariats, their business became huge there too. Their attire was also special – white Parsi suit with a closed neck, closed churidar pajama and a round red turban tied on the head, in which the weapons of trade were equipped on both sides.

In the modern Delhi that we are seeing today, it is not that all these businesses have completely disappeared. Apart from the tourists coming from outside, you will also find many local families spending their leisure time in the grounds around India Gate, while even today on holidays in Old Delhi or in the outer areas, you will find the whole family sunbathing in the parks, or in the colonies. You will find people playing cards in their leisure time in the streets, but only occasionally. This is no longer the tradition of the city. In fact, in every locality, on holidays, you will find people showing off their Jauhar in the cricket field or you will see groups of youth strolling in the malls. Because in Delhi, which is steeped in corporate culture, no one has that much leisure now, but every time has its own fun, so this new kind of Sardi is Delhi and if it is Delhi, it is as it is from the heart…