Backpacker's haven in Central Delhi: Paharganj in 1990's

From the archive record

Paharganj is a world within itself, removed from the global village ambience elsewhere in the city. You won’t find a McDonald’s or a KFC, but what you are likely to discover in its chaotic arteries is another form of globalization, the one that relates to people. Paharganj has to be experienced and explored. Here one meets people shorn of prejudice. Travellers with their guitars and bongos. One has long conversations with interesting people who one might never see again. On a dimly lit rooftop with Lord Shiva looking down from a mural, and Bob Marley smoking a joint on the other wall, joints are lit all around. Such is the surreal ethos of Paharganj. The highlights of Paharganj are the various international cafés—among them a Japanese café serving only Japanese food and a delightful German