During the month of Ramzan, Zakir Nagar wears a different smell. Over the bike fumes and slush on the main road that joins New Friends’ Colony with Batla House Chowk in south Delhi, you first get a whiff of kebabs and then see them roasting on naked flames. A fruity fragrance gives away the rows of thelas that sell ripe mango, jamun and khajur, while, around roadside bakeries, the air is redolent with warm bread from earthen ovens. This corner of Jamia Nagar, the area around Jamia Millia Islamia, is among Delhi’s newer addresses — its character is parochial, its politics serrated and its history limited. Families mostly break the fast at home and assemble at one of the many mosques for evening prayers. When they do step out in the evening, their food destinations are the restaurants they visit throughout the year. Paranthas, rotis and chicken come in a variety of forms and flavours, from ulte tawa ka paratha to chicken fry, kebab and korma. At Purani Dilli Restaurant, one can dig into chicken keema stew, chicken biryani and chicken achari, among others. For sweets, Kaiser Pahalwan’s milk and lassi are reputed but, if this locality of few legends has one eminent name, it is Md Ashraf, who sits behind a railing in a nook that juts out of the Jama Masjid — a mosque that should not be confused with the one in Old Delhi. Ashraf sits with a huge vessel of shahi tukda, little cups of phirni and rabri and talks passionately about the art of making faluda. “I charge Rs 30 for whatever you choose. Who sells anything at Rs 30 any more? This is how Zakir Nagar is,” he says.
