The Walled City dictionary.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Baoli, the step-well of yesteryears. Where the stone staircase gently descends towards underground water. Delhi’s most instagrammed step-well is Agrasen Ki Baoli, near Connaught Place. Then there is Gali Hakim Baoli. This Old Delhi street too has steps descending into an underground… cricket field!

To start with, the gali in Daryaganj is short and cramped. Its name evokes two traditional support systems that were familiar to Delhiwale of an earlier era. When ill, citizens would go to a hakim, who would be the doctor saheb of the time. When stricken by summertime heat waves, citizens would go to a baoli, which would be the AC hall of the time.

Today, Gali Hakim Baoli has no banner of any hakim. Neither is there a baoli. Though, as already noted, a flight of descending steps exists, connecting to the sprawling underground cricket facility. It was opened a week ago by the owner of a fast food joint. This afternoon, blue and white balloons are hanging limply from the high ceiling. These were put up for the inaugural bash, says staffers Sameer and Aamir (see photo). A cricket team may play 10 overs for 200 rupees, they inform, and 20 overs for 350 rupees.

No player is present presently, except for those on the wall posters. A plastic bucket in the corner is filled to the brim with cricket balls.

The underground field reflects poorly on Old Delhi. The historic quarter has no open spaces for athletes. An earlier generation would play cricket (more likely gulli danda) in nearby Ramlila Maidan, but these days that high-security ground tends to be claimed by political rallies and festive season fairs. The serious cricketers are obliged to ride on their motorcycles to the faraway grounds in Noida and Ghaziabad. (An IPL-style cricket tournament involving seven Old Delhi teams was however hosted last year in Chandni Chowk’s Shanti Desai Sports Club.)

Whatever, on emerging out from the basement, the attention is drawn to the curious matter of street signages. An address plate is misspelling the “Baoli” in the street’s name as “Boali.” Must be a typo. Another signage is also showing the same error. A passer-by addresses the confusion. No baoli ever existed on this street, he says. The gali had a hakim named Boali, aka Bo-Ali.

Ergo, lesson learned—fried is not fired, Delhi is not deli, and boali is not baoli.