India, Jan. 20 -- In the olden times, most bazar shops would bear a framed photograph, often sanctified with a scented mala of the day's fresh marigolds. These beloved portraits were mostly of the shop's departed founder. The shop's current owner, usually the founder's son or later descendant, would sit directly under the revered frame.

Such sights no longer exist in as many numbers. Certainly not in Connaught Place (CP). The colonial-era shopping district used to be crammed with family-run shops. Over the recent decades, many of those have been replaced by uniform-looking retail chain stores, which might have their quirks, but which lack the individuality of family-run businesses. Fortunately, a few of those former CP establishments sur...