India, Feb. 15 -- Green turban, black apron and saffron beard. Such a stately man-he must be Dakhni Rai himself.

He is actually Zakib. He has been administering his corner chai stall for 30 years in Kucha Dakhni Rai (see photo). Like everybody else encountered this afternoon in the quiet Walled City kucha, he too is ignorant of Dakhni Rai, and assumes that the man who gave his name to the street "must have been a well-known elder."

Kucha traditionally implies a lane of dwellers sharing the same occupation. It is startling to discover that unlike other Purani Dilli kuchas, Kucha Dakhni Rai continues to deserve its kucha ID. The lane is lined with the same kind of business. Krishna Industries deals in "all types of industrial heating elem...