Out of a Pahar Ganj hotel and into an apartment

Pahar Ganj's Main Bazaar

Last week I moved out of Pahar Ganj and into the upper-middle-class neighborhood of Safdarjung Enclave. I love it. My commute to Asha is now 30 minutes—walking. The neighborhood is comparatively quiet, and no one’s yelling at me, trying to get my attention, or asking me where I’m from.

Pahar Ganj, which is right off the New Delhi Railway Station (a hub for trains out of Delhi) is chock full of backpackers and cheap hotels. It seems to have a bad reputation amongst Delhi residents who don’t live there. The Indian employees at Asha always expressed concern for me staying there. “Is it safe?” “Don’t eat the food there! I heard they don’t use clean water.”

Fruit and veggie market

It’s true Pahar Ganj is a little shady; I killed a cockroach in my hotel room with my bare hand (it was just a little one). But I think the potential for shadiness is high when you have two cultures intersecting, and one is poor while the other is cheap and has low standards (I’m talking about backpackers). But even as I tired of Pahar Ganj and my hour-plus commute, I think it’s a bit like Delhi overall—annoying at first, and then it grows on you as you discover a few things.

Spacious new apartment in Safdarjung Enclave

If you go all the way to the end of the Main Bazaar, Pahar Ganj gets a lot calmer. There’s a beautiful, peaceful ashram there that’s so non-touristy they wouldn’t even let me in. It has a metro station nearby that’s a quiet alternative to the busy and more well-known New Delhi one. While looking for the local post office, I stumbled on a colorful fruit and vegetable market in one of the less-traveled alleyways. And it turns out there’s a nearby stadium where I can work out.

It’s good that I like Pahar Ganj more, because I’ll probably be back there come March. My roommate already has another person slated for that month (someone who’s staying longer). But for one month, I’m going to enjoy having a place that’s mine.