In the heart of Delhi, the welcoming urban village of Chirag Dilli, has given an address to countless migrants from the northeast, who build their lives around the capital's most favourite snack - the momo.
Anuj Behal
The inside view of a house in Chirag Delhi where family members are sitting on the floor, making momos. Tanmoy Bhaduri/The Migration Story
NEW DELHI: Kumar Pakhrin’s two-room rented space in Delhi’s Chirag Dilli comes to life at 6 am. The 37-year-old and his wife Sona begin their day by chopping vegetables, kneading flour dough and folding crescent-shaped momos, a form of dumplings popular in Tibet, Nepal and Northeast India.
The modest rooms, each approximately 10 by 8 feet, are a hub of activity. One room is dedicated to preparing momos. Mixers and blenders buzz at one end, processing tubs of soaked vegetables or minced meat into stuffing. Spicy red chutney is also processed.
The floor on the opposite side is covered with a plastic sheet where the Kumars, who hail from Sikkim’s Namchi district, shape momos.
“Making so many momos is not easy,” Kumar told The Migration Story. “We wake up at 6 in the morning, cut vegetables, prepare dough, make our chutneys, and also prepare flattened sheets of dough by 10. After breakfast, we all sit and seal the momos.”
The Kumar household is not the only one that comes to life so early in Chirag Dilli. The cluster of ramshackle, low-cost constructions connected through a network of narrow lanes in this urban village is home to hundreds of migrant families who make and sell momos.
Surrounded by upscale South Delhi localities, Chirag Dilli is a poor neighbourhood. The affordable rents, flexible paperwork and fluid regulations on commercial activity on residential premises, has attracted migrants, including those from the Northeastern states.
Chirag Dilli is seven kilometres from the Qutub Minar and derives its name from the shrine of 14th-century Sufi saint Hazrat Nasiruddin Mahmud Chiragh-Dehlavi.
The locality boasts of a unique blend of historical haveli-style dwellings and modern adaptations driven by the influx of migrants. With the societal shift from extended to nuclear families, many of the grand havelis underwent a transformation. Small rooms were carved out and given on affordable rent to migrants.
But, for those who keep track of Delhi’s evolving street food culture, Chirag Dilli is known as the momo capital of the city.
It is the go-to place where many street vendors procure their daily supply of ready-to-steam-and-serve dumplings and spicy red chutney. Some like Kumar also make momos and sell them through street carts and stalls they run in other parts of the city.
“What sells more than momos in Delhi? And what’s a better place than Chirag Dilli to make them?,” asked Kumar.
“Here, we have people from our state and even our village. There’s a sense of belonging, and there is paisa (money) to be made,” he said, adding that he is happy to live with his family under one roof.
Versatile and affordable
This haveli in Chirag Dilli is home to migrants from the northeast living in Delhi, who make and sell momos for a living. Tanmoy Bhaduri/The Migration Story
The Kumar couple sells upto 1800 vegetarian and non-vegetarian momos daily in Munirka, a neighbourhood 7 km away from Chirag Dilli. The stall they run there since 2014 opens at 4 pm, and the momos are sold out by 10 pm.
Their monthly profit ranges from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000, a quantum leap from the Rs 7,000 Kumar earned as a security guard in the Indian capital. He held that job for about seven years before starting his momo venture.
Momo stalls like Kumar's have become ubiquitous, each a testament to the city's love affair with these dumplings, which have come into the capital along with migrants from the Northeast. It has become popular across income groups.
"Over time, the humble momo, a migrant food, has become a reigning monarch in Delhi's culinary landscape," said Rana Safvi, a historian and author of The Forgotten Cities of Delhi.
"Its versatility, affordability, and wide availability across Delhi make momos a convenient and innovative street food choice for all tastes."
The term ‘migrant food’ refers to food that has been introduced to a region by migrants who brought it from their place of origin and the market for momos runs across Delhi, including Connaught Place, Lajpat Nagar, Munirka, INA Market, Ambedkar Nagar, Malviya Nagar, Green Park, Greater Kailash, and beyond.
But the journey of the momos begins in Chirag Dilli, every morning at 6 a.m.
"Chirag Dilli stands as the city's largest production hub, attracting migrants from India’s Northeast and Nepal. Some of them exclusively prepare momos for restaurants or other momo sellers as well,” said Veena Bhardwaj, an independent social worker, who has engaged with urban villages of Delhi and worked with women momo makers in Chirag Dilli.
A family makes 2500-3000 momos per day, which are sold in their own stalls as well as other stalls across Delhi. Tanmoy Bhaduri/The Migration Story
Why does Chirag Dilli attract migrants?
Kareem Banu, a 56-year-old resident of the locality, has lived in Chirag Dilli since she got married over 30 years ago. She has rented out the topmost two-bedroom floor of her three-floor house to a momo maker and seller.
"It started with one person setting up house, then another, and eventually, entire families relocating to Chirag Dilli. They (migrants) must be the only ones who know what’s so special about Chirag Dilli," she said.
Kumar too relocated to Chirag Dilli after a friend from his village introduced him to momo making.
Before that, his life had been a chequered one. He studied till Class X and worked as a daily wage labourer on farms and construction sites in his village in Sikkim.
But work was inconsistent, so his father sent him to Qatar, where he served as a guard for about three years, felt homesick and chose to return home and then moved to Delhi.
Once he started his momos venture, his wife and daughter joined him in Chirag Dilli. Life has been looking up for the family ever since. Kumar said he makes enough to save for his daughter’s higher education. She is currently in Class IX.
Similarly, 32-year-old Shoma Tamang and her husband moved to Delhi from Darjeeling in West Bengal in 2010 because they found seasonal farming of turmeric, potatoes and leafy greens not remunerative enough.
Their land holding of just over an acre was too small and unpredictable market prices made it worse.
Moving from their village to the city was a difficult choice but they felt they had no other option.
"My husband's friend informed us that food stalls in Delhi yield good profit,” said Tamang. The friend helped the couple set up home in Chirag Dilli and found them a spot in the Defence Colony market to sell momos.
"It is the migrant network, where one person invites another, strengthening community ties, that has transformed Chirag Dilli into a hub for momo manufacturing," explained Bhardwaj,
What also draws migrants to Chirag Dilli is the affordable rent. It’s easier to set up a kitchen-cum-home here than close to the markets where the dumplings are sold.
“A similar space on rent in Defence Colony would cost between Rs. 35,000 to Rs.40,000 per month. Here in Chirag Dilli, I pay only Rs, 7,000,” said Shoma. She and her husband have rented two rooms in a haveli owned by their landlord, Kishan.
The ‘Urban Village’ advantage
Karishma Thapa blends cabbage leaves, onion, garlic and dried chillies to prepare a spicy chutney as an accompaniment with momos. Tanmoy Bhaduri/The Migration Story
Chirag Dilli being designated as an 'urban village' in the city’s Master Plan has been a major factor contributing to lower rents, according to Sukrit Nagpal, an independent researcher working on housing rights and social protection.
"The first Delhi Master Plan in the 1960s faced challenges in planning regulations because the city’s urban limits expanded to include these villages. Land records in villages were complex,” he said.
To tackle this, the planning authority introduced the 'urban village' category, exempting these villages from strict building regulations and allowing more flexibility in construction and renovations not requiring approvals.
“Historically, the state has failed to build low-income or rental housing. And when the state doesn’t build low-income housing tailored to migrant needs, individuals step in to fill this gap,” said Nagpal.
This flexibility in regulations has led to people constructing, reconstructing their houses, adding more floors and also allowing commercial activity alongside the residential premises.
This enables house owners to maximise profits by subletting properties and offering cheaper rent options to migrants.
For 29-year-old Shirof Kumar from Assam’s Tinsukia, who arrived in Delhi two years ago, the allure of community bonds outweighs the low rent. He doesn't mind shelling out an extra Rs 200 for a round trip to work.
"Even though rents in Madangir, where I work, aren't exorbitant, my family found a deeper sense of community in Chirag Dilli," he said. He proudly mentions how his daughter, who joined them last year, has already made friends.
Shirof echoes the sentiment of many of the other migrants who feel that the network and friendships that they have developed in Chirag Dilli are indispensable. "As outsiders in a big city,” he says, “survival hinges on these connections. I can't risk losing this sense of community."
But not only has the momo industry transformed Delhi's culinary landscape and contributed to the emergence of new forms of living through its production, it has also undergone its own evolution.
As Tamang aptly put it, "You have to top your momos with some chaat masala now; these momos are being served in Delhi and not my Darjeeling."
Edited by Preeti Mehra
(Anuj Behal is an independent journalist and urban researcher primarily focusing on urban informality, justice, gender, and sexuality)
ความคิดเห็น