This way to Gali Hakim Boali

The Walled City dictionary

- 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's 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.