Where has GB Road the red light area of Delhi gone

There used to be place in old Delhi near paharganj called GB ROAD, GUN BATTICKEN ROAD.In bazaar below were shops of hardware and above, these shops, was red light area of Delhi. When ever I crossed this road, on my monthly visit to Delhi, all balconies and jharokahs were full of young girls and women, renamed sex workers by administration. They would be giving cat calls to passer buy below and their agents standing on footpaths below.

On my recent visit to this place I found 99 percent of these workers gone, no cat calls, no solicitation neither were there any agents, who used to be menace for customers of hardware market below. I was wondering where have these people gone suddenly in span of 8 years, were these people rehabilitated by govrnment or red light area has shifted altogether to some other place or city. This road is now called shardanand marg.

Though I couldn't understand the logic behind the thread,but the area is still their.G.B road is not near Pahrganj,but on the road which connects Ajmeri gate to Naya Bazaar,the road comes to life in the night and attracts typically lower strata of society,students and jawans from armed forces.

agreed but i had seen lot many forigners, may be hippie kind aslo there.but i was wondering this only where has the life gone now.

as far as i know its still there . . . garstin bastin road (that's what i read!) now called shradhanand marg. wholesale pump and hardware market by day and whore house by night . . . i saw it alive and kicking not more than a year ago.
if you really want to find it any autorickshaw driver worth his salt will take you there :-)

Can you tell where you have read about Garstin Bastin Road

Actually I am reading book on bhadurshah jaffar the last emperor of India. Writer in this says on decline of mogul empire and after conditions just after fall of Delhi to British in 1857.Many women of harem, begums, at that time in red fort shifted to GUN Bettican road flats.
Road got the name during gadar of 1857 due to some gun being moved through this part just opposite railway yard. These women
Became courtesan singers and prostitutes and British soldiers started frequenting this place.
These flats are among first to be ever made in India. These first flats were made on this
Gun bettican road, opposite railway yard and near khari bowli bazaar area.
Previously elites including British used to live in havelis.
Slowly area became a legal red light zone. Tradition of soldiers of army visiting such places continues till date, as "Delhi SIX" has also mentioned in his post.
Though never visited this place in evening recently, 10 years back things were different, very much live (gana bajana) and now I think this culture has declined or is on decline.

I am researching if it is same gun bettican road now known as GB road as mentioned by British writer.

which book

i'm afraid my memory eludes me as to the reference, but i'll admit that the two sound suspisciously similar, so it might just be a gradual corruption of the real name.

A good book to read if you're interested is Delhi between two empires by the renound historian Narayni Gupta.

i just checked wikipedia it says Garstin Bastion road
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._B._Road

so there must be something to it . . . delhi does have a very confused history ;-)

there is one more thing, the railway yard opposite gb road is the newer of the two lines passing through shajahanabad, so its more likely that the place you're reading about was towards the northern periphery of the city in the vicinity of the old delhi railway station. i tried to find the dates of establishment of the two stations but i have had no success so far.

when bhadur shah jaffar was sent to rangoon jail.he went in train and steamer.train he boarded along with family memebers was not from old delhi station but rather "mughalsrai station" near kanpur cantonment that time.he was made to travel in humilating bulluck cart till near kanpur, nearest rail head for calcutta track.railway line and yards came later, may be at some time before delhi vist of king of england.

yes you're right city monk, the railway came close on the heels of the coronation at the durbar . . . so i guess the reference to gun battican road is out of some fiction then, as there were no rail yards anywhere near delhi in 1857!

Maybe Flats didn’t appear overnight. Gradualy along with development of railway these were also constructed for what ever use. May be new road made along new railway line was also christened, remembering a gun was moved on this path towards Kashmiri gate in recent past.

The life beyond Ajmeri gate is totaly different from the rest of Delhi,just spend two hours in khari bowali or Naya Bazzar or for that matter Sadar Bazaar and then when you reach C.P from either corners...life seems so different.It's so strange that culture,language and lifestyle can vary so much in 3-4 kms radius.
All said and done,I have crossed that road many times during night's...nothing to do with that area in parrticular and I have always found that area to be safe,policemen can be found every 50 odd meters and the busisness goes on as usual.The only time I have seen them scolding people/customers is during national holiday, may be they want people to observe those days as dry days.

well it seems Rising sun has an experience to share with IM's,down the memory lane.....

GB road is Garstin Bastion road, I've never come across the name GUN BATTICKEN ROAD.

Over recent times it is one of the few dangerous roads to go in the nightm mainly due to the kind of activities taking place there.

Dangerous? its smack central, rickshaw drivers and the likes . . . i've been at all hours of the night, shady perhaps but dangerous is stretching it!
overnight is one thing 50 to 60 years later is what i estimate between bahadur shah zafar being exiled and the coming of the railway to delhi.
and garstin bastion road seems to be the accepted norm as far as i can tell from wikipedia and this thread!