is now occupied by his brothers family only the road below with rows of audis and beamers parked chaotically reminds you that this is the countrys most expensive retail destination their 86yearold matriarch raj berry who lives in flat no 37 is probably the oldest resident here much of her life as an educationist wife and mother has been spent in flat no 13 of khan market given the commercial frenzy surrounding the market it might be hard to believe that it once had a central park with a fountain or that one of the parking lots used to be a chaupal the estimated sale price of a flat here is around rs 16 crore but sales are uncommon so the estimates mean little the market was named after freedom fighter khan adul jabbar khan brother of khan abdul ghaffar khan and the rent even then joke the residents was exorbitant rs 50 today only 10 families continue to live here with memories of a very different khan market a neighbourhood that once reflected the aspirations of postindependence india around 50 children would come from just the khan market flats says gulati most shops were vacant and the flats above filled up gradually and shops mostly exhibit brands he says its gone from a daily needs market to a mall now everyone here comes in a car he says also we dont have to deal with issues like water and power here she holds music classes even today for underprivileged children who live nearby the houses are in fact hard to find because of the bright signboards that dominate the building faade she belongs to one of the 74 families that moved here in the 1950s when a ushaped settlement was carved out of a cluster of flats atop shops in the heart of delhi umas husband daughter and grandsons are keeping alive the legacy of the legendary faqir chand book shop ved marwah now lives on amrita shergill marg near lodi gardens and is a regular at the market my mother cant bring herself to leave behind all the memories associated with the house it has been my dailyneeds market but the charm is waning because it is now a mall like area full of restaurants and branded shops he says named after the man it is still a landmark the khan market patel likes to remember is one where customers could choose between many chemists and settle on one that offered the biggest discount to regular customers she vividly remembers her wedding in the park which has now disappeared the first buyers got 75square yard flats for a stiff price rs 9500 patel complains that most old shops in the most expensive high street in the city have shut except its famous bookshops the metro brought many more people from ncr here says umas daughter mamta bamhi who runs the bookshop next to a busy restaurant in flat no 59 septuagenarian uma marwah is recovering