At Ghalib’s Ballimaran haveli, a pink bucket shares space with poetry

A pink bucket stands on the floor beneath a verse by Mirza Ghalib at the poet’s last haveli in Gali Qasim Jan, Ballimaran. It is not part of the display, but it fits the unvarnished character of this small Old Delhi museum.

Ghalib died in the house in 1869. Much of the mansion was altered over time, and its surviving portion was at one point used as a coal godown before becoming a museum. The space is roughly the size of a badminton court, with exposed-brick arches, stone floors, hanging lanterns and translucent roof panes.

Its cases hold an open book presented as an illustrative representation of Ghalib’s work, along with a chessboard, stamps, pictures and documents. A poster lists his hobbies: kite flying, chausar, pacheesi, chess and ganjifa. Another chart names favourite dishes including dal murabba, besan karhi phulkian, sohan halwa and mishri.

Verses in Urdu, Hindi and English run across walls, niches and doorways, asking visitors to pause, turn and look up. A portrait shows the poet writing and smoking; the bucket, meanwhile, remains quietly in place.