Old Delhi’s Gali Godoya ends at a katra with no known name origin

Lakshmi leaves her home at the end of Gali Godoya, walks through Gali Chooriwallan and enters a building on Chawri Bazar through its main gate. The building stands beside her courtyard, but there is no direct entrance from the gali.

Lakshmi cooks there twice a day. Her mother-in-law had worked there before her, and Lakshmi took over the job after her death.

A katra at the lane’s end

Lakshmi lives in a katra, a courtyard ringed by residences, at the end of Gali Godoya. She says katras were once occupied by people from the same profession, though that is no longer the case in this courtyard.

Her husband, who retired from a sanitary fittings shop in nearby Chawri Bazar, spends time in the courtyard repairing a grandchild’s toy. Their son works in the same trade. Around the courtyard, neighbours move between their homes while a young man prepares tea beside a gas stove.

The building where Lakshmi works overlooks the courtyard, she says. But its main entrance opens on Chawri Bazar, making Gali Chooriwallan part of her daily route.

A name without an explanation

Gali Godoya is the 223rd Old Delhi street recorded in the ongoing Walled City encyclopaedia, which documents the area’s streets and their present-day life.

Residents of the gali say they do not know what “Godoya” means. One neighbour suggested it may be linked to *goad*, the Hindi word for lap, but described this as a local guess.

From the courtyard, the lane turns several times before opening into Gali Chooriwallan. When Lakshmi’s break ends, she takes that route back to the building beside her home.