The historical background of this drama

The drama began when the country got independence from the colonial rule. New rulers took the place of the Britishers, the so called Brown Sahebs. These Sahebs, had their education in elite schools in England. There they came across the phrase "Master plan for a city". They started with the city directly under their rule, the capital of India and formulated a plan that did not care for the ground reality in an Indian city, it just tried to copy the plans for cities in the affluent west. For example, it never cared for the fact that a majority of Indians are poor, they have had no choice for employment. Self employment (trading) was and is the safest bet. But to trade one needs a shop. So there was always a need for as many shops as there was for houses for residence. Also people, who are not resident of posh colonies, want a market close to their residence, they can and could not afford to go very far off for shopping. Such market space was never planned, neither was the exploding population of the city kept in mind.

The result is not hard to imagine and can be seen in most of the streets of the capital. People have opened shops anywhere they could find affordable space. This affordable space could only be found in residential colonies, an added attraction is/was the proximity to the clientle.