OFFTRACK: DELHI

The search for the colours of India comes to an end at this bangle shop.

Ballimaran Street in Delhi's Chandni Chowk is a squalid, narrow lane only wide enough for a small car. Yet, a seamless traffic of men, beasts and old, rickety rickshaws push through it every day. Groaning grey tenements and matchbox-sized hardware shops, some over a hundred years old, line the dirt road on either side. The only relief is Babu Ram Churiwala's bangle shop. You won't miss it even if you wink.

It's a colour riot. All the hues of the rainbow spill over on to the grey street from the little shop, no more than 4 ft wide. And Babu Ram, 47, portly, balding and pear-shaped as he squats on his linen seat in a corner, occupies most of it. In his spotless white kurta, he looks the stereotype prosperous shopkeeper. Ram's treasures are all up on the walls, thousands of them glistening in glass enclosures running on all sides. A ceiling made of broken glass bits mirrors the colourful excess beneath. Along one wall, there's space for a small wooden bench for "visitors". That's what Ram calls them. Not customers, but "visitors who keep coming back". And this is what separates Ram from the thousands of other bangle-sellers in India. His visitors are kings, queens and sundry celebrities. "I even made bangles for Amitabh Bachchan's daughter when she got married," says Ram, quickly wondering if he should have divulged this bit of information.

Some like Julia Thompson, an anthropology student from Massachusetts, US, make it a point to call on Ram every time they're in India. "This little shop has all the colours of India," she says. Ram stuffs a whole box of acrylic bangles into her palm as she prepares to leave. "It's a gift," he insists.

Ram gets an unending stream of visitors. People who drop by just to say hello, and women who brave the bulging rickshaws and the lustful looks of the men on the street just to take a peek at his latest wares. "Some of them have been coming to me for generations. They are like family now," says Ram, whose great grandfather set up the shop four generations ago. In those days, gloats Ram, their clientele included the Mughals. He recalls accompanying his father on bullock carts across waterways and channels to the homes of royal families in Delhi and Jaipur. "My father even made bangles for Indira Gandhi when she was a girl, and Queen Victoria when she came to India. I too have celebrity regulars," he says. Ram even loads bangles in sacks and makes house calls if there's a special request. He does this when he makes bangles to order, especially for weddings, matching them with the colour and embroidery of the bride's trousseau.

Ram's fame has spread far from his little shop. He gets orders from the US and Europe. He has even been invited to attend Indian festivals in Paris and Los Angeles. Unlike others of his tribe, Ram's speciality is that he designs and crafts the bangles himself. Every day, his wife, three daughters and son crowd into a room in his ancestral house in Old Delhi and make bangles. There are remnants of some of his father's masterpieces too-bangles that could well be over 150 years old but are "too old-fashioned to sell now".

"Churis are back in vogue," says Ram. "In the West, it has been a craze ever since Madonna started sporting bangles and bindis. Today's teenager does not mind wearing it with her denim jeans." He thinks it is necessary to give his bangles nicknames and constantly innovate to keep customers happy. Some of them are named after Hindi films: Chandni, Yaadein, Lagaan, Souten, the list goes on. One glass case is even named Crorepati. The range is not just cut glass and plastic though. Pastel-coloured acrylic bangles-the craze now, says Ram-come encrusted with dazzling Swarovski crystals. A four-piece set comes for Rs 100. He even has "blood sugar bangles" bearing stones with magnetic properties and meant to be worn against the pulse. Ram's designs are new: the more expensive "bridal bangles" come with elaborate kundan, zardosi, meenakari and lac work, with rates ranging from Rs 20 to Rs 1,500. "I don't want to make money cheating my customers," he insists. "Bangle-making is an art and I want to keep it from dying." With such business practices, Ram ensures there's always a rainbow over a grubby street in Old Delhi.