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Month: January 2010

Mission Delhi – Rakesh Chandra, Connaught Place

by The Delhi Walla - 10

One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] With a cloth tied to the end of a wooden rod, the bookseller is busy cleaning the shelves – “wooshaaaacck” goes his duster. Puffs of dust rise all around The Delhi Walla. “We have to do it every morning,” says Rakesh Chandra of the New Book Depot, Connaught Place. “Otherwise, you won’t be able to touch the books. It gets so dusty.” Mr Chandra has eight people on his staff, but every morning, he leads the battle against the Delhi dust. Finicky about his books, he occasionally gets into tiffs with customers who show no respect for the bound volumes. “There are a few who do not

City Landmark – Chanakya Cinema, 1970-2007

by The Delhi Walla - 0

1970-2007 [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Last night, at 9:45 pm, I dreamt I went to Chanakya again. It seemed to me I stood by the box office that sells Rs. 30 front stall tickets, and for a while I could not see the clerk inside for the window was barred to me. Ticketless, I walked towards the glass door. It was locked. I called in my dream to the cinema security guard, and had no answer, and peering closer through the dirty glass I saw that the theater was uninhabited. No crowd was waiting in the foyer, and the little frames that should have displayed movie posters gaped forlorn. Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden with

City Landmark – Khan-i-Khana’s Tomb, Nizamuddin East

by The Delhi Walla - 4

Scarred with beauty. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] A stone-paved lane hedged with marigold flowers leads to one of Delhi’s strangest monuments. The 16th century tomb of a Mughal noble, Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khana, is both ugly and beautiful. Its exterior stonework is stripped off. The plaster on its inside walls is chipped. Its niches are cobwebbed. The ceilings are scrawled with romantic messages. But before you notice the flaws, the weathered dome, as well as the chhatris and the arches take you in. The underground tomb is inaccessible but the sarcophagus in the upper chamber is bare, quiet, dark and windy. Bordered by the tony Nizamuddin East bungalows on one side and the noisy Mathura Road on the other, the large

Special Report – The Delhi Walla in Jaipur

by The Delhi Walla - 2

Notes from the fifth Jaipur Literature Festival. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla attended the fifth Jaipur Literature Festival, 2010. The five days were sunny and intense. There were singers, actors, ambassadors, college students, tourists, hippies, aspiring writers, book lovers, socialites, politicians, free-loaders, journalists, and more than 200 authors and speakers such as Asma Jahangir, Claire Tomalin, Wole Soyinka, Romesh Gunesekera, Hanif Qureshi, Gulzar, Roberto Calasso, Roddy Doyle, Vikram Chandra, Ashok Vajpeyi, Niall Ferguson, Saleema Hashmi, Anne Applebaum, Ali Sethi, Tenzing Tsundue, Amit Choudhury, William Dalrymple, Sadia Shepherd, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Geoff Dyer, Javed Akhtar, Tina Brown, Michael Frayn, Shobhaa De, Krishna Sobti, Krishna Baldev Vaid, Steve Coll, Stephen Frears, Chetan Bhagat, Lawrence Wright, Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk,

Jaipur Diary – The Final Fifth Day

by The Delhi Walla - 1

Notes from the Jaipur Literature Festival. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Click here to reach the complete compilation of the Jaipur Diary His language sits lightly on his shoulders. As one of the few Hindi writers in the fifth Jaipur Literature Festival, Delhi-based poet and cultural critic Ashok Vajpeyi gently rebuffed a few men who came complaining that the festival has largely ignored the national language. “But I’m not feeling ignored,” the longhaired poet said. “If others feel that way, they must better orgnaise a festival of such scale than crib about it.” Pointing out at the surrounding crowd of foreigners, the former vice-chancellor of the Indira Gandhi International Hindi University said, “You don’t see many Hindi lovers here because Hindi speaking

Jaipur Diary – The Engaging Fourth Day

by The Delhi Walla - 2

Notes from the Jaipur Literature Festival. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Click here to reach the complete compilation of the Jaipur Diary Tina Brown, one of America’s most influential editors, is in love with the Jaipur Literature Festival. “I’m addicted to it,” she said while talking to The Delhi Walla. It’s her second time in the festival. “Jaipur is seeing a most amazing explosion of literary talent. I heard the extraordinarily humane, brilliant, enjoyable Wole Soynika. To attract this kind of talent and to have them in one place is amazing. And look at the kind of democratic, funny, chaotic situation here. It’s very appealing.” Ms Brown, who formerly edited magazines such as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, currently takes

Jaipur Diary – The Disappointing Third Day

by The Delhi Walla - 5

Notes from the Jaipur Literature Festival. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Click here to reach the complete compilation of the Jaipur Diary There is no reason why The Delhi Walla shouldn’t feel lucky to be in the fifth Jaipur Literature Festival. I chatted with the former New Yorker editor Tina Brown. Nobel laureate Wole Soynka looked into my eyes for full five seconds. William Dalrymple, the author of City of Djinns, hugged me. The queen of Bhutan threw an exclusive smile at me. Actress Neena Gupta offered me beer. Author Roddy Doyle shook my hands. Actress Shabana Azmi sat beside me for half hour. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Lawrence Wright took a stroll with me. Another Pulitzer Prize winning author,

Jaipur Diary – The Intense Second Day

by The Delhi Walla - 4

Notes from the Jaipur Literature Festival. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Click here to reach the complete compilation of the Jaipur Diary As the only Nobel laureate in the fifth Jaipur Literature Festival, Wole Soynika - writer, poet and playwright - read his poems, talked of his gods, discoursed on the profundity of human existence, but he also spoke like a political activist. Besides calling his country’s ruling party, People Democratic Party, “totally corrupt”, the Nigerian author also talked on religious terrorism. “It’s an epidemic, a disease, a virus,” he said as a mesmerized audience looked on in the main lawn of Hotel Diggi palace, the festival’s venue. Describing the recent religious riots in his country, Mr Soynika’s tale would not have

Jaipur Diary – The Spectacular First Day

by The Delhi Walla - 1

Notes from the Jaipur Literature Festival. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Click here to reach the complete compilation of the Jaipur Diary The first day of the fifth Jaipur Literary Festival rocked. Held in Hotel Diggi Palace, there was a Nobel laureate from Africa, two Pulitzer-prize winning authors from the US, a bestselling novelist from Scotland, a young writer from Pakistan, a lyricist from Bombay, a poet from Allahabad. Plus, there was music, dance, beer, wine, leggy beauties and handsome men. So what if the programme schedule got a bit foggy in the begining? Blame the Delhi fog. Playwright Girish Karnad, who was scheduled to open the festival, could not reach Jaipur due to low visibility in Delhi. Same fate hit the

Jaipur Diary – The Early Birds

by The Delhi Walla - 2

Notes from the Jaipur Literature Festival. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Click here to reach the complete compilation of the Jaipur Diary 9 pm, January 20th, 2010. Clear sky, cold wind. The food is so-so but who cares when there is unlimited free wine? The lawn in the Diggy Palace Hotel – the site of the Jaipur literary festival - is crowded with writer types. The five-day-long fest is starting tomorrow and the early birds who have already reached Jaipur are fluttering around with wine glasses and dinner plates. The Delhi Walla, too, is checking out the scene. It is as if the entire literary Delhi has flown in to Jaipur. More authors, more journalists, more booklovers are expected in

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