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Month: March 2010

Pakistan Diary – The First Evening in Karachi

by The Delhi Walla - 1

The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] I’m standing outside McDonald’s at Park Towers shopping mall. The sea wind is breezy. The evening traffic is moving at a snail’s pace. Suddenly, a bearded man comes running from Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Park, just across the road. A blinding flash of light. A huge bang. Bum phatt gaya. All is black. Am I dead? This is The Delhi Walla’s first evening in Karachi. The Pakistan International Airlines A-320 airbus landed at Jinnah Terminal at 5 pm. Two hours later, at the most, I should have been killed in a bomb blast. The evening before I flew to Karachi, a friend in Jorbagh had hugged me tight. She asked for

Mission Delhi – Rachana Rao Umashankar, Shahpur Jat

by The Delhi Walla - 7

One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Coming out of the kitchen, she stops at the centre of the room and looks around. Rachana Rao Umashankar’s apartment is bustling with life. The laptop is logged on. The leather bag is on the floor. The suitcases are half-open. On the refrigerator: a hairbrush, contact lenses, a tube of Vaseline and a bottle of cough syrup. “I’m leaving Delhi next week and haven’t started packing yet,” she says, sitting down on a swivel chair. As part of her doctoral dissertation on Sufism, Ms Umashankar, a US-based scholar, arrived in India to – in her language - “look at the ways in which contemporary Sufis and adherents

Photo Essay – The Heartbeat of Delhi

by The Delhi Walla - 4

Connaught Place after 8 pm. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] To listen to Delhi's heartbeat, make a round of the Inner Circle (or Outer Circle) in Connaught Place. Do it after 8 pm. Don’t walk inside the corridor but on the pavement next to the road, under the open sky. At this time, the electric bulbs of highrises such as Statesman House and LIC Building will be twinkling behind a haze of smoke. The glow of the streetlights will be mixing in with the moonshine. Inside showrooms, the attendants will be handling the day's last customers. Behind the glass panels of fast food outlets, solitary souls will be feeding on french fries. At bus stops, the home-bound day-jobbers will be

Mission Delhi – Aarti, GB Road

by The Delhi Walla - 11

One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] A moment ago, she was smiling. Now, she is crying. “Why these tears, Aarti?” asks The Delhi Walla. The eight-year-old girl shakes her head. Wiping off her face, she struggles to give a faint smile but starts crying again. “It’s her mother,” says Saajid Bhai*, the owner of Kotha No. XX, one of the 96 establishments on GB Road, Delhi’s red light district. Like other children, Aarti studies in a school, plays at home, and fights with fellow children at the kotha. Her nose is pierced; her frock has orange flowers. She likes pakodis; she hates bananas. She can recite the English alphabet; she can count from

City Monument – Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum, Safdarjung Road

by The Delhi Walla - 1

Inside the Lutyens' bungalow. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The former residence of India's first female Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, here she was assassinated by her own bodyguards in 1984. But this memorial is more than just a museum. Besides showing the usual bedrooms, dining rooms, libraries and even the last saree of a powerful politician once described as "the only man in her cabinet", the house is also a window into the world of famed Lutyens’ bungalows. Built during the twilight years of the British Empire, there are 800 such bungalows spread over 550 hectares in New Delhi. Responsible for giving the city much of its colonial-era charm, most of these elegant white houses have been taken over by politicians and

City Season – Leaf-dropping in Delhi

by The Delhi Walla - 8

The Capital's fall. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Leaves are falling. As summers get closer, trees across Delhi have started shedding their leaves. If it’s windy, the yellowed leaves drop continuously in a gentle shower. By noon, roads are carpeted with a golden-coloured layer. Many leaves find their way onto the subway stairs, into ATM cabins and even into the open kettles of roadside tea vendors. In the evening, when office-goers reach the parking stands, they first must wipe the dry leaves from their cars’ windshields. “It's basant, a happy time,” says Hindi poet Ashok Vajpayee referring to the season. “This is our last chance to enjoy a cool weather in the open skies before the oppressive heat takes over.”

Mission Delhi – Sarah Rose, Cathedral Church of the Redemption

by The Delhi Walla - 9

One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is her first visit to a Church, but she is sleeping through it. On the warm morning of February 27, 2010, Sarah Rose is being baptized in the Cathedral Church of the Redemption. Her mother, Jaya Bhattacharji, too was baptized here. It was the Viceroy's Church, built of red sandstone and Burmese teak on what is now known as the President's Estate in Lutyens’ Delhi. One of the only two churches in the city to have an organ, the cathedral's prayer hall is presently silent. The sunlight, coming in through the narrow recess openings of the thick stonewalls, is making the dark chamber feel mystical.

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