City Life – FIFA Soccer World Cup, Jo’burg & Jor Bagh Life by The Delhi Walla - June 12, 2010June 19, 20103 A home away from home. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Evening. June 11, 2010. The Jor Bagh resident is in her living room, in front of the television. She is waiting for the inaugural ceremony of the FIFA Soccer World Cup to begin in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is all excitement. “It’s the first time that the world cup is happening in Africa,” she says. “It’s a special day for my country.” The woman is from South Africa and has been living in Delhi for a year. Since she is very shy, The Delhi Walla decided not to share her name with the readers. “But why didn’t you fly to South Africa to watch the cup?” I ask. She puts a finger
City Faith – Shah Farhad’s Sufi Shrine, Bagicha Peerji Faith by The Delhi Walla - June 10, 2010June 11, 20102 Death is beautiful. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The aroma of freshly cooked mutton biryani is wafting in the air. The old woman in white is whirling round into a blur. Two boys are lighting candles. Qawwals are singing. Children are running around. Women are talking. It's a joyous mood. Tonight (June 9, 2010), the sufi shrine of Hazrat Shah Farhad in Bagicha Peerji, near Pratap Nagar Metro station, is lit up with electric lamps. It is Shah Farhad’s Urs, his 286th death anniversary. He died on 25 Jumada al akhira 1135 Hijri; in 1723 AD. In Sufism, the death of a saint is celebrated as the occasion when his soul gets freedom from the body and is united with that
City Culture – The Band of Brothers, Hauz Khas Ruins Culture Monuments by The Delhi Walla - June 9, 2010June 24, 20101 The 7 idiots. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Their shoulders are swinging softly, their feet are tapping on the stone floor and some of them are shutting their eyes in intense passion. This is a group of seven – Mohammed Shamim, Amit Sharma, Prateek Malik, Riaz Ahmad, Nipun Sharma, Yash Saini and Shanky Goel. The boys are singing in a hush as if not to disturb the ghost of Feroze Shah Tughlaq, the 14th century ruler who is buried in the tomb, around which they are standing. The Delhi Walla is in Hauz Khas, the monument complex in south Delhi. The boys are students of XIIth standard in the nearby General Raj’s School. They are shooting a documentary, a part of
City Style – The Classy Delhiwallas Style by The Delhi Walla - June 8, 20102 Searching for the stylish. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Are you classy? Have you read Marcel Proust and Munshi Premchand? Can you distinguish Bach from Beethoven? Do you feel joy listening to Raag Malhar? Do you feel a connection to Amrita Shergil’s paintings? Can you draw Urdu calligraphy? Do you long for Louis Armstrong’s raspy voice? Do you have cookbooks in your private library? Do you visit the city’s ruins? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. No, not enough. Perhaps it doesn’t even matter. To be called classy, you must possess a certain something in your air and manner of walking, in the tone of your voice, in your address and expressions, or the word will be half
Photo Essay – The Last of the Old-Fashioned Book Lovers Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - June 8, 2010June 8, 20103 They will soon be gone. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] There is a land of Daryaganj and Paharganj, of Fact & Fiction and Mid Land, of dusty wooden shelves. Here in this pretty world of second hand bookstalls and first hand bookstores, the old-fashioned reading will take its final bow. Here is the last ever to be seen of those brave mad souls who spend hours looking for books in racks, not on Amazon.com. These book lovers are not yet tempted by Kindle or iPad. They insist on smelling the pages of the book they want to read. They read in restaurants, in the Metro, on the roadside. A few years more and then they will be no more
City Landmark – My Bar, Paharganj Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - June 6, 2010June 6, 20103 Cheap but with character. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] They are a rare sight. Roshni Kapoor, a post-grad student of international relations, and Priya Bhattacharji, an advertising professional, are the only two Indian girls in My Bar. It is a no-frills public house in Paharganj, a locality in central Delhi, popular among foreign backpackers for its inexpensive cafés and lodges. Ms Kapoor and Ms Bhattacharji are not only there, but are smoking and drinking – as uninhibited as the men staring at them. The two women are above 25, the minimum legal age permissible for drinking alcohol. They have been regulars at this bar since January 2010, when it opened. “The reason is simple,” says Ms Kapoor between sips of Kingfisher
City Life – The Love Life of Vidya Rao, Thumri Singer Life by The Delhi Walla - June 5, 2010June 5, 20106 The other woman in her life. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Vidya Rao, thumri singer, actor and part-time editor at Orient Longman, lives with Sufi in a sunny second-floor apartment, not far from Qutub Minar, in Mehrauli, south Delhi. Like most live-in companions, they have only a few things in common. While both share a dislike for milk, Ms Rao love chocolates and Sufi doesn't. Ms Rao has read all the seven Harry Potter novels, Sufi hasn't. Strangely, Ms Rao, the possessive owner of around 2000 books (she never lends them though The Delhi walla flicked a lovely edition of Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy from her bookshelf), has never tried to hammer reading habits into Sufi. She thought there was no
City Food – Julia Child Makes Aloo Salaan in Nizamuddin East Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - June 3, 2010September 4, 20155 The great chef's life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Meet the Julia Child of Nizamuddin East, an artsy neighbourhood of bungalows, ruins and gardens in central Delhi. The author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam, Ms Child, aka Sadia Dehlvi, is a restless woman who anxiously paces across the length of her living room if she has nothing else to do. Her conversations range from the wonders of her Apple Mac laptop to the perennial hijab crisis in France. She lives with her son, Arman, and cook, Sabir. And yes, Ms Dehlvi cooks. Here is the recipe of her ‘aloo saalan’, or ‘aloo gosht’. This is the first time I’m doing this. I have never before shared my
Who Do You Think You Are – Prashansa Taneja, Book Lover General by The Delhi Walla - June 2, 2010March 15, 20114 [Interview and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla was at the Full Circle bookstore in Khan Market when he approached a girl. Who are you? What are you doing here? I’m Prashansa Taneja. I just finished my Xth standard exams and now I’m doing a summer job here as a bookshop assistant. It’s my first day. You are into books? I’m currently reading Gurcharan Das’s The Difficulty of Being Good and finding it an intellectual read. I like the way he writes about moral dilemmas with context to ancient epics like the Mahabharat and juxtaposes them with the same moral dilemmas that we are facing today. You are too young. What you know of moral dilemmas? Oh, no. In the winter last year, I read