The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Kuldip Chander, b. Gujranwala, Punjab, 1941 Biographical Dictionary by The Delhi Walla - August 31, 2010July 7, 20154 The definitive directory of famous Delhiites. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] My disdain for Mills & Boon (MB) novellas cannot prevent the admission that Kuldip Chander, the seller of MBs, is a great product that has come out of that trash factory. Year after year, this quiet and unassuming man is seen seated on the same spot outside his little shack in Hargyan Singh Arya Marg, a rutty lane in South Extension-I market. I rarely see customers at 'Kuldeep Book Shop', but since Chander is in business for more than four decades, he must be making money. One of the three signboards outside his stall advertises: “Return the books and take half the money back.” Chander was six and already
City Monument – Subramania Bharathi Plaza, Maharshi Raman Marg Monuments by The Delhi Walla - August 30, 2010January 21, 20159 The instant getaway. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] No escapist haven, it is still an excellent place to seek seclusion. The statue of Tamil poet Subramania Bharathi (circa 1987) in a little plaza, off Maharshi Raman Marg, near Khan Market, offers the best urban evening in Delhi. As the sky turns crimson-blue, the bronze figure recedes into an illusionary dimness. You feel for all those beautiful Tamil poems that you will never read because you don’t understand the language. The small plaza looks to the bungalows of Lodhi Estate. Behind is Kaka Nagar colony. The ground is paved with stone slabs. On two sides are weedy gardens with trimmed hedges. Both are raised on a platform, reached by a set of
Memo from the North Campus – Are Delhi Commonwealth Games Doomed? General by The Delhi Walla - August 28, 2010August 28, 20102 Is all lost? [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Missed deadlines, leaking stadiums, zero hotel bookings, corruption scandals, flooded roads, absentee athletes, Connaught Place looking like bombed-out Baghdad and Swagatham as our Waka Waka. Every new day the bad news about 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) being hosted by Delhi gets worse. A graffiti drawn on the boundary wall of Delhi School of Economics, North Campus, Delhi University, says 'Fuck CWG' (see pictures below). Is there any thing that has happened good in the Capital because of the Games? The Delhi Walla asked around. Lyricist Gulzar who was in the city, groped for words before saying, “At least, Delhi is getting to host such a prestigious event. ” Bestselling novelist Chetan Bhagat,
City Moment – The Man With the Dog, Mathura Road Moments Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - August 26, 2010October 25, 20106 The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla was walking one night in Mathura Road, central Delhi. I reached a pavement where a couple of homeless people were sleeping. One man was awake. Lying on a woolen blanket, he was lovingly patting a black dog. “She is Kaali,” the man said and identified himself as Ramesh. “I have no one in Delhi except her. I met her six years ago in this very place and since then she is living with me.” A DTC bus whizzed by. “I may go hungry but I make sure that Kaali gets her roti every night.” In the morning, Ramesh buys her bread and milk. During the day, he has
Letter from New York – On The Delhi Walla Books The Delhi Walla books by The Delhi Walla - August 25, 2010September 15, 20103 Award-winning American author introduces The Delhi Walla's books. [By Geoffrey C. Ward] Delhi Wallas come in at least three varieties: those lucky enough to have been born there; those who chose it as their home; and those like me, who live elsewhere but yearn always to be back. I was fourteen when I arrived there with my family in 1954 and I wept shamelessly when I had to leave three and half years later to go home to college in the United States. Thirty years went by during which, for one reason or another, I was not able to get back to the city I still stubbornly considered my second home. But throughout that time the Delhi I remembered haunted my dreams. It may
City Hangout – Coffee House, Majnu Ka Tila Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - August 22, 2010August 24, 20107 The new-age Lhasa. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] House No. 39. Basement at New Tibetan Camp, Majnu Ka Tila - For five decades, Majnu Ka Tila (MT) is where Delhiites go to experience the Capital’s Little Lhasa. A refugee camp for Tibetans who fled to India escaping the Chinese colonisation in 1959, MT is the porn equivalent for the city's Tibetophiles. It has all the Tibetiana traps: pork momos, yak butter, Thangka hangings, robed lamas, Dalai Lama posters and wrinkled momolas in striped aprons. But the basement Coffee House with its yellow walls, impressionistic posters and pop music is barely Tibetan, save a Tibetan calendar on the counter, and a Tibetan-English dictionary on the shelf (stacked with George Orwell and
City Secret – LPs & Album Covers, Meena Bazaar Culture Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 19, 2010August 19, 20103 The old world melodies. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Overshadowed by Old Delhi's Jama Masjid, amidst scampering goats and the air redolent with the smell of milky chai and mutton curry, stands a nondescript shop. The unimpressive exterior belies the uniqueness of this establishment that boasts of more than 50,000 music records. Newspaper-wrapped piles of LPs, 78 and 56 RPMs sit on shelves that creak. Hemmed in by antique gramophones and faded Mohammed Rafi photographs, Syed Akbar Shah, the owner, spends the market hours waiting for masjid azans and music connoisseurs. “My place attracts collectors, not customers,” he says. Only a true collector can wade through the narrow lanes of Meena Bazaar—lined with shacks selling mostly machine tools—where the midday chaos resembles
City News – The Delhi Walla books The Delhi Walla books by The Delhi Walla - August 16, 2010September 15, 201024 Four new books on Delhi. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla's first book, The Delhi Walla, will be published by HarperCollins India in September 2010. Actually a set of four books, they offer a scenic vista of the city taking in Fatehpuri Masjid, Dal Makhani, Arundhati Roy, Nizamuddin’s qawwali, Hailey Road pedestrians, Chhatarpur Mandir spires, Game Cart kulfis, Paharganj cafes, Mandi House theaters, Big Chill cakes, Connaught Place corridors, Cathedral Church's Sunday worshippers, Pegs ‘n’ Pints’s gay life, Matia Mahal’s Burra Kebabs, Mehrauli's Jahaz Mahal, Lodhi Garden lovers and more. Aimed at anyone even remotely interested in Delhi, the books seek to cajole readers to go out into the city and explore it on their own. They are also for those
Mission Delhi – Naresh Chandra, Lodhi Road Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 16, 2010August 24, 20101 One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The lamplight is not falling on him, but on the puddle behind him. Looking like his own silhouette, he re-arranges the stuff in his basket. Naresh Chandra, 30, sells ram ladoo, the classic Delhi street food. These are fried dumplings made of moong daal batter that are served on a leaf bowl with coriander chutney and grated radish. We meet in Lodhi Road. It is late evening. The traffic is heavy and fast. Mr Chandra is stationed on the pavement that has been newly built as part of the reconstruction drive to spruce up the city for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Mr Chandra has thin moustache
Photo Essay – Fast Food City, McDonald’s Delhi Food Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - August 13, 2010August 13, 20104 The world of McDonald's. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s easy to say why you think a McDonald’s burger is bad. It is unhealthy, fattening and industrial. But then all of Delhi’s traditional food too is fattening. Tell me, except daal chaat, what isn’t made from frying? And unfortunately, in most cases, Delhi’s street dishes are also unhygienic, but let’s not go there. McDonald has a special connect with Delhi. It's India head office is in Delhi, in Jorbagh Market. It's first India outlet opened in 1996 in Basant Lok Market. It has now 'family restaurants' in 28 neighbourhoods, including Old Delhi railway station. What goes right in Mc is difficult to explain. Among the fine diners, it arouses special indignation.