Photo Essay – Street Vendors, Around Town Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - November 29, 2011November 29, 201110 Threatened by Foreign Direct Investment. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] ‘Every Little Helps,’ Tesco tells us. ‘Save money. Live better,’ promises Walmart. So, the Indian government has announced foreign direct investment in the multi-brand retail sector. Will Khari Baoli spice bazaar in the Walled City relocate to a purpose-built commercial zone in Sector 23, Gurgaon? Is this the dawn of the dead? What will happen to our sabziwallas and galli vendors? For the subsistence level retailers, a minor drop in their earnings can cause a major drop in their calorie intake. As tempted as you might be to shop for packaged, processed, bar-coded and MRPed cauliflower, potato and spinach, think of the impact this will have on your neighbourhood sabziwalla’s sales of gobhi,
Mission Delhi – Amir Dehlavi, Shahjahanabad Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - November 27, 2011April 9, 20206 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Waving towards Jama Masjid, he says, “It inspires me to write verse.” The Delhi Walla met Amir Dehlavi, 82, at a dilapidated lodge in Shahjahanabad - the area is called Old Delhi by guidebooks. Mr Dehlvi is a manager in the hotel; his younger brother owns it. We are sitting on the roof. An Urdu poet, Mr Dehlavi lives with his five brothers and their families at a house in nearby Chawri Bazaar. His grey beard, brown eyes and furrowed forehead makes him look as ancient as the mosque, which was built by Mughal emperor Shahjahan in 1658. “Ayesha Khatoon died two years ago,” Mr Dehlavi says referring to
Mission Delhi – Hitting the 50th Delhiwalla Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - November 24, 2011November 24, 20118 Profiling one percent of Delhi’s population. [Photos by Solveig Marina Bang; text by Mayank Austen Soofi] One November afternoon in 2011, The Delhi Walla’s attempt to profile one percent of Delhi’s population reached a significant milestone. The Mission Delhi project hit the 50th mark. Like the previous 49 Delhiwallas, the man in Shahjahanabad too was special. Celebrating the occasion, artist Solveig Marina Bang clicked photos as I interviewed and photographed the 50th person. I’d started Mission Delhi in December 2009. Since then I’ve interacted with a variety of people (including two dogs). They were kind to share stories of their lives with a stranger. Each showed me a different Delhi. Thank you. Mission Delhi continues. The 50th Delhi Walla Tell me your life
City Moment – Heart to Heart, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah Moments by The Delhi Walla - November 20, 2011November 21, 20113 The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One winter morning The Delhi Walla accompanied thumri singer Vidya Rao to the shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the 14th century sufi saint. Ms Rao was carrying a copy of Heart to Heart: Remembering Nainaji, a book on her life with her late legendary guru. “I want to present it to Hazrat Nizamuddin,” she said. “The book will be launched tomorrow evening at India International Center.” On stage, Ms Rao turns into a free spirit. She closes her eyes, sways her head, moves her arms; her face dissolving into expressions of longing and grief, or into a naughty smile as if she is teasing a lover. These could be the tactics of
City Hangout – Khwaja Mir Dard Basti, Central Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - November 19, 20115 The poet's ghetto. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Khwaja Mir Dard Basti, or Shakur ki Dandi, is crude and poorly constructed. Yet it has poetry, music and handmade art. It is sandwiched between the city’s tallest high-rise and a college that traces its origins to the 17th century. The basti is a 5-minute drive from Connaught Place, but feels miles away from Delhi’s bustle. Beggars sing, girls play kikli, and cats prowl for food. The sun never enters the narrow alleys. In summer, they stay cool. In winter, they keep the cold winds at bay. Will the basti survive? Some residents are fearful of change. Those who don’t live here may simply not care; that is, if they are aware of its
City Culture – De Bhasar, Connaught Place Culture by The Delhi Walla - November 17, 2011November 17, 20114 The philosophy of nonsense. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] ‘Sangita, I fuck you.’ ‘Your mother’s cunt’. ‘Book a cock.’ The Delhi Walla saw this calligraphy in Connaught Place, Delhi’s colonial-era commercial district. They are depicted in the dusty glass panelled sky roofs of Palika Bazaar parking. The glass pyramids jut out into the park above that is frequented by the jobless, the lovers and the homosexuals. Some panels have sketches of uncircumcised penises, alongside what appeared to be mobile numbers. “So De Bhasar has arrived in Delhi too,” says Peter Schjeldahl, art critic of The New Yorker magazine, by e-mail. According to Wikipedia (if Wikipedia can be accorded to), De Bhasar or Bhasarism is a cultural movement that began in Nantes, France, during the
City Faith – Agha Shahid Ali’s Poetry, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah Faith by The Delhi Walla - November 15, 2011November 15, 20116 Qawwali at Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia's Dargah. [Poem by Agha Shahid Ali; photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] I Between two saints, he shares the earth, Mohommad Shah "Rangeele," (evoked in Paluskar's khayal) The beggar-woman kisses the marble lattice, sobs on Khusro's pillars. In a corner, Jahanara, garbed in the fakir's grass, mumbles a Sufi quatrain. We recline on the grave-stone, or on the saint's poem, unaware of the sorrow of the pulverized prayer. Time has only its vagrant finger: Knowing no equal, it paused for massacres. II Suffering still has its familiar patterns: We buy flowers for Nizammudin's feet, dream in the corner to the qawwal's beat. The saint's song chokes in his throat. The poor tie prayers with threads, accustomed to their ancient wish for the milk and honey of Paradise. III I've learnt some lessons the easy way: I've seen so many, even a
City Style – The Classy Delhiwalla, New Delhi Railway Station Style by The Delhi Walla - November 13, 2011November 13, 20114 Searching for the stylish. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla saw this man in New Delhi railway station. He was wearing a white lungi, white vest, steel-grey blazer and a necklace of white plastic beads. He had light brown shoes and he hadn't put on socks. His hair was white, his eyes were red, and his skin was dark, leathery and wrinkled. There was no one dressed like him. The white of the man’s lungi and vest had turned off-white, a shade that harmonized with that of his shoes. A white bag was slung around his shoulder. His right hand had a lathi for support; the other carried a small aluminum pail for begging. In Delhi, as in all
Hauz Khas Series – A House in the Village, Chapter 4 Life Regions by The Delhi Walla - November 11, 2011December 2, 20134 Life in Delhi's prettiest neighborhood. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Hauz Khas Village has become a ‘hang out’. Artist types still come but the ageless rich have infiltrated in large numbers. These people look successful, cocky and aggressively happy. They have great bodies and they are plushly underdressed; they speak accented English among themselves and broken Hindi with the auto-rickshaw drivers; their biceps are tattooed with slogans in Hebrew; they always have at least one white friend; they are constantly laughing and screaming and exchanging hugs. They seem to be in a state of permanent vacation. I’m only slightly exaggerating. Recently a new club opened. Three bulky bouncers in black would stand outside; their eyes scanning every visitor. Each time
City Culture – Delhi’s Emerging Lingo Culture by The Delhi Walla - November 9, 20115 Signs of our times. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] News flash on a website: 2G:BJP demands probe against PM, PC. The meaning of the cuss word Chutium Sulphate, explained in an online dictionary: “Complete moron, as in, That chutium sulphate can’t drive two feet without blowing his horn.” Slutwalk’s Indianised avatar that took place in Delhi: “Slutwalk athhart Besharmi Morcha.” This is the 21st century sound of Delhi. In the capital of a republic of 122 languages with more than 10,000 speakers (2001 census), we have entered into a new kind of multilingual anarchy, where a colon-dash-bracket on the keypad has become shorthand for a smile. Our conversational language has disintegrated into a mess of jargon, idiom, acronyms, abbreviations, cuss words and symbols. When