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Month: October 2012

City Faith – Bakra Eid, Matia Mahal

by The Delhi Walla - 14

The ritual of sacrifice. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The goat was priced at Rs 7,000. It was purchased by the head of the family two days before Eid ul Zuha, or the feast of sacrifice, also known as Bakra Eid. The special bazaar for the festival was held in front of the Mughal-era Jama Masjid. The goat’s final home was a mansion in Matia Mahal, a neighborhood in Shahjahanabad. Fed with gular leaves, dry rotis and grains, it looked cheery. The children often kissed its head. On Eid morning, the butcher arrived a few hours after the namaaz. Booked by many households in the area, he was in dark blue pajamas. As he took out his knife, the boys of the

City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XXX, Fact & Fiction Booksellers

by The Delhi Walla - 3

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 30th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is at the Fact & Fiction booksellers in Basant Lok Market. This is the city’s only bookshop to have three different-looking editions of Proust’s novel. Although the owner rarely smiles (and smirks frequently), his collection suits the requirements of a sophisticated browser, and so he must be tolerated and patronized. Having finished the first

City Landmark – Jawaharlal Nehru University, South Delhi

by The Delhi Walla - 5

Kremlin on the Jumna. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A spectre is haunting Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) -- the spectre of Indian dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism, as anyone in JNU will tell you, is a philosophical approach to reality derived from the teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and through it The Delhi Walla will show you the essence of this institution. In Room 14 of Kaveri Hostel, a group called The New Materialists is dreaming of annihilating caste distinctions, obliterating religion and destroying the trinity of LPG -- liberalization, privatization and globalization. In their new world, there will be no gods. Nor will there be fanatical adoration of pop stars like cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and actor Shah Rukh Khan. No

City Book – The US Edition of Nobody Can Love You More

by The Delhi Walla - 3

It will be published in America. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nobody Can Love You More: Life in Delhi’s Red Light District, a book by The Delhi Walla, is set to release some time in November 2012. Published by Penguin India, the book includes black & white photos. Author Khushwant Singh, historian William Dalrymple and poet Asok Vajpeyi are among the book’s early readers. They have also provided blurbs for the cover. The other day my editor at Penguin India sent a mail, saying, “I just heard that Penguin US is picking up your book.” This means that the book will also be printed in the US and if you live there, you will not have to order Nobody Can

Photo Essay – Postman at Work, Daryaganj

by The Delhi Walla - 3

A way of life. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] When was the last time you summoned the services of writing sheets, envelopes, and postage stamps to send a mail to a friend? How many years ago you last dropped a letter into a letterbox? One morning The Delhi Walla witnessed a rare sight. Walking in Daryaganj, I saw a uniformed postman opening a letterbox and emptying it of envelopes. There were three letterboxes, and all were locked, but the postman had the keys. He also had a large blue sack, which was bulging with letters. I went to him and asked, “Sir, what is your e-mail address?” “I don’t have an e-mail,” the postman said, “ but I think my son has.” I'll wait

City Notice – The Delhi Proustians XXX, Basant Lok Market

by The Delhi Walla - 1

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla regrets to inform that the 30th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust, could not take place as scheduled. I reached the venue on time but it was already dark and there were no bulbs at the Gandhi-King Plaza in India International Centre. This means that the winter has set in, the days are getting shorter and we can read under an evening sky only if there are lamps. The 30th meeting of The Delhi Proustians takes place on 22 October 2012. Venue: Basant Lok Market. Time: 7 pm. This week I got a mail from a reader. It left

City Life – Last Surviving Homes, Khan Market

by The Delhi Walla - 3

Home is where the mart is. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] For some affluent Delhiites, posh Khan Market is like a second home. For a very, very few, Khan Market is home. But this will soon end. Consider Ravi Gulati. In his 40s, he was born in Khan Market. His first-floor house (No. 13) is sandwiched between Café Coffee Day and the Apartment 9 showroom. The entrance stairs are from the market’s middle lane. The drawing room window looks on to the front lane. The study is built on the roof. A money-plant creeper climbs around a black Sintex water tank. If you stand in the quiet courtyard, it is hard to believe you are in the heart of India’s

Mission Delhi – Mumtaz Begum, Panj Peeran Graveyard

by The Delhi Walla - 1

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She appears to be sleeping. The Delhi Walla is with Mumtaz Begum. We are in a windowless room in Nizamuddin Basti, a village in central Delhi. Mumtaz Begum’s body is to be cleaned with multani mitti for ritual purification. Today is the burial. She died the day before yesterday. She was in her sixties. Mumtaz Begum lived alone in Chawri Bazaar, a Walled City neighbourhood. Her husband died years ago. Her children settled in another city. A religious woman, she regularly visited the dargah of sufi saint Hazrat Nizmauddin Auliya. Having a calm demeanour, Mumtaz Begum kept her feelings to herself. She rarely talked. Her expressive eyes conveyed her

City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XXIX, Outside Wenger’s

by The Delhi Walla - 0

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 29th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is outside the Wenger’s Bakery in Connaught Place. A friend told me it makes the best macaroons in Delhi. According to the French culinary reference book Laroursse Gastronomique, it is a small round dry pastry made of almond paste, sugar and white of egg. I had my life’s first macaroon during a recent

City Secret – Old Coins, Daryaganj

by The Delhi Walla - 0

The mint of history. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In a fashion, India's dense history of invasion, destruction, reconstruction, colonization, re-colonization is immortalised in its coins. This occurred to The Delhi Walla one Sunday morning in Daryaganj's weekly book bazaar as I stopped by Vijay Kumar's collection of old coins. Spread out on a plastic sheet covering a portion of the pavement, there were coins ranging from the Mughal era to that of the British to the years that immediately followed the independence. Kings, tyrants, ministers and scamsters were marked with their own worth. George VI was priced at Rs 1; Nehru stood at 50 paise. There were coins from the extinct principalities of Gwalior, Mewar, Bundi and Hyderabad,

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