City Landmark – SKV School, Zeenat Mahal, Lal Kuan Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - January 30, 2013January 30, 20134 A neighborhood's future. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A cat’s drawn-out meow cuts through the squawking of chickens. These sounds, typical of Old Delhi, recede as the empty yard fills. The morning assembly at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) school No. 2, Zeenat Mahal, Lal Kuan, begins with a drumbeat. In January 2013, the girls-only school made a fleeting appearance in a leading daily when it was selected for the annual Times of India Social Impact Award—because it “had gone from being one of the worst government schools not long ago to achieving 100% pass results for the last five years”. All the 1,246 students are Muslim and come from the Walled City. This Urdu-medium school not only mirrors the academic merits of
City Hangout – Tilak Nagar Central Market, West Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - January 27, 2013January 27, 20132 Two hours in the West. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tilak Nagar Central Market (Wednesday closed) in West Delhi can be regarded as the chicken curry for the desi soul. Congested and cosy — it has the small-town comfort — where shops sell Sikh turbans, tailors stitch denims and mothers shop bridal suits for their daughters. The market has no FabIndia, no McDonald’s and no multiplexes. It retains the feel of a neighbourhood bazaar. The Delhi Walla shows you things to do there in two hours. 11 am Opposite Gate 1 of Tilak Nagar Metro station, Jolly Book Depot, circa 1959, has a collection of Hindi authors such as Krishna Sobti. The shop stacks translations of English novels (I spotted Koi Achha
Delhi Metro – United Colors of Helmets, Janpath Delhi Metro by The Delhi Walla - January 25, 2013January 25, 20131 Divided by the headgear. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The permanent and temporary employees in the construction sites of Delhi Metro are divided by the colors of their helmets. The white is for the officers of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and guest visitors. The purple is for the supervisors and engineers. The grey is for the quality supervisors. The blue is for the sub-contractors. The yellow is for the daily wagers. The red is for the electricians. The orange is for the security guards. The green is for the security officers. The Delhi Walla spotted a few helmets in the Janpath construction site. Unite, mix the colors! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
City Style – The Classy Delhiwalla, Golcha Cinema Style by The Delhi Walla - January 23, 2013January 23, 20134 Searching for the stylish. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla saw this man standing outside the Golcha Cinema in Daryaganj, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the Walled City. His navy-blue overcoat was unbuttoned and revealed a longish black jacket. The cream trousers gave way to velvety-brown leather shoes. The shirt was white; only the collars were visible. He also had a black bowler hat. There was no one dressed like him. In winter, most men in Delhi bury themselves under layers of shawls, jackets and mufflers. Monkey caps are also popular. In my hundreds of months of wandering in the city, I never before came face-to-face with the Bowler hat. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia describes the Bowler as
City Culture – Rekhta, Urdu Poetry Culture by The Delhi Walla - January 22, 2013January 22, 20131 Click on Ghalib. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] With the launch of Rekhta, the most comprehensive website on Urdu poetry, the 800-year-old tradition finds itself dragged screaming and kicking into the 21st century. Unveiled in January 2013 at a ceremony in India Habitat Centre, the site offers everything from ghazals and couplets to audio clips and poets’ biographies, all available at a few clicks of a mouse. The word ‘rekhta’ meaning “scattered, mixed, the old name of Urdu poety.” At the moment of writing this piece, Rekhta.org contains 2,700 ghazals and 2,000 couplets from 230 poets – everyone from Ghalib and Gorakhpuri to their contemporary counterparts in Lucknow and Lahore. The site has an online dictionary, spanning to over 35,000 words,
City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XXXVI, Nicholson Cemetery Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - January 20, 2013April 17, 20131 A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 36th 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, a multi-volume novel sometimes also known as Remembrance of Things Past. 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 in the British-era Nicholson Cemetery. It takes its name from the grave of Brigadier General John Nicholson, an Irish army officer in the British East India Company, who died of wounds received during the uprising of 1857. Most graves date from
City Food – Paneer Dosa, Naivedyam Food by The Delhi Walla - January 19, 2013January 19, 20132 Delhi's dosa. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi has not succeeded in corrupting the dosa, the south Indian pan-fried dish of urad dal and rice batter. The classical masala dosa - so pervasive across the country that it could be termed India's national dish - is stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes and served with little bowls of sambar and coconut chutney. Although the Delhi dosa is similar to its homeland version in Chennai, some sulky purists complain that the sambar has too many vegetables or too little dal. The more justifiable complaint is that the capital's south Indian culinary map is limited to the snack-like uttapam, vada, upama, idli and dosa. Apart from sometimes filling dosas with spicy samosa stuffing, the
South China Morning Post Review – On Nobody Can Love You More The Delhi Walla books by The Delhi Walla - January 17, 2013January 17, 20131 Life in the red light. [Text by Victoria Burrows; the above picture was mailed to The Delhi Walla by an unspecified person. If you are this image's photographer, kindly mail your name so that it can be credited] Victoria Burrows of the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post talked about Nobody Can Love You More: Life in Delhi’s Red Light District, a book by The Delhi Walla. Click here to read it on the newspaper's website, or see below. The first full-length book on Delhi's red light district is not the gritty expose one might expect. Mayank Austen Soofi, author of the popular The Delhi Walla blog, has written an absorbing, readable book about his three-year-long quest to understand the sex workers
City Hangout – Deer Park, South Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - January 15, 2013January 15, 20132 Gangnam, DDA style. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] As seen on a board in south Delhi’s Deer Park: • Stand erect • Feet together • Jump stride • Bringing arms to shoulder level Follow these instructions and, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) promises, you will become a “Jumping Jack”. The Delhi Walla feels more like an escaped kangaroo on the run. Thankfully, it is afternoon and there are few people around. Tucked next to the entrance of chic Hauz Khas Village, the Deer Park -- like most public gardens in the city -- is managed by the DDA. Popular among morning walkers who live in nearby Green Park and Hauz Khas Enclave, the garden’s Fitness Trail is a city secret that has the potential to deliver the
City Faith – Ghusal Sharif, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah Faith by The Delhi Walla - January 13, 2013January 13, 20131 The long night of Sufi songs. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Ghusal Sharif, or birth celebrations, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the 14th century Sufi saint, was held on the night of January 8 2013. It took place in the courtyard of his dargah in central Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, a historic village that also houses a Jahangir-era monument called Chausath Khamba and the grave of Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib. Hazrat Nizamuddin was born to Bibi Zulaikha in Badaun, a town in Uttar Pradesh. His mother’s tomb is in Adhchini village, near the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and is popularly known as Mai Sahiba ki Dargah. As in previous years, the shrine’s courtyard played host to a night-long sitting of qawwali,