City Landmark – Haji Hotel, Motor Parts Market Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 29, 2013November 29, 20133 The Walled City's billion-star hotel. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi’s Haji Hotel lies in the congested Motor Parts Market. There are shops selling used car tyres. It is almost impossible to simultaneously inhale oxygen and fight the throng to reach the hotel. But the view! Jama Masjid looks breathtaking from the sprawling balcony. On a clear day, you can see the Red Fort in the distance. Film director Mira Nair shot The Reluctant Fundamentalist at this hotel for three days. Years ago, singer Begum Akhtar was seated in this very balcony. So were Rasoolan Bai and many other music maestros. They too must have been rendered speechless by the grand Mughal-era mosque -- it seems a jump away. Haji Hotel
Mission Delhi – Mister Suneel, Ramleela Maidan Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - November 27, 2013November 27, 20133 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Frowning, he mercilessly crosses a sentence with his blue-ink pen. The Delhi Walla meets the young unshaven man one morning outside Ramleela Maidan, the sprawling exhibition ground in central Delhi. When I ask about the book in his hands, he says in a whisper: “I’m Mister Suneel.” He responds to all my queries with the same response. Mister Suneel seems to have no substantial possessions except a blanket and this paperback. Its pages are scribbled with illegible jottings. The cover picture shows blood-stained hands, an ash tray and a glass half-filled with whiskey. The book is titled The Case of the Silent Partner. Looking tense with nervous energy, Mister
City Sighting – Arundhati Roy, Somewhere in Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - November 26, 2013November 29, 20132 The dog of small things. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One winter morning The Delhi Walla sighted Arundhati Roy in a central Delhi apartment. According to reports in newspapers, the author of The God of Small Things is writing her second novel. But she looked too free to me. Holding a pale-green mug of coffee, the wild-haired novelist was on the phone, and was sitting beside a little brown dog. After the chat ended, the brown dog started to lick her face; Ms Roy loved back by kissing the dog’s nose. She then gently took the dog in her arms, and hugged the little one tightly, as if this soft furred bundle were her new novel’s final draft. The
City Food – Delhi Tea Party, The Attic Food by The Delhi Walla - November 25, 2013November 25, 20131 Meditations on the chai. [Text and photos by Manika Dhama] For most Delhiwallas it is impossible to imagine a day that does not begin with tea. However, for a non-tea drinker like me, the allure of this milk, water and sugar concoction had always been unfathomable, until a recent lecture in the city confirmed my views. The chai millions of Indians swear by is made from the most inferior tea leaves from any plantation and it found its way to us only because the British, after purchasing plantations in East India, distributed it for free across towns and villages in the early 1900s to create a craving that would eventually draw scores of Indians to pay for this sorry drink. While Delhi awoke
Family Album – The Hajis, Chawri Bazaar Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - November 23, 2013November 23, 20131 The Delhi coffee table. [Text and photos of photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In order to feel the intimate life of Delhiites, The Delhi Walla is going from house to house, requesting people to show their family photos. The project will never end. Here is the fourth instalment. This album belongs to Haji Faiyazuddin, who lives in Old Delhi's Chawri Bazaar, close to Jama Masjid. Scenes of the past 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
Tehelka Review – On Nobody Can Love You More The Delhi Walla books by The Delhi Walla - November 22, 2013November 22, 20130 Life in a red light district. [By Ajachi Chakrabarti; photos are by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ajachi Chakrabarti of the Delhi-based Tehelka magazine 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 magazine’s website, or see below. THE YELLOW Line of the Delhi Metro is a fascinating journey connecting multiple Delhis separated by space and time. Moving north from the high rises of Gurgaon through the glitz of South Delhi, then passing under the corridors of power of Lutyen’s capitol into the labyrinthine streets of the old city, it is a journey that takes you back centuries. Mayank Austen Soofi’s latest book came out of many trips along
City List – Old Gates, Walled City Delhi by List by The Delhi Walla - November 17, 2013November 18, 20131 Delhi by list. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Mughal-era Walled City of Shahjahanabad, or Old Delhi, had 14 gateways, out of which two were raised in the Red Fort. The fort was commissioned by Emperor Shahjahan in 1638; the city's construction was started ten years later. The length of the city's wall was 5.5 miles; today it survives only in fragments. Here is a list of the gateways as they stood in the Mughal capital hundreds of years ago; most of them have disappeared with time. 1. Calcutta Gate to the north-east 2. Nigambodh Gate to the north-east 3. Kashmere Gate to the north 4. Mori Gate to the north 5. Kabuli Gate to the west 6. Lahori Gate to the west 7. Farash Khana Gate
City Faith – Muharram Mourning, Kashmere Gate Faith by The Delhi Walla - November 15, 2013October 12, 20164 The ancient grief. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Wearing black clothes, the men were beating their chests on the middle of the road. Mothers, sisters and wives, robed in black, stood on the pavement. They too were doing the same. Soon everyone burst out crying for Hussain, Zainub and other martyrs. One morning, The Delhi Walla attended the Muharram procession in north Delhi's Kashmere Gate, one of the principal events in the city's cultural calendar. The month of Muharram marks the beginning of the Islamic new year. Its historical and religious significance is defined by the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussain who was killed in a battle at Karbala, in modern-day Iraq. This morning was the anniversary of the day
City Hangout – Ghalib Academy, H. Nizamuddin Basti Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - November 13, 2013November 13, 20131 A poetic corner. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Devoted to Delhi’s great poet Mirza Ghalib, it has a museum and a library. Its auditorium regularly hosts gatherings of Urdu poets -- sometimes they arrive dressed in old-world costumes of sherwanis, achkans and topis. Ghalib Academy in central Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti was opened by the then President Zakir Husain in 1969. It showcases the world of a poet whose life, letters and poems chronicled a turbulent period of Delhi’s history -- when the Mughal capital was shifting its allegiance towards the British. The makeshift bookstall at the entrance sells poetry in hardbound editions. In the auditorium, a sentimental portrait of the city’s 19th century poet is made to face the
City Landmark – Standard Restaurant, Regal Cinema Building Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 11, 2013November 13, 20134 A New Delhi souvenir. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The empty ground floor used to be its pastry counter. The Delhi Walla is at Standard restaurant, a place that no longer exists. Opened in 1957, Standard was in the Regal Cinema Building, a still-surviving Colonial-era landmark in central Delhi’s Connaught Place. The restaurant was a comfort zone for Delhi's privileged people. Its seating area was on the first landing. The walls of the staircase were framed with sheets of mirror. The mirrors are still there. A blue board continues to hang upstairs, beside a tall window. It is partly covered with spider’s web and has the following words written in white: Standard Restaurant Next to the blue board is a notice: Dogs Not Allowed Some sort of