Delhi Pics – 2014 Delhi Gay Pride Parade, Barakhamba Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - November 30, 2014November 30, 20141 The seventh edition. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Started in 2008, the annual Delhi gay pride parade was beginning to become less important, especially after July 2009 when the Delhi High Court ruled that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which criminalizes sex between adult homosexual men, was unconstitutional. However, the honorable Supreme Court overturned that verdict in November 2013. So, the 2014 pride parade that took place on 30 November has again regained importance. Here are visuals of the pride march that began from Barakhamba traffic junction and ended in Jantar Mantar. A matter of basic rights 1a. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 11a. 12. 13. 14.
Atget’s Corner – 591-595, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - November 29, 20140 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 591 to 595. 591. Seelampur 592. Barakhamba 593.
City Culture – De Bhasar, British Council Culture by The Delhi Walla - November 28, 2014November 28, 20141 The philosophy of nonsense. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A rainbow. The Delhi Walla saw this poster on the high-security wall of the British Council on Kasturba Gandhi Marg. It showed the slogan ‘Love is great’. This is the eleventh instance that I have come face-to-face with De Bhasar movement in Delhi. (Click here to view the first exhibit.) According to Wikipedia, De Bhasar or Bhasarism is a cultural movement that began in Nantes, France, during the post 9/11 Gulf War, reaching a tipping point between 2007 to 2009. The movement involves graphic designs and literature, which concentrates its anti-sentimental politics by rejecting aesthetic birth-control measures through anti-catholic works. De Bhasar might be regarded as pro-Berlusconi in nature. Describing the 'Love is great' rainbow
Mission Delhi – Rames Kumar, SP Mukherjee Marg Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - November 28, 2014November 28, 20141 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is writing. “I’m Rames Kumar,” the young man says. “I’m a lekhak (author).” Mr Kumar is sitting on the pavement on SP Mukherjee Marg, the road that goes towards the (old) Delhi railway station. “I started a new chapter today.” It is early afternoon. Hurried pedestrians are walking past. “My novel is in Nepali,” says Mr Kumar. He agrees to read a few lines to The Delhi Walla. It’s a strange passage that consists of what appears to be written in a single sentence. Here’s the translation: “School one class first two class first name Rames Nepali Bahadur my Nepali book my Maths book my Sociology book my climate my culture my
Atget’s Corner – 586-590, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - November 27, 2014November 27, 20140 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 586 to 590. 586. Hazrat Nizamuddin
City List – Shahi Imams, Jama Masjid Delhi by List by The Delhi Walla - November 26, 2014November 26, 20142 Migrants from Bukhara. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi’s Jama Masjid formally received its future 'royal' imam, or chief cleric, in November 2014. The Mughal-era mosque and the immediate surroundings were lit up with electric bulbs at night to celebrate the occasion. The mosque’s present imam, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, anointed his college-going son Shaban Bukhari as the naib imam (deputy imam). The ceremony took place in the backdrop of Delhi High Court’s ruling that such a succession has no “legal sanctity”. The forefathers of the mosque’s imam are said to have come from Bukhara in central Asia. The first imam was appointed by Emperor Shahjahan. The office has remained within the same family. Here is a list* of all the shahi imams
Family Album – The Smiths, Mayapuri Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - November 24, 2014July 16, 20152 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. Here is the fifth installment. This album belongs to Ronald Vivian Smith, who lives in Mayapuri, west Delhi. Until a few decades ago, author Mr Smith was in the habit of daily walking across the streets of Old Delhi in search of stories about people and places. An identity card issued to him as a journalist by his employers in 1978 announced to whoever it might concern: “Mr R.V. Smith is employed by The Statesman Ltd., as Sub-Editor and his work involves attendance at
City Life – Photographer Vendors, India Gate Life by The Delhi Walla - November 22, 2014November 22, 20141 An unusual tribe. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s a lovely afternoon. India Gate gleams even in New Delhi’s winter haze. A boy with a hint of a stubble is lying lazily under a tree’s scented shade. His white vendor’s box stands next to him, waiting for the next customer. A man approaches the boy, hurriedly taking out a chip from his camera. The boy gets up and opens the box. Inside, there’s not the usual popcorn or churmure that is peddled non-stop around this monument, but a printer. The camera chip is inserted into the printer’s drive. A picture slides out fitfully from the machine. Yet another India Gate photograph — this time it’s of a couple hugging against the backdrop
Atget’s Corner – 581-585, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - November 20, 20141 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 581 to 585. 581. Jor Bagh 582.
Letter from Allahabad – Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Hastings Road Travel by The Delhi Walla - November 20, 2014November 22, 20142 A Delhi writer in spirit. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One November noon, The Delhi Walla met Shamsur Rahman Faruqi at his bungalow in Hastings Road, Allahabad, a historically rich town 600 kilometers east of of our city. The 79-year-old Urdu writer recently returned from Delhi to launch The Sun That Rose From The Earth, his collection of novellas and a novel, that he himself translated from Urdu to English. He also underwent a series of medical checkups in the capital. A retired officer of the Indian Postal Service, Mr Faruqi commands unchallenged reverence among literary-minded Delhiwallas. His last novel, The Mirror Of Beauty, was a weighty Mughal-era epic set largely in Delhi. His new book, containing fictionalized stories of