Delhi Archives – City Lingo, Around Town Delhi Archives by The Delhi Walla - December 19, 20140 [Digging out old stories from The Delhi Walla] 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 a girl
Atget’s Corner – 621-625, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - December 18, 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 621 to 625. 621. Ring Road 622.
City Faith – Sufi Christmas, Hazrat Nizamuddin’s Dargah Faith by The Delhi Walla - December 17, 2014December 17, 20142 The night of Ghusal Sharif. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi’s most serene piece of architecture is the dome of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s dargah. The devotees of the 14th century sufi saint find this bulbous shape suffused with love. Birds circle around it throughout the day, while almost every pilgrim takes its photograph with their mobile phones. This dome became magical on the night of Ghusal Sharif -- the birth anniversary of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya that was celebrated on 16 December 2014. The shrine was dressed up for the occasion. A new chandelier was installed over the saint’s grave. The cold marble floor of the courtyard was covered with carpets. The pillars and walls were decked with marigolds and
Atget’s Corner – 616-620, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - December 16, 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 616 to 620. 616. Greater Kailash
Mission Delhi – Ronald Vivian Smith, Vatika Apartments Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - December 15, 2014July 16, 20152 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Heaps of musty newspapers are piled up everywhere. Even the sofa has not been spared. As Ronald Vivian Smith digs out his typewriter from under a stack of files, his wife, Alvina, enters the drawing room of their sparsely furnished flat at Vatika Apartments in west Delhi’s Mayapuri. “Look at the condition of our house,” she says. “Once, famous people frequented us at Christmas. But he never used his connections to get our children admitted to English-medium schools. He never asked his rich friends to get nice jobs for our sons. What’s the point of being a writer?” After her exit, Mr Smith, 76, says: “Alvina tells that to
Atget’s Corner – 611-615, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - December 15, 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 611 to 615. 611. Place Unknown 612.
City Moment – Two Daughters, Mayapuri Moments by The Delhi Walla - December 12, 2014December 12, 20144 The remarkable Delhi instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The young woman in the blue saree was lifting bricks one by one from the ground, and keeping the whole pile on her head. The Delhi Walla meets the labourer on a dusty roadside in west Delhi’s Mayapuri. A small child is standing beside the woman. “She is Nancy, my daughter,” the woman says. On being asked that why the daughter is not in her school at this time of the day, she says, “We keep moving from one place in Dilli to another in search of work. We don’t have a permanent house. How can we send Nancy to any school?” The woman, carefully balancing the bricks on her head, starts to walk slowly
Letter from Montreal – Unpartitioned Things, Delhi & Lahore Life by The Delhi Walla - December 10, 2014December 10, 20140 Old objects in a post-partition world. [Text and photos by Aanchal Malhotra] When I was young I never thought about the past; it barely ever weighed down on me. In fact, back then it was all about the now. The present felt absolutely delicate as if it would slip right through my fingers. The past, on the other hand, seemed heavy like concrete and despite its weight, much easier to store away and not consider. Only when I grew older, I understood that one could not exist without the other- the present rested on the shoulders of the past, and with this realization came an innate curiosity for my own past, my lineage. What was my history; my family’s history? Where did
Atget’s Corner – 606-610, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - December 9, 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 606 to 610. 606. Turkman Gate
City Hangout – New Landmarks, Connaught Place Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - December 8, 2014December 8, 20141 The hot from the oven CP. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Connaught Place (CP) has returned from its long Arctic exile. After years of being outclassed by south Delhi’s hipster havens, it is reinventing itself with a bang. Scores of up-to-the-minute restaurants have opened in 2014. Many more are coming up. This is no longer the fuddy-duddy CP with those familiar restaurant-museums that haven’t changed in all the years since Uncle Mountbatten vacated Rashtrapati Bhawan. Today, it is possible to skip the thick curtains and heavy chandeliers (and the weedy Café Coffee Days) for cool new hangouts. Though The Delhi Walla hopes you will never stop loving the chhole bhathure of Kwality, the cheese sandwich of United Coffee House, the double-fried pork