The Delhi Proustians – C.K. Scott Moncrieff, Proust’s High Commissioner Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - April 30, 2015April 30, 20151 A biography by Jean Findlay. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There happens to be a very, very long novel. It has seven volumes, 200 characters and 1.2 million words. A Scotsman, who was an extremely sensitive homosexual and extremely fond of giving blow jobs, translated this book’s first six volumes from its original French into English and named it after a line by Shakespeare. C.K. Scott Moncrieff‘s Remembrance of Things Past became the window through which the English-speaking world first viewed Marcel Proust’s À la Recherche du Temps Perdu. An early reader of Mr Moncrieff’s translation was writer Virginia Woolf, who, wrote: “Proust so titillates my own desire for expression that I can hardly set out the sentence. Oh if
Atget’s Corner – 776-780, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - April 30, 2015April 30, 20150 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. Five randomly picked pictures from this collection are regularly 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 776 to 780. 776. National Museum 777. Hauz Khas
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Stuart Freedman, Indian Coffee House Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - April 29, 2015April 29, 20151 The 63rd death. [Text by Stuart Freedman; photo © E.Corbin] The English photographer Stuart Freedman died today in Delhi, appropriately in beautiful light at dusk in his favourite seat, on the balcony of his beloved Indian Coffee House, so reminiscent of the cafes of his London (misspent) youth. Apparently at the last, in his mind, he flew over the buildings with the Kites - soaring through the languid, polluted air above a city that was both Delhi and London and all the hundreds and hundreds of cities that he’d visited in a career that spanned more than half a century. Mr Freedman grew up in a grim, grey tower block in Hackney, East London, in the 1970s and spent the rest of
Atget’s Corner – 771-775, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - April 28, 20151 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. Five randomly picked pictures from this collection are regularly 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 771 to 775. 771. Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin 772. Ghaffar
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Ipshita Mitra, Sarojini Nagar Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - April 27, 2015April 27, 20153 The 62nd death. [Text by Ipshita Mitra; photo by Arpita Mitra] And she died one winter afternoon, without a warning, almost like the unexpected rain that evening. Ipshita Mitra was always worried about her social skills; solitude is what she preferred for company. Some who knew her enough termed it ‘agoraphobia’, and others who did not know her enough called her ‘arrogant’. She adored her friends and family. She was a good counsellor, but, often failed to resolve her own dilemmas. “She was such a black-and-white person,” says one of her friends. “Being competitive was just not her thing. For a recluse like her, it is surprising how she could survive as a journalist. Characters did not matter to her much, their
Photo Essay – God Bless Kathmandu, Nepal Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - April 26, 2015April 26, 20154 That city, its people, its temples. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla was the on the 16th floor of a building when the earthquake tremors shook Delhi on April 25, 2015. Like everybody else on that floor, I too ran down the stairs. And while I thought I would die, I was not feeling particularly horrified. And I made sure to pick up my camera, my shoulder bag and my book of the day (Madame Bovary). This means that either I'm very materialistic or, perhaps, I want to live for some more time. But that quake killed many people in Kathmandu, Nepal. I had visited that city in 2013, and had walked down its many lanes and had
Death in Pakistan – Sabeen Mahmud’s Assassination, T2F, Karachi General by The Delhi Walla - April 25, 2015April 25, 20153 Remembering a brave person. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla is dismayed to share the news of civil liberties activist Sabeen Mahmud’s assassination in Karachi, Pakistan. She was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Karachi on the evening of 24 April 2015 as she was returning home after hosting a talk on Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. She was 40. Ms Mahmud was the founder of T2F, a social forum in Karachi that served coffee and snacks, hosted music concerts and poetry talks, and was also that extremely rare space in Pakistan where people were given platform to discuss topics that could endanger their lives in that country. "I feel dead," says Pakistani author Raza Rumi who himself was the target of
Atget’s Corner – 766-770, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - April 25, 20150 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. Five randomly picked pictures from this collection are regularly 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 766 to 770. 766. Jama Masjid 767. Green Park 768.
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Anna Shipilova , Small Town in South Karnataka Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - April 24, 2015April 24, 20150 The 61st death. [Text by Anna Shipilova; photo by Tatyana Shipilova] Anna Shipilova retreated today for her heavenly abode on a cat-mobile. For she was a cat. Disguised as a human. She died after having downed a glass of dubious red wine, which is the only type that can be procured in the smallest of small towns in southern Karnataka. Like all small towns where everyone knows everyone else, this one too has its secrets. Maybe Ms Shipilova knew too much. She was very observant on her midnight prowls, or perhaps it was the wine. Ms Shipilova was a lover of morning runs (on her hind paws), hysterical realism and brown mice. She was looking after her dog Captain Barbossa, who was recovering from
Atget’s Corner – 761-765, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - April 23, 20150 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. Five randomly picked pictures from this collection are regularly 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 761 to 765. 761. Lal Kuan 762. Lodhi Road 763.