City Library – Rakhshanda Jalil’s Urdu Books + Her Forthcoming Urdu Festival, Central Delhi Library by The Delhi Walla - January 17, 2017January 17, 20175 A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Can you dream of touching with your own hand Ghalib’s handwritten poem? Well, just visit author Rakhshanda Jalil’s private library. One freezing evening, Ms Jalil unfolds this priceless object on her writing table. The Delhi Walla is at her study. The small room is filled with hundreds of books in Urdu — Ms Jalil has not only authored several volumes of fiction and non-fiction, but has also translated many great works of Urdu into English. Nervously holding the delicate sheet of paper on which the great Ghalib wrote with his own hand, Ms Jalil tells me that this piece of paper had passed down to her as a family heirloom. It actually belonged to
City Life – The Marvelous Sighting of The Bride’s Palki, Galli Chooriwallan Life by The Delhi Walla - January 17, 2017January 17, 20170 The long life of the past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was draped in silk, or so it seemed. One cold night The Delhi Walla comes across a silver-plated palki (aka doli), the palanquin traditionally used to carry a bride from her parents' home to her husband's. The Galli Chooriwallan street in the Walled City is empty at this late hour. The palanquin is lying on one side of the pavement, behind a Hero Honda motor bike. It is a rare sight. Palki belongs to the past. It is now only seen in old Hindi movies. These days brides are escorted alongside their husbands in cars decorated with flowers. Nobody is carried in palki. This palki, however, appears to be dressed for