Our Self-Written Obituaries – Saudha Kasim, Cochin Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - March 14, 20171 The 140th death. [Text and photo by Saudha Kasim] Saudha Kasim, who was just one calico away from being a cat lady unlike any the world had ever seen, was unfortunately lost to time due to a surfeit of pineapples and strawberries eaten one February night in Cochin. Her sinuses exploded the next morning and she passed on, mourned by scattered friends who RSVPd their inability to attend the funeral. Maybe Ms Kasim shouldn't have taken on the arduous task of vegetable patch manager with the apartment association. Too many of the neighbours had spiked the other's plant beds with hungry caterpillars, acid and dog poop to settle petty squabbles about who-stole-whose-spinach-and-okra. She found herself getting involved, deeply involved, in these arguments.
Netherfield Ball – Jaya Jaitly’s Non-Journalistic Grey Sari Royally Snubs the Journalistic Saris of Supriya Nair and Sonal Shah at The Caravan Magazine’s Book Launch, Bikaner House City Parties by The Delhi Walla - March 10, 2017March 11, 20176 The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He was gentlemanlike, with unaffected manners, and since he was an MA from the Columbia Journalism School, he was looked at with great admiration. The tide of Vinod K Jose’s popularity did not recede for a minute as more and more guests recognised the young founder-editor of The Caravan, that venerable political and cultural journal often sighted on Khan Market’s bookish Front Lane. One evening The Delhi Walla attends the launch of The Caravan Book of Profiles at the palatial Bikaner House. The hall is teeming with India’s best journalists, who, as we all know, write only for The Caravan. The most radiant smile belonged to journalist Ellen Barry of the unfailing New
City Monument – Grave Sufis, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah Monuments by The Delhi Walla - March 8, 20172 The anonymous relics. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The first one is near the entrance, next to the stand where visitors take off their shoes. Step into the courtyard and you’ll find another one, half hidden behind a grilled screen. Three more graves are scattered across the floor. Five more are on a stone platform. Two or three are lined up along a narrow alley. Four others are within an arched chamber, though you might not see them at first glance as they lie behind a rusting steel almirah. No, this is not a graveyard. The Delhi Walla is in the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, a Sufi shrine in Delhi that has so spectacularly expanded its appeal from the sacred
Atget’s Corner – 1006-1010, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - March 6, 20171 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 1,00,000 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 1006 to 1010. 1006. Shahpur Jat 1007. Barakhamba Metro
Mission Delhi – Arjun Sagar Gupta, The Piano Man, Safdarjung Enclave Market Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - March 4, 20171 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is a pianist. Tall and slim. His fingers are slender and long; his hair a forest of ringlet curls; his wrists as delicate as a young girl’s; his voice as soothing as the gentlest melancholy. And did I mention the eyes? Deep and blue, they blaze with the intensity of a poet-musician accustomed to playing Frédéric Chopin’s saddest nocturnes. How can such a sensitive soul survive in this rude city? Oh well, this is a hypothetical question. Arjun Sagar Gupta, founder of The Piano Man, the hottest jazz place in town, has all that it takes to bend Delhi to his will. Sometimes, he mesmerizes the club patrons with
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Shweta Kumari Sharma, Bangalore Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - March 3, 2017March 3, 20170 The 139th death. [Text by Shweta Kumari Sharma; author photo by Unknown] This morning the sun was glistening brighter than ever. It was glowing fervently as it was going to embrace the soul of Shweta Kumari Sharma who just left this terrestrial world. The writing table in her room, one among her nominal earthy possessions, was found with the manuscript of her autobiography which she finished just the night before as if she had planned for her departure, a premeditated departure, to the sublime world. Today, for a change, her books and papers were not disseminated across the room; rather they were arranged fastidiously in their designated areas in the shelves. The books dressed up in hard-cover jackets resembled dignified contended soldiers
City Food – Bedmi Poori, Shyam Sweets Food by The Delhi Walla - March 1, 20173 The classic Old Delhi breakfast dish. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Deep-fried, crisp and very puffy, bedmi poori is a bread made of wheat flour and ground urad lentil. Served with aloo subzi (potato gravy), it is heavier than plain pooris, which are only of flour. An Old Delhi specialty, bedmi’s social origins illustrate the area’s multi-religious character. Consider this: Walled City > Muslim heritage > Morning Breakfast > Paya Nihari Walled City > Hindu Heritage > Morning Breakfast > Bedmi Poori Shyam Sweets, a few minutes walk away from Chawri Bazaar metro station, claims to have a secret recipe for its bedmi poori. But this 90-year-old establishment doesn’t need Coca Cola’s style of marketing gimmick. Sitting behind a glass counter