City Hangout – Water Fountain, Gole Park, Windsor Place Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - April 22, 2019April 22, 20190 Our home-grown Niagara Falls. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Summertime shower Summertime in Delhi can be fearsome. Those who can afford it may simply dump the city for long stretches, fleeing to hillside resort towns such as Mussoorie. Others are likely to fly off to the US where they will be perhaps photographed strutting alongside the Niagara Falls. But most of us remain in the capital during the torrid summer, and this time the heatstricken citizens can seek solace at sprawling Gole Park in central Delhi’s Windsor Place. It’s now outfitted with a giant fountain spewing huge sprays of cold water as high as 25 feet. This central jet complements six smaller fountains climaxing to half that altitude— resulting in instant relief
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Devika Todi, Bombay Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - April 22, 2019April 22, 20190 The 233nd death. [Text and photo sent by Devika Todi] Devika Todi died while crossing the road to reach her office. An angry bull rammed into her. Her body lay all jumbled up. Her laptop was crushed. Her bag, however, remain intact, along with a picture from her last vacation where she can be spotted on a cliff with blue waves crashing against it. The world never made so much sense to Ms Todi as it did the moment she accepted that road as her bed and her blood as her blanket. Memories came rushing to her, while people with strange faces gathered to look at her finished life. She was of no use to anyone ever again in this capitalist world. 21 years of
Julia Child in Delhi – Author Sadia Dehlvi Makes the Rarely-Seen Mango Qeema, H. Nizamuddin East Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - April 21, 20190 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] If you want to taste some of Delhi’s best homey non-veg dishes, then you have no choice but to plot and scheme your way to become author Sadia Dehlvi’s buddy. She rustles out truly memorable meals that are always sweetened-and-spiced with a generous helping of love and gossip. Her delicious aloo saalan and safed daal has acquired mythical proportions among her wide circle of lucky friends. In her 60s, Ms Dehlvi has written two books on Sufism. In fact, her drawing room shelves are weighed down with fist-breaking tomes on that subject. Her third book had an altogether different theme. It was her memoirs, embedded in a collection of family
City Monument – Kashmere Gate, North Delhi Monuments by The Delhi Walla - April 19, 20192 A broken dignity. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Kashmere Gate looks like a boring business indeed when first viewed from the busy street. But, take heart. Passing through the gateway’s corridor to the other side is a scene suggesting a kind of melancholic poetry. Missing ramparts and a pock-marked damaged wall testify to gross violence during our first war of independence against the British in 1857. Kashmere Gate, so named because it stands on the historic old route leading to fabled Kashmir itself, is one of only four surviving Mughal era gateways built in the 17th century to protect the city wall. And it was further buttressed by British engineers in the next century, and later, the Brits went on to ravage
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Hassaan Tauseef, Islamabad, Pakistan Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - April 19, 20190 The 232nd death. [Text and photo sent by Hassaan Tauseef] Today, 13th April 2018, 13:12. He left. Here is the note he left. Hassaan Tauseef knew this day was different. He woke up to the smell of pines, to the sound of sitar and taste of tea. Still hung over on the love from last night. Sitting on a mountain top, some twenty minutes outside Islamabad, he had that feeling again. It was not the first time but it hoped it wouldn’t be the last. For when it last happened, the memory of that particular sunset haunted his mind. It was by the lake, on a rock, listening to those songs, with one of the only people he cared about. That feeling? He
Mission Delhi – Mukesh the Chicken, Old Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - April 18, 2019April 18, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Most chickens are probably born equal, but some are definitely more equal than others. Case in point: Consider a particular chicken named Mukesh, who is a very lucky bird. While all his fellow chickens are crammed into wired cages, the white-feathered Mukesh is happily perched atop, relishing his freedom. “He’s my paala hua (pet),” explains Zara Ahmad, a soft-spoken roadside butcher here in Old Delhi. “I feel attached to Mukesh, so he’ll never be slaughtered. He’ll, I think, die a natural death.” How the caged chickens may feel about this arrangement is unknown. Whatever else, they certainly haven’t caught Mr Ahmad’s fancy. “Mukesh is the only chicken here to have
City Landmark – A Disappearing Doorway, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - April 17, 20191 A beauty from the past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It will be a great pity to walk right past that peeling cobwebbed doorway, padlocked for years, without giving it a close second look. This is an architectural masterpiece reminiscent of an old way of building homes. Located in the historic enclave of Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, the door is flanked on either side by a picturesque taak—a disappearing element in domestic architecture where a niche is scooped into the wall for storing household knick-knacks or perhaps earthen lamps for night time. The Basti itself was once crammed with aged weather-beaten homes with similar doorways. Only a few of them remain—disappearing so gradually to make way for modern housing that locals here
City Hangout – Udupi Café, Pratap Bhawan, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - April 16, 2019April 16, 20192 A summer oasis. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The window blinds are smothering out any hint of the day, keeping the hall in a cool delicious shade. Udupi Café in Central Delhi’s ITO (Pratap Bhawan, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) is an idyllic May-and-June oasis, permeated with the languid romance of a post-lunch siesta. Otherwise, the South Indian specialty eatery has the atmosphere of a messy canteen. This afternoon, the tables are filled with tie-wearing office-goers. The ceiling is echoing with the clattering of forks, spoons, and hushed banter. The air is scented by sambhar curry. Far, far away is the blinding white heat of the boiling city. Nobody in here can guess the extent of the summer atrocity lurking outside. While
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Sadia Hashmi, Abul Fazal Enclave, Delhi Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - April 16, 2019April 16, 20190 The 231st death. [Text and photos sent by Sadia hashmi] Sadia Hashmi, 25, was discovered dead in her study in New Delhi. She passed away while writing her autobiography. To our surprise, she was towards the end of the book. The last line of which reads - "...and she lived happily ever after..." The story of her death is quite mysterious. Some people say she got suffocated by the great expectations of people around her. Had she been alive, she would have blamed narcissists for her death. She strongly believed in humanity. It was very difficult for her to see people suffering. People often called her feminist. Although she enjoyed all sorts of freedom during her life time, she still found herself in chains
Mission Delhi – Muhammed Akbar, Lutyens’ Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - April 16, 2019April 16, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He finds it difficult to sleep at night, which is understandable. “How can I?” says autorickshaw driver Muhammed Akbar. Driving his auto through the leaves-strewn avenues of Lutyens’ Delhi, Mr Akbar opens up about his life, in particular the gory incident that changed its course around two years back — his elder daughter was kidnapped and her body found the next afternoon close to the family home in east Delhi’s Gautampuri. Police are still on the lookout for the murderer, he says. Meantime, life must carry on, “and particularly for the sake of our younger daughter.” As an 8th standard student, she’s almost never left alone, always