Mission Delhi – Bhag Bahri Malhotra, Khan Market Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - July 15, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Most booklovers know all about the legendary Bahrisons Booksellers in Khan Market. And old-timers would remember late founder, Balraj Bahri Malhotra, who started it in 1953. Lesser known is his wife whose day job helped finance the operation in the first place. Bhag Bahri Malhotra, now 87, first met her future husband in 1948 in Kingsway Camp, Delhi’s largest camp for Partition refugees where they were working as volunteers. Both,themselves, were refugees from present-day Pakistan. “He was very handsome, very well-built,” says Ms Bahri, who was born in a landlord’s family in Dera Ismail Khan in 1932. “I had decided in my heart that I would marry him and nobody
City Faith – Radha Krishna Mandir, Sadar Bazaar, Gurgaon Faith by The Delhi Walla - July 15, 2019July 15, 20190 Homely temple. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The very air is steeped in absolute mindfulness. The place feels so private that you fear you have gate-crashed into somebody’s residence. Such is the charm of Radha Krishna Mandir. A tiny temple hidden in a corner of the chaotic Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazaar, it has the character of a friendly neighbour. Although the temple is open to all, it is snuggled inside a courtyard lined with private houses. Perhaps one can visit this sacred spot solely to savour the pleasure of its courtyard, an endangered species in contemporary architecture, especially in a part of the Delhi region where every plot of land is meant to be installed with a high-rise. The small gate opens into