City Monument – Overlooked Ruin, Lodhi Gardens Monuments by The Delhi Walla - July 23, 20190 Unknown gateway. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This gorgeous ruin bathed in beauty lies totally ignored in Lodhi Gardens as an unsung monument. The centuries-old Mughal-era building is believed to be the remains of a gateway that once led to a garden, now nowhere to be found. It nowadays faces an orchard of English roses. True enough, visitors to Lodhi Gardens tend to be drawn to far more historically significant monuments, such as Emperor Sikander Lodhi’s tomb. But this small double-storey structure has an elegance of its own. The roof curves gently towards the center, like a boat turned upside down; while fluted columns on the four corners and swirly arches adorn the facades. One notices that the plain white walls, chipped
City Hangout – Bougainvillea’s Shaving Stall, Chelmsford Road Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - July 22, 20190 Barber's paradise. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Pavement shaving stalls are just about everywhere in Delhi—unlike western cities where the tradition has died out. These are patronised, among others, by a vast populace of hardworking male migrants who live alone in the city, far from their families, making an earnest living as labourers, rickshaw-pullers and street-food hawkers. Each shaving stall, with its bare minimum of a mirror and shaving brushes, has its own ecosystem specific to the locality and its clientele. But the one at central Delhi’s Chelmsford Road might be the city’s most picturesque shaving salon. It lies under a gloriously dense bush of pink bougainvilleas. The flowers make such an overwhelming impression that the astonished eyes register the modest
Mission Delhi – Son Pal, Around Town Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - July 21, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] With that glowing white beard and sparkling eyes he could easily be mistaken for some latter-day Tagore or Tolstoy. “You mean I look like a lekhak (writer),” chuckles Son Pal, 70, a rickshaw driver. “I started driving in Delhi more than 40 years ago” after moving from his home village in UP. This was the Delhi of another era. AIIMS flyover still didn’t exist, Nirula’s restaurants were popular dating destinations, even as Indira Gandhi held forth as prime minister. “And it never occurred to me then, that I’d just go on living and working in Delhi,” recalls Mr Pal. “And, to think, that my grandchildren would be born in
City Hangout – Ramlila Maidan, Central Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - July 20, 2019July 20, 20190 The empty quarter. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The 2019 general elections are over. The iconic Ramlila Maidan, famous for its rallies, is free to be explored. The last big gathering it hosted was a campaign speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The next big event will be… well, the Ramlila... but that’s some months later. Now is the time to hang in, and around, this open expanse of land, tucked in the very heart of our claustrophobic metropolis. This morning, there are only a handful of souls in the sprawling ground. A few men are idly lounging in one corner, a dog is running about aimlessly, and a boy is riding a horse or is it a mule? This is the
City Landmark – Subhan Factory Dry Cleaners, Old Delhi Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - July 19, 2019July 19, 20190 Connecting present to past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Although Old Delhi’s history stretches far back into 16th century, its oldest surviving laundry service is curiously recent. Founded in 1922, the Subhan Factory is surprisingly spacious in the congested Walled City. It takes its name from the founder who lies buried just outside the city walls. Nowadays, Subhan Factory is better known as Model Dry Cleaners—the dry cleaning service was launched in 1960. “But of course we also continue to manually wash the clothes,” says Syed Intiqab Ali, grandson of the founder. No less than eight washer men are carefully processing the day’s laundry by hand in a plant just behind the shop. As late as 1970, this section of Old
City Nature – Alternative Roses, Gurgaon Nature by The Delhi Walla - July 18, 2019July 18, 20190 Beauty without bloom. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is not the best season for roses. Not even at the rose garden in Gurgaon’s Sector 15A in the National Capital Region. And that’s why you ought to drop by this place. To learn to appreciate beauty long after its best days are over. This sweltering afternoon the rose bushes are looking colourless, almost all seem stripped of their flowers. A careful examination reveals otherwise. The roses are not noticeable because most of them have shriveled up. Red, white, pink... all the shades have turned brown. Gardener Vishal, his face drenched with sweat, confesses he misses the colourful look the garden displays at other times of the year “but I feel more
Mission Delhi – Rena, Public Park, Gurgaon Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - July 17, 2019July 17, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Like most women with a day-job and family, Rena’s life is more than merely hectic. She’s a gardener and her work shift in a public park in the National Capital Region lasts from 8am to 5pm daily. This obliges her to wake up every day as early as 5 in the morning when “I have to cook breakfast and lunch for everybody,” she says, implying her husband and three young children. This afternoon, Rena is tilling the soil around a little plant with her rusty trowel. Her “never-ending” work at home, she says, includes cleaning the house, washing the clothes and looking after the kids. Rena moved to
City Hangout – W-Block Park, Greater Kailash-I Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - July 17, 20190 City escape. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The appeal of this place rests on a paradox. Parts of W-Block Park are a dusty terrain, so very bleak that it somehow conveys a kind of surreal beauty. Or so it seems. On this breezy summer afternoon, dust is swirling in small twisters before settling on the ground littered with brown leaves. This south Delhi garden in Greater Kailash-I is submerged in stillness, with only a few folks out and about: a group of amateur cricketers hard at it, while some gardeners are intensely focused on their ministrations. The planes preparing to descend in the Delhi airport are appearing regularly in the sky above, their roar adding to the character of the garden. In fact, W-Block
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