City Food – Netra-Geeta’s Stuffed Paratha, Sadar Bazar, Gurgaon Food by The Delhi Walla - October 12, 20190 A couple's offering. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The temptation is irresistible. This entire lane in Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazar in the Greater Delhi Region is infused with the scent of steaming parathas. And not just any paratha, but aloo paratha—the delicious aroma of boiled potatoes on slow roast is immediately discernible even though the street itself is a miasma of various pleasant and unpleasant smells. There’s also that familiar hissing sound of cooking oil crackling around the paratha-in-progress. Netra Bahadur’s aloo paratha stall is very new. “We opened two months ago.” The 31-year-old gentleman explains that he co-manages the stall with his wife, Geeta. The young lady is sitting in an adjacent rickshaw, grating potatoes. Migrants from a mountain village in Nepal, the
Mission Delhi – Mohammed Jamal, New Seemapuri Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 12, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] His smile is so radiant that it almost seems tangible. As though you could hold that smile in your hands like a flower. Upon hearing such an assessment, auto rickshaw driver Mohammed Jamal smiles again. “Yes, people always tell me how beautiful my smile is.” And he invariably responds by suggesting that “all credit goes to the blessing of the God.” There’s another reason for the unique smile, he says. It has to do with his teeth, according to him. “Some of my teeth are very long. And that makes the smile more noticeable.” Mr Jamal, who has been an auto driver for 40 years, does clarify that his life
City Hangout – Flyover Sunset, Bhishma Pitamah Setu Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - October 11, 20190 Twilight over the rush hour. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One more evening at the Bhishma Pitamah Setu where a handful of folks have flocked from near and far to view an amazing sunset. It is one of the most poetic destinations to spend this precious hour in the city. The flyover in central Delhi happily offers broad pavements for pedestrians and their sky-gazing. And indeed, by now (6.15pm) quite a fair number of citizens—including an idle auto-rickshaw driver—are gazing westwards, as though worshipping the spectacular dissolving of another Delhi day. They see that the sun has condensed into a red sphere, while the skies resemble a painter’s canvas in progress. Some patches are orange, others green and blue, with the colours
City Landmark – Cinema Halls, Around Town Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - October 10, 20191 City screens. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Minerva in Mori Gate, Paras in Nehru Place, Robin Talkies in Old Subzi Mandi, Filmistan in Tees Hazari and Radhu Palace in Laxmi Nagar. These are some of Delhi’s cinema theatres that no longer exist. Now consider these: DT in Shalimar Bagh, M4U in Sahibabad, PVR in Naraina, and M2K in Rohini. These are our city’s present-day cinemas. Many of us try to crack the megacity through its monuments and markets. But how about exploring Delhi through its cinemas, past and present? Start with the whitewashed Regal in Connaught Place that shut down in 2017. It hosted the Indian premier of the classic Gone With The Wind in 1940. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho opened in 1960 in the nearby
Mission Delhi – Vijay Kumar, Kamla Nehru Park, Gurgaon Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 9, 2019October 9, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] An amazing sight this afternoon. He is the only person in the public garden without a mobile in his hand. Otherwise every single person in Gurugram’s Kamla Nehru Park, here in the Greater Delhi Region, is busy having a rendezvous with the phone, even when they are not alone. Including the namkeen seller, and the bunch of men playing cards on the grass. “I don’t use mobile much,” explains Vijay Kumar. The phone is in his pants pocket. So what on earth does he do when he has nothing to do? “Right now I was thinking.” A cook in Harish Bakery near Sohna Chowk, Mr Kumar comes daily to this park
City Life – Mohan Nagar Flyover Art, Ghaziabad Life by The Delhi Walla - October 9, 2019October 9, 20190 City's ironies. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] These cheerful murals beneath the new Mohan Nagar flyover relieve an otherwise bleak, dusty landscape. The suggestive sky on these panels is so brilliantly blue that it must surely glow at night with a billion stars. No question that these artworks in suburban Ghaziabad in the Greater Delhi Region are indeed overwhelming. Even more so is the encounter with the homeless labourers from Rajasthan temporarily living under the flyover. At the peak of the morning rush hour, a few barefoot kids of the labourers are making a mud home, their backs turned towards the mural’s sunflowers. Nearby, an elderly gentleman is mumbling to a friend—oblivious to the gaudy green birds drawn on the pillar beside him,
Mission Delhi – Ashiq Jama, Lodhi Gardens Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 8, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It seemed like a logical question. As a professional gardener, Ashiq Jama must have lots of flowers in his own home. Or? Mr Jama laughs. “No. Haven’t got a single pot or plant.” During his lunch break here in Delhi's Lodhi Gardens where he works, Mr Jama explains why. He and his wife have just a single room in a slum in South Delhi’s RK Puram. “No spare space for flowers or plants.” He’s never even gifted a rose to her during their entire married life of two decades, and in any case “I never have rifts with my missus.” Whatever else, Mr Jama is not indifferent to the beauty of
City Faith – Family’s Ravan, Sector 14, Gurgaon Faith by The Delhi Walla - October 7, 2019October 7, 20190 A working festival. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Every family is busy in its own way. While most of us are eagerly looking forward to Tuesday evening when Ravan’s effigy will be burned down with much fun in our fair grounds, Pradip’s family is busy making those very Ravan effigies. “Very hectic time for us, we are making dus (10) Ravans daily,” reports Pradip. The family sells these effigies right here on the roadside pavement on Gurgaon’s Sector 14 in the Greater Delhi Region. Indeed, their patch of the rutty ground is taken over by various Ravans in different stages of completion. Some are plopped down on the grass, others are standing upright. Each Ravan is identifiable by its papery twirly
Mission Delhi – Anil Kumar, Gurgaon Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 6, 2019October 6, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is full of migrant men who leave their villages to make a better life in the big city. Here they live in accommodations, shared with fellow migrants, and work as construction labourers and rickshaw pullers for many years. But what happens in the end? Are they able to build a new and better life? At least this seems to be true in the case of Bhola Prasad Das. “My father came to Gurgaon (in the Greater Delhi Region) from our village in Bihar as a boy,” says Anil Kumar, a sales executive who works for a private bank, persuading potential customers to get his bank’s credit card. This
City Food – Wenger’s Veg Patty, Connaught Place Food by The Delhi Walla - October 5, 20190 Old taste. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The magic unfolds in three steps. First, the crisp flaky shell crumbles inside the mouth. Second, the mouth gets all buttery. Third, the filling lets loose its gentle spiciness. Such are the pleasures of a typical vegetable patty. To get one of the best in Delhi, you ought to head straight to the Wenger’s Cake Shop, justly famed for its creamy desserts, as well as for its shami kebabs. The Connaught Place landmark is one of the few well-known bakeries in the Capital to proudly showcase this baked snack. This is a rare gesture at a time when the poor patty no longer seems to be in vogue. For instance, the patisseries in the fashionable