Mission Delhi – Kashi Ram, Nehru Place Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 30, 20200 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] With his dhoti, turban, and weather-beaten slip-on shoes, he looks like a farmer walking through his village field, far away in the heart of Indian countryside. But Kashi Ram is walking down the road that goes past Nehru Place in south Delhi. Stopping on request for a brief chat, he stands right on the middle of the road. There is no danger of being hit by a speeding car. Despite an ease in the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, the stretch is free of traffic, at least at this hour, in this hot muggy evening. “I have started to work again,” says Mr Ram. The man has a slim physique; his limbs are
Mission Delhi – Shubh Sethi, Sector 31, Gurgaon Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 30, 20200 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There are people whose idea of a great holiday is hanging about the destination they have flown to. Visiting, hiking, eating local food — this kind of stuff. But then there are people who believe that the best part of a holiday is to stay in an excellent hotel room and... well, do nothing! Just lie on the comfy bed, watch movies on TV, and use all the towels in the bathroom. This is what Shubh Sethi’s life was for two weeks. “But it was part of my quarantine,” he says. Mr Sethi, 19, is chatting on WhatsApp from his home in Gurgaon’s Sector 31 in the Greater Delhi Region.
City Life – Sound of Silence, Chitli Qabar Chowk Life by The Delhi Walla - May 29, 2020May 29, 20200 In times of corona. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If you listen, you can hear it. The silence. An absence of sounds has descended over the Chitli Qabar Chowk like a shroud upon the body of the dead. The air is alive with the twittering of birds though, but that only intensifies this strange quietude. The Delhi Walla experienced the area’s starkly new silence during the course of a recent stay lasting 24 hours in a multi-storey house, situated right there in the Chowk. It is the only four-way crossroad in this part of the historic Walled City. In the morning, the center of the Chowk used to be taken over by fish manger Muhammed Parvez. His ramshackle cart
City Hangout – Peepal Tree & Sant Lal’s Tea Stall, East of Kailash Enclave Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 20200 Landmarks in corona. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The lockdown has eased. One has to get used to stepping out of the house carefully (gloves and mask) and to get acquainted again with the city’s little nooks and corners, that make up its soul. One such place is a peepal tree near south Delhi’s East of Kailash Enclave, just opposite the new multi-storey police station. The area around the gigantic tree feels like a village square, and it’s easy to imagine its social life unfold throughout the day, with people sitting and gossiping in its shade. A tiny temple is scooped into the peepal’s trunk. The idols of Lords Ganesh and Hanuman are sitting snugly, facing the road that is yet
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Indrajit Ghoshal’s Poem on Coronavirus Lockdown, DLF Phase 3, Gurgaon City Poetry by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 20200 Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He works in an MNC and analyses the insurance details of people living in the UK and the US. It’s a kind of day job that any of us can relate to—working within four walls, following a set of instructions day after day, with little scope for improvisation. And yet he is different from most of us. He writes poems. Explaining how it is possible to stay within a close proximity to verses while still living in an everyday world of dull prose, Indrajit Ghoshal shares the miniature of his routine. “I try touching what is beautiful within the parameters of my daily existence”—he is talking on WhatsApp from the isolation of his two-room home in
City Series – Priya Varughese in Kochi, We the Isolationists (342nd Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Priya Varughese] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see much more than I do gazing outside my window, wishing for less anxious days. Amidst all the chaos, several thousand tests, uprooted families and compromised online content, things have really slowed down. To the point where everything is starting to sound like a meditative affair, even the act of violence blaring over the radio during evening tea. Is it true though? that you see a changed world? because Ive seen people adapting and then Ive seen people forgetting. It is sad indeed that you can barely unsee the good turning mad too soon. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of
City Series – Aakanksha Joshi in Delhi, We the Isolationists (341st Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Aakanksha Joshi] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see all the opportunities go by while the summer sets in my city. I see the empty roads where once the auto rickshaws were lined up forming their own amaltas flower of yellow amongst the white ubers. I don’t see any school children coming home in the blistering sun or office goers pushing each other in Rajiv Chowk metro station. I don’t hear people ranting about traffic jam in ITO or MG road. I do see the occasional rustling of trees and birds singing merrily in the branches of neem and mango tree from my window. I see bougainvillea blooming in my father’s
City Series – Aayush Verma in Delhi, We the Isolationists (340th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Aayush Verma] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... And I see myself opening my heart to me I let the sun burn my skin And the cuckoo heal it with her voice I let the wind kiss me Like it kisses the trees, without asking first I look at the dogs, treated like humans And humans, treated like dogs I squint my eyes harder Till I see nothingness Till I see love Aren't they the same All this time, always within? “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary starting with “I close my eyes in my self-isolation from Corona... and I see...” Not more than 100 words. With a horizontal-sized selfie, along with
City Series – Sweekruti Mohanty in Calcutta, We the Isolationists (339th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Sweekruti Mohanty] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... and I see myself In my home at Bhubaneswar sprawled on my familiar bed with the yellow bedsheet on staring at the wall adorned with the pictures of my childhood. I see a hot cup of cocoa coffee in that flower printed mug on the table with the Half blood Prince lying upside down and kal ho na ho playing somewhere and think that this is bliss. I open my eyes and find myself covered with masks and gloves and handing cash to a bedraggled old man who claims that Modiji has sent him money to go home and I realise I am just a financial soldier fighting
City Series – Bhavita Modi in Delhi, We the Isolationists (338th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Bhavita Modi] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... and I see myself surrounded by people from the times I belong to. There is Sita, awaiting her beloved, alone in a corner while Draupadi is hatching her revenge. Amrita is writing her new letter & Agha Shahid Ali is googling for the postal office in his Watan. In other room, Offred is hiding a stolen Scrabble while Dracula is wondering how to lure her out. The eternal isolationists are neither talking, nor moving, lest it brings them out of their world. I open my eyes & see my scattered books, mocking me and my reality. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any