City Food – Aloo Bhaaji, Cotton Market Food by The Delhi Walla - October 29, 20200 Dish for the home-sick. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There they are, lying in heaps — these shallow-fried potatoes in the shape of fingers. It’s only 8 in the morning but Muhammed Ali Khan’s footpath cart, in Old Delhi’s Cotton Market, already smells of the mildly spicy aloo bhaaji. “My customers are mostly mazdoor (labourers),” he says. “They start working early in the morning, and rather than bread-butter they like to have bhari khana (heavy meal) for breakfast.” After a pause, he explains, “I know very well what a labourer likes to eat, because I was one too.” Mr Khan is from Kishanganj, in Bihar. He arrived in Delhi 30 years ago, and earned a living as a beldar (construction worker)
Mission Delhi – Raj Kumar, Sadar Bazar Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 29, 20200 [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One feels a nip in the air. There is a shift in the season, and soon it will be time to take out the warm woollens from the trunk. Raj Kumar, too, will shift his business from selling lemonade to aloo tikki. “That’s what I always do... I sell thandi cheez (cold thing) in the summer, and garam cheez (hot thing) in the winter.” The middle-aged man’s cart has been here in Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazar, in the Greater Delhi Region, for 30 years. This summer has been exceptionally tough for him — and not only because of the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, when he was forced to stay at home for scores of weeks. “Bobby died,” he says. Father
City Obituary – Hotel Broadway, Asaf Ali Road Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - October 28, 2020October 28, 20201 On the death of a landmark. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The friendly doorman is nowhere to be seen. A printed notice slapped on the glass door says that Hotel Broadway is closed —“Since the running of... is no longer economically viable, the management is constrained to close down the same with effect from 21st May... workmen are being paid closure compensation...” A piece of Delhi is now history. Broadway’s closure was not reported until now. It shut down so noiselessly that the news would have gone unnoticed but for a chance occasion of coming face-to-face with its locked door. Like many businesses these days, the landmark fell victim to Covid-19. “It was heavily dependent on foreign tourists,” said Mukta Kapoor, Group Head
City Walk – The Circles of Shakti Nagar, North Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - October 28, 20200 City islands. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is commonly assumed that nothing exciting ever happens in small towns and villages. At best, the threadbare public life centers around a tree in the square, under which folks might stop to trade some mild gossip. With their malls and multi-storeys, big cities are denied of such charms — rather dig out your dog-eared copy of R K Narayan’s short stories, set in the small town of Malgudi, to experience the pleasures of such quaint settings. Or, you can make a tour of the circles of Shakti Nagar. The sleepy north Delhi neighbourhood is an enclave of private houses interspersed with teenie-weenie boutiques, one-man tailoring shops and boxy groceries that give “flat 10 percent
City Landmark – Premier Shoe Factory, Sadar Bazar, Gurgaon Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - October 26, 2020October 26, 20200 The lockdown survivor. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is how it was before the coronavirus. The walls had seen so many shifts of seasons that it would have been impossible to determine their original color. The wood of the closets had been softened by time. The door looked like a precious collectible making one wonder why it hadn’t yet been stolen. Founded within a corner of an old mansion in 1938, the one-room Premier Shoe Factory in Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazar was arguably the most curious shoemaker’s establishment in the entire Delhi region. Everything looked shabby but also looked beautiful — and the shoes were always new and gleaming. Ruling over this little world was the frail Jawaharlal Sherawat, quietly rustling
City Hangout – Bougainvillea Aesthetics, Barakhamba Road Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - October 25, 2020October 25, 20202 Beauty spots [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It takes a bougainvillea to raise a city. That’s what one feels on witnessing the magical scene of a Connaught Place high-rise emanating from the flower pot of a pink bougainvillea. This illusion is caused by the combined effect of the night, the lights of the street lamps, the long row of the pavement trees, the lit-up building itself and the black starless sky. The bougainvillea pot is placed on the road divider in central Delhi’s Barakhamba Road, and the building is the distinctive Statesman House. The late night sight is incredibly surreal. The entire length of the road divider is in fact decked with pots containing the bougainvilleas. Many are pink, but some
Mission Delhi – Muhammed Shahid Hussain, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Sufi Shrine Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 24, 20200 [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a new kind of job, that came up with the pandemic: Checking the body temperature of people entering the shrine. But it must be so boring. Muhammed Shahid Hussain shakes his head. “No work is dull if it is performed honestly, and helps one to take care of one’s family,” he says, emphasizing each word, as if he had italicized them while writing. In his mid-20s, Mr Hussain is stationed at the entrance of the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in central Delhi. Each time a devotee enters, he raises his thermometer gun, carefully points it at the visitor, and observes the temperature before permitting admission into the dargah. But what kind of living supported
City Life – Tailor Nathuram Ahuja, Ram Nagar Life by The Delhi Walla - October 22, 20200 Life in the pandemic. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] His routine stayed the same for more than 50 years. Every day he would be in his tailoring shop, working with the fabrics, the sewing machine, the inch tape and the scissors. On Sundays he would stay at home. The ritual never changed despite the ups and downs of life, including the passing away of his wife and two of his four sons. But then, the coronavirus arrived. Nathuram Ahuja hasn’t been out of his home in Gurgaon’s Ram Nagar , in the Graeter Delhi Region, for eight months. His shop in the Sant Lal Market building, in Sadar Bazar, hasn’t opened since the first pandemic-ridden lockdown began in March. “In tailoring, you have to
Mission Delhi – Durgesh Kumar Yadav, Central Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 21, 20200 [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s the same blue sky, the same flowers and trees. All these things used to give him joy. But no longer. Durgesh Kumar Yadav is nursing a disappointed heart. “My love story has failed,” he says, his face hidden behind his mask. In his mid-30s, Mr Yadav is a “Bombay bhel puri” vendor in this sprawling public garden, in central Delhi. All day long he walks about the greens, a snack case perched on his head and a tripod-like wooden stand under his right arm. Sometimes he stops in front of a bench or under a tree, and sets up his stand for a few minutes, waiting for customers. This afternoon he stops by a jogging track and
City Home – Kavita & Ankita’s, Gurgaon Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - October 20, 20200 Home sweet home. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Kavita Arora, 47, is a psychiatrist. Ankita Khanna, 36, is a psychologist. They occasionally share their eight-floor apartment, in Gurgaon in the Greater Delhi Region, with residential complex pigeons or with Zuzu, the neighbour’s dog. Ms Arora’s elderly father, who resides in south Delhi’s Alaknanda, stayed with them during the early uncertain days of the coronavirus pandemic. Ms Khanna’s parents, who live in Dehradun, visit them annually. Ms Arora and Ms Khanna have been living together for eight years. They first met at work, in the child and adolescent mental health clinic that Ms Arora co-founded with two other mental health professionals. Chatting to this reporter on WhatsApp video from their drawing room,