City Hangout – Sheesh Mahal Tea House, Farash Khana Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - November 29, 2021November 29, 20211 Glasses of chai. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The imperial evening in the Palace of Mirrors is already strained to begin with. And then the rebel-courtesan gets more and more mutinous in her dance. She even picks up a knife from the fruit platter. Within moments, the smirking woman multiplies into a multitude of mirrored images. One Anarkali is now a thousand offending Anarkalis, infuriating Emperor Akbar to indescribable rage. This famously thrilling scene in the classic 1960 movie Mughal-e-Azam was filmed in a Mumbai film set in which the makers painstakingly recreated the legendary Sheesh Mahal of Lahore Fort. The wall, as in the original 17th century Sheesh Mahal, was made of thousands of decorative glass tiles, or the sheesh. A
City Food – Randeep’s Carrot Halwa, Civil Lines Food by The Delhi Walla - November 29, 20210 A farmer's cold season offering. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] December arrives this week. The chill is set to intensify. To a certain generation, the winter would be invested with sun-drenched courtyards. In these smoggy times, one hardly gets that kind of sun. Besides, what’s that about the courtyards? That too in the so-called Millennium City of Gurgaon, really? One winter tradition has survived however— the steaming hot carrot halwa. To Randeep, the cold season means shifting his livelihood from agriculture in his UP village to street vending in Gurgaon in the Graeter Delhi Region, where he hawks the carrot halwa in a mobile cart attached to his bicycle. This afternoon Randeep is peddling along a side-lane in Civil Lines. The halwa is
City Landmark – Sonu Kalai Wale, Lambi Walli Gali Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 29, 20210 Coppersmith's world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The empty haveli has lost its grandeur. A part of its wall collapsed some months ago during a night of lightning, here in Lambi Walli Gali, a few steps away from the long-closed Excelsior Cinema in Chawri Bazar. Like many Walled City galis and kuchas, the locality is punctuated with remnants of old edifices, but most structures betray a more recent appearance. Many of these modern-day multi-storeys are residential, each floor boasting a small balcony. In this crowd of new and newer, at least one long-time sight is prospering — that of coppersmith Sonu. In his mid-30s, he has been working as a “kalai wale” for 20 years. “I bring shine to copper or