City Monument – Pandemic-Era Chhoti Gumti, Green Park Monuments by The Delhi Walla - March 11, 20220 Society of the dome. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Let us go then, you and I, when the afternoon is spread out against the grass. Like on this afternoon of March. The sky is so blue that it looks like an Instagram filter has been applied to it. While the ground is divided into two halves: a sunny one (empty) and a shaded one (crowded with people). A stone mausoleum stands at the center, as if to demarcate shade from glare. Chhoti Gumti monument in south Delhi’s Green Park is a very chhoti (tiny) Lodhi-era ruin. There is no record of it in books of monuments. The visitor’s best approach is to slowly walk around it. The perspective is beautiful, especially from
City Landmark – Ruined House, Gurgaon Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - March 11, 20220 Old time, sighted. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The walls are dilapidated. A part of the roof has caved in. The underlying bricks peek out of the peeling paint like raw bloodied wounds. Encrusted with the degradations of years, it stands like time frozen in a capsule. The old ramshackle bungalow lies forlorn in one corner of Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazar. A narrow lane renders it remote from the market’s ungovernable chaos. Alone and uninhabited, the edifice stands royally aloof in its decay. Not a soul is seen here this sweltering afternoon. The area is completely silent. There are other modern houses that seem occupied but their doors and windows are closed. Upon a more careful observation, one discovers that the empty bungalow
Mission Delhi – Damil Ahmad Beg, Zeenat-ul Masjid Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - March 11, 2022March 11, 20220 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi’s Zeenat-ul Masjid is like a miniature version of the Jama Masjid. There is another monument inside, equally photogenic and more unique. This monument happens to be an edifice in flesh and blood. For 64 years, tailor Damil Ahmad Beg has been a daily sight here, along with his pedal sewing machine—underneath the mosque’s gateway. He looks young. “I’m 86,” says the slim and fit Mr Beg, raising his eyes as if daring to challenge his interlocutor’s disbelief. This afternoon, the venerable gent is preparing a seat cover for a scooter, his hands are moving swiftly about the sewing machine. “Earlier I used to make covers for