Mission Delhi – Rukhsana, Central Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - June 23, 20220 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The road is teeming with afternoon traffic. The pavement, here in central Delhi, has a small plastic mat sprawled along it. A child is sitting cross-legged there, barefoot, with a pink bag, his tiny green chappal lying nearby. He is writing numbers (“1, 2, 3…”) on the copy lying open on his lap, in a slow steady fashion. The child’s “mummy” is standing beside him, manning a cold drink cart. “Farhan is my younger son,” says vendor Rukhsana. Gesturing towards another boy sitting atop a tall metallic stool, she says that “Anab is my older son.” Her third and eldest child, daughter Khatija, is away for
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Nameer Alvi, Pahari Rajaan Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - June 23, 2022June 24, 20220 The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] He is 21 and his mother calls him “mera achha wala beta,” my good son. Youngest of three brothers and a sister, he is the only one to go out of his way to help his parents with household chores. Nameer Alvi cleans his house every day at his home in Old Delhi’s Pahari Rajaan. “Because ammi abba need help,” he mutters shyly. This afternoon, he is on his haunches, while washing the veranda with a broom and a mug of water. A third-year law student, Mr Alvi is as conscientious about his housekeeping tasks, his mother says, as he is about keeping up to date with Chelsea, his favourite soccer club. After finishing the
City Hangout – India Gate & Central Vista, Central Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - June 23, 2022June 23, 20220 A new era. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The hat-wearing lady in sari poses with her family for photographer Vijay Babu (150 rupees for a single print in two minutes). The background is India Gate. This will be a keepsake photo of their Delhi trip. They are visiting from Telangana. Another set of tourists are buying cotton candies, barely paying attention to the British-built war memorial. Traffic on the road is sloughing through. This same humdrum scene has been happening over and over, here in India Gate, for a long time. Families from across Delhi, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad would drive, especially in the evening, to this slice of the capital’s heart for an archetypical India Gate experience, which would