City Landmark – North Korean Embassy, RM Vats Marg Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - December 26, 2022December 26, 20220 Letter from North Korea. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Standing alone against a golden sky, he is smiling beatifically, God-like. Next, he is visiting a textile mill, amused at a weave. Next, he is joking with the “old lecturers” of a university named after his dad. Adorning a glass display that overlooks a rutty south Delhi lane, these three photo-portraits are of Kim Jung II. No no, do not confuse him with Kim Hyun-Joong or Kim Tae-Hyung or Kim Seok-Jin. The man in the photos is not a South Korean K-pop star. He is from North Korea. To borrow the words of the all-knowing Wikipedia, he led that “people’s democratic republic” from the 1994 death of his father Kim Il-sung,
City Landmark – Barahpulla Drain, Mathura Road Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - December 24, 20220 Twilight in Delhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The water has turned pure gold. The departing sun is generously lending all its farewell glow to the stream. Occasionally, the self-contained placidity of the water is disturbed by the fleeting shadows of passing birds. The scenery looks divine—see photo. But photos lie. The stream is a nallah, a drain, and has a strong stink. On watching it from the footpath of a bridge on Mathura Road, its waters look muddy in the plain noon light, but every evening the sunset’s roseate shade transforms this same dirty water into a thing ethereal — visually only, obviously. The twilight hour is the time to explore the drain that goes under the Barapullah flyover in
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Satish Sundra, Ram Chander & Sons Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - December 23, 20220 The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] He sits in Connaught Place (CP) daily. This has been his routine since 1954. Indeed, he is like our dear old CP of the earlier times, when the colonial-era arcade was said to be gentler, politer and friendlier than it is today. And he speaks in whole sentences, as if reading from a book. Satish Sundra, 86, runs India’s oldest toy store, Ram Chander & Sons (founded in Ambala Cantonment in 1890, in Delhi since 1935). Over a plate of Parle-G biscuits, he agrees to be a part of the Proust Questionnaire series in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. Principal aspect of your personality. I like to
City Walk – World-Class Sidewalk, Aurobindo Marg Walks by The Delhi Walla - December 21, 20220 Footpath no. 1. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Come alone. You wouldn’t want a friend to see you gushing over a footpath. But then this redeveloped footpath is so tiptop. True, Gurgaon boasts a set of three new-age flamboyantly green foot-over bridges for pedestrians, near Cyberhub, but even they are not close to this stretch in south Delhi. It has been face-lifted by the PWD (Public Works Department) as part of Delhi government’s pilot street-scaping project. The path runs along a side of Aurobindo Marg. It starts from Devender Tea Stall, at the point where Aurobindo Market ends, and unspools southwards to a stroll of ten minutes, ending with a neem tree, not far from the IIT flyover. With a width of
City Walk – Lal Galli-Part 2, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - December 19, 2022December 21, 20220 A passage in the Walled City. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Cities are such a messy cobweb of truths and legends. Almost impossible to distengale the two. Such as our labyrinthine Purani Dilli. Last week The Delhi Walla trodded through Lal Galli, the Walled City’s so-called red street. No dweller was able to tell the story behind its colourful name. An eatery cook mumbled of a long-ago shop selling lal roses, but was unsure of his story. Whatever, after the publication of that galli loafing, an 80-year-old reader summoned me to his residence, not far from Lal Galli. This cold afternoon, ensconced in his living room stacked with hundreds of books (including under the TV), Urdu scholar Mohammad Feroz Dehlavi offers
Mission Delhi – Muhammed Shamsher Alam, Pataudi House Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - December 16, 20220 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is preparing mutton curry. “Some more minutes,” mutters Muhammed Shamsher Alam. The dish will be shared between six folks. All the labourers live and work together. “We do the loading and unloading of malwa (rubble), and go (for assignments) across Dilli—Gurgawa—Ghaziabad… the work can fall in any place, from wherever our thekedar (contractor) gets the phone call.” The men’s “ashiyana (address)” though is steady—this footpath in Old Delhi’s Pataudi House. The cooking pan is placed on a gas burner. Shamsher slowly lands his arms on either side of his waist. His elbows jut out, as he stands by the burner, gazing intently at the pan. The
City Hangout – Little Amphitheatre, DLF CuberHub, Gurgaon Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - December 16, 2022December 16, 20220 A passage in the Walled City. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Not that the coronavirus has been forgotten but we citizens have started to re-mingle. And old places to mingle are again desirable. One feels homesick for those open grounds often experienced in hill stations (such as the Flats in Nainital) where tourists gather in the evening and spend the sunset time talking to friends, or looking at the scenery and the crowd. Such spaces barely exist in big hectic cities. Our evening experience comprises of listening to radio songs (actually RJ chatter!) in the rush-hour traffic. There’s, however, one likeable spot in the Greater Delhi Region where you can watch the time go by, nicely. It’s in the heart of
City Walk – Lal Galli-Part 1, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - December 16, 2022December 16, 20220 A passage in the Walled City. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is late morning and M. Zameer New Fashion is still shuttered. But the boutique’s banner (“costume designer in gents & all rounder”) is painted in red, and that is a point scorer. For one is on a spree to spot everything lal, or red. Because this is Lal Galli, the red street. But why is the street called red? A street-citizen buying Amul butter at Mahesh Store shakes his head, shrugs his shoulders. He disappears into a doorway decked with six electric meters. Alas, the lights in them are blinking hara, not lal. Nevertheless, the helpful Sunil of the electricity department, measuring the “meter reading” of these meters, points
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Shalini Bahadur, Park Place, Gurgaon Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - December 16, 2022December 16, 20220 The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Along with her two daughters, original paintings, a lot many novels, and with coffee cups from across the world thar her Chandigarh-based parents gift to her from their holidays, Shalini Bahadur lives amid the clouds, literally. Her home is on 26th floor, somewhere high above Gurugram. This magical afternoon—it is always magical in her high altitude balcony—she, dressed in green chiffon, agrees to be a part of the Proust Questionnaire series in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. Your favorite virtue or the principal aspect of your personality. I'm very disciplined and organized. I like to get things done. I make a list and tackle things step by
Mission Delhi – Richa Chaudhary, SG Homes, Greater Delhi Region Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - December 14, 2022December 14, 20221 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Management and Economics assistant professor Richa Chaudhary only recently became a writer. “I started writing when I started being in deep pain,” she says, here at her flat in SG Homes, a Delhi region housing complex she shares with school-going daughter Ramanika. “My husband was diagnosed with cancer. I was scared. So I started writing e-mails to myself. The subject heading was always “me my soul talk.”” She had married Anurodh, a businessman, 22 years ago in their hometown Allahabad. It followed an eight-year-old courtship that began in the city’s university campus. He died last month. One recent evening, early this month, after returning from the college where