City Walk – Monsoon Stroll, Civil Lines Nature Walks by The Delhi Walla - July 19, 2023July 19, 20230 Civil Lines impressionism. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A well-known couple residing in upscale Civil Lines, in north Delhi, recently checked themselves for a few days into a room at the India International Center (Annexe). Reason: their area got flooded, prompting problems like long power cuts, etc. Civil Lines is just too close to the Yamuna. But then there’s another Civil Lines in our megapolis, much further from the river, and as civil. This one is in Gurgaon, and, like all its counterparts spreads across India, was set up by the British to house the district administrators. Parts of the enclave are sleepy, but charmingly addictive, demanding a repeat return each time you yearn for silence and slow time. Particularly
Mission Delhi – Aslam, Gandhak ki Baoli Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - July 19, 2023July 19, 20230 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The afternoon is so humid that it seems like even fish can swim in the air. Aslam struggles out of his shirt and pants, throwing them into a heap behind him. Stripped to his black shorts, he approaches the edge of the land. Complete silence reigns inside the walled enclosure; the traffic sounds feel too remote to be substantial. The young man slowly raises his arms, nods to himself, and jumps. His lean body plunges (see photo) into the water. A splashing sound as the glassy surface breaks into ripples, here at Gandhak ki Baoli in Mehrauli. Like a boatman’s oar, Aslam’s legs continually flap through the green
City Life – Delhi Floods, 2023 Life Nature by The Delhi Walla - July 17, 2023July 17, 20230 The bridge under the Yamuna. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi has more than 15 road bridges spanning over the Yamuna. In the city’s worst flood in 45 years, here’s a sequence of interactions with the citizens and the city in and around the Nizamuddin Bridge. The sound and the fury If you close your eyes, you might as well be standing by some angry mountain stream falling noisily over the rocks. In ordinary times, Delhi’s Yamuna is a discreet river, the banks under the busy Nizamuddin Bridge remain dry but often stay lush-green, carpeted with vegetable fields, and with plots of marigold flowers (when marigolds are in season). The Yamuna does stay visible all through the year, but the
City Monument – 40 Graves, Humayun’s Tomb Monuments by The Delhi Walla - July 16, 2023July 16, 20231 Beyond Humayun. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Humayun’s Tomb doesn’t have just Humayun’s grave—see the photo of his cenotaph (on the monument’s 70-feet-high chamber, real grave directly underneath). The 16th century mausoleum is home to 160 existing graves, most are hidden in the tomb’s ground-level 117 vaults, inaccessible to visitors. Only two of these graves bear inscriptions, while the identities of the others were lost over the centuries. Some of this loss stands recovered. 40 of the people who lie buried in the complex have been identified (though not their graves), thanks to an ongoing extensive archival research by Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Today, for the first time such an extensive list of historical figures buried in Humayun’s Tomb
Mission Delhi – Kishen, Hazrat Nizamuddin East Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - July 14, 2023July 14, 20230 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The night sky is jet black, with no star to be seen. Slowly, the darkness starts to fade away, and it is morning. Despite witnessing the same scene day after day, the moment’s subtlety amazes Kishen every single time. “It is like watching magic.” A guard in upscale Hazrat Nizamuddin East, Kishen keeps an alert eye about the house he guards during nocturnal hours. Ensconced tonight inside his tiny cabin—it is 9pm—he waves towards the surrounding apartments. “The house over there... the lights in that balcony... the black dog in the A block...” The nature of Kishen’s job obliges him to be alone from late evening to early morning, “but
City Food – Mango Ice-Cream, Shahi Cool Point Food by The Delhi Walla - July 13, 20230 Taste of the season. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] A resort near Gurgaon’s Bhawani Mandir has a mango tree so inspiring that the place is called The Mango Tree. While a restaurant there, in Golf Course Extension, is simply called Mango. An Old Delhi landmark too is dedicated to the mango—Masjid Aam Wali, near Khari Baoli. This being the heart of the mango season, the Walled City streets are naturally full of aam sightings. Young Nadeem is hawking the dusheris in Chitli Qabar, middle-aged Gulab is hawking the chausas in Choori Wallan. While the less makeshift Shahi Cool Point in Matia Mahal is selling the mangoes in a homemade ice-cream avatar. The joint is wildly famous for its other delicacies, but please
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Umama Khan, Pahari Imli Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - July 12, 2023July 12, 20230 The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] She gets up at 6. She goes to sleep at 11. Despite her day in her Pahari Imli home being so hectic—looking after husband, Shahnawaz, daughters Aaima and Rizah, and month-old son Mustafa—homemaker Umama Khan took out time to become a part of The Delhi Walla's Proust Questionnaire series in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. Your favorite occupation. I love to teach children. In fact, I did a few courses to become a teacher but then papa passed, and I could not get enough opportunities to build a career in teaching. Your favorite qualities in a man. Should be loyal, honest, suppotive, ambitious. Your favorite qualities in a woman. Same as
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Jonaki Ray’s Rain Poem, Chirag Enclave City Poetry by The Delhi Walla - July 12, 20230 Poetry in the city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] It was raining heavily on Sunday afternoon. That didn’t stop Jonaki Ray from carrying on with her business, which is poetry. Ensconced under an Amrita Shergil (“Three Girls”), in her Chirag Enclave flat, she was finishing her newest poem—on Delhi rains. Jonaki returned a week ago from a literary conference in Lisbon, where she launched her first poetry book (Firefly Memories). She agrees to share her poem, written in the ghazal style, with us. That, which escapes me There had been no warnings, only our ‘let’s escape now’ plan. And then the dust palling, the swooping of locusts’ swarms-like clouds, the striking of lightning at places; but where exactly, escapes me, now. We had stumbled out
City Landmark – Mullaji Ice Merchant, Mohalla Qabristan Chowk Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - July 10, 2023July 10, 20231 Of the ice age. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It never snows in Delhi. But our eyes can always see the ice at Mullaji Baraf Wale. This tiny establishment in Mohalla Qabristan Chowk sells baraf all through the year. It has to be one of the very few shops where you may buy baraf as causally as buying dal-cheeni-salt. But much has changed. Once upon a time, the shop would source its ice from the long-closed Baraf Khana in the nearby Subzi Mandi. Now, the baraf comes from the “ice factories” of distant Loni. Once, the baraf would be dispatched in a horse-drawn tonga, or in a bullock cart. Now, it arrives in a mini truck (late at night when the
City Faith – Shiv Temple, Jor Bagh Faith by The Delhi Walla - July 10, 20230 An oasis. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Hill, trees, bushes, grass. And to top it all—a temple at the top. Being here is like a get together with solitude and peace. People travel to sacred seclusions in the Himalayas, such as Amarnath and Kedarnath, to pray,, to rejuvenate. That same quest must also take them to this place, in Delhi’s heart. Perched on the flattened heights of a low hill, the little-known Shiv Mandir in Jor Bagh is that rare spot in the capital region where you escape from the gravitational pulls of daily anxieties. All you have to do is to mount a simple flight of stairs. It takes a minute to climb, after which you step into a tension-free