City Food – Ushop Veg Spl. Thali, Manipur Food by The Delhi Walla - August 12, 20230 A food stall in Dilli Haat. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The tables are empty, though it is lunchtime. Manipur is one of the many food stalls in Dilli Haat craft bazar, where each eatery in the food plaza is named after an Indian state, purporting to represent the cuisine of that land. The menu cover shows a pair of red chilies, crisscrossed, and includes dishes that might not be exclusive to Manipur. Such as paneer momos, Singapore veg. noodles, American chop suey and Chinese chop suey. The friendly attendant—Raju from Jharkhand— points out “Ushop veg spl. thali” and “Ushop non-veg spl thali” as authentically Manipuri. “But the veg. thali is also actually non-veg, it comes with fish,” he politely
City Walk – Faseel Road Part 1, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - August 12, 2023August 21, 20230 Path by the wall. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The dictionary meaning of the Persian word Faseel is ‘qile ki diwar,’ the fort wall. Once the entire Old Delhi was gheraoed by a 5.5 miles-long city wall, punctuated with 12 gateways (+2 at the Red Fort). The world outside the diwar was considered wild. By sunset, the gateways would be shut closed, manned by night sentries armed with weapons and flaming mashal. Being Delhi’s newest edition, nobody then called Old Delhi old. Most citizens referred to the quarter as Faseelband Shahr—the city within the wall. The term has fallen out of circulation among the Faseelband Shahr’s new generation, occasionally popping up in Urdu dailies. Logically enough, Zayr-e-Faseel (literally, the side of