City Monument – Mughal-Era Gateway, Chirag Delhi Monuments by The Delhi Walla - September 11, 20240 A portal to the village. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Time passes, things change, some things continue to stand. The historic Chirag Delhi village has transformed over the years, many of its old buildings (such beautiful doorways they had!) have disappeared, but this old gateway to the village has survived. This overcast afternoon, the timeworn portal is mutely overlooking a smoggy stream of pedestrians, bikes and autos (see photo). The busy road of the city unspools along the northern perimeter of the village. The inverse side of the gateway faces a life more at leisure—that being a sleepy village lane full of small shops such as Manoj Namkeen Bhandar, Ashok General Store, and JS Tailors. Meanwhile, a young man is stationed
City Hangout – G20 Relic, M-Block Market, GK II Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - September 9, 20240 A new souvenir of times past. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two white butterflies are flying over countries and continents, but are totally oblivious to the grand geography. They now pass over the Indian Ocean, gradually turn towards Northern Africa, and head to southern Europe. The butterflies are chasing each other over a map of the world, here at the public park in south Delhi’s M Block Market, in Greater Kailash 2. The world map came up a year ago, as part of a much larger installation to mark the G20 summit that opened in Delhi this day last year. In a city of monuments and limitless ruins, the G20 setup looks like one more relic of the capital’s multi-layered history.
City Neighbourhood – Tiraha Bairam Khan, Old Delhi Hangouts Regions by The Delhi Walla - September 7, 20240 A Walled City intersection. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tiraha Bairam Khan is a tiraha, a three-way avenue. One crowded passage goes to Chitli Qabar, one goes to Kucha Chelan, one goes to Dilli Gate. The center of the intersection is most fascinating, ringed by a mishmash of sights, sounds and colours. It comprises of a chhole kulche stall administered by Umesh Kumar, a tall letter box unlocked daily by the postman at 4pm to pick up the post, veggie stalls of Arshad and Irfan respectively, a fruit-and-clothes stall owned by Taufeeq (the stall was founded 50 years ago by his father, the late Syed Ahmed), and a display counter of plastic bins administered by vendor Amit. Overlooking the intersection is
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Asha, Sunday Book Bazar Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - September 6, 20240 Into a bookseller's soul. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is a living landmark of Delhi’s iconic Sunday Book Bazar. The venerable Asha is not only among the longest surviving booksellers in the market (30 years and counting!), but also its first woman bookseller (even today the market has only three women booksellers). Last Sunday while attending to her stall, she agreed to become a part of our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. The principal aspect of your personality. Being an independent woman. Your favourite qualities in a person. The willingness to be cooperative to others, as much as circumstances permit. Your idea of happiness. Reaching a stage in life where
City Life – Four Chai Drinkers, Yameen Peti Wale Life by The Delhi Walla - September 4, 20241 Tea time intimacies. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] At four in the evening, four carpenters settle down for tea. Clockwise from right: Alauddin, Kaleem, Farman and Imran Ali. The men work at Yameen Peti Wale. The workshop in Old Delhi’s Gali Chooriwallan is literally a hole in the wall, but, cave-like, it goes very deep within. On any given day, some of these men are seen ensconced into the remote interiors of the workshop, far from the daylight, surrounded by stacks of wooden planks, half-hidden in half-darkness. The men makes petiyan, or boxes. They agree to share their chai-time thoughts. Alauddin: I’m the only one among us four who isn’t from Purani Dilli. I came to Dilli more than 30 years
City Faith – Sufi Qawwali, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah Faith by The Delhi Walla - September 3, 2024September 4, 20240 Saqlain & Chand. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tonight (3 September, '24) Delhi’s most famous sufi shrine will host poetry-filled musical qawwalis until the morning. It is the 810th Jashn-e-Wiladat, or birthday celebrations, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulya, whose grave constitutes the historic dargah’s heart. Now see the photo of the two qawwal singers snapped in the shrine’s courtyard a week ago. Chand Nizami, right, might be more familiar because of his appearance in a chartbuster film qawwali (you know which!). While the much younger Saqlain is the third son of the greatest qawwal of our times. The two are rarely sighted together. Maybe because they belong to rival qawwal clans. That said, Saqlain’s Nizami Khusro Bandhus and Chand’s Nizami Bandhus
Mission Delhi – Saurabh, Central Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - September 2, 20240 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Uniformed in blue, he is stationed at the posh neighbourhood’s entrance, here in central Delhi, attending to his day shift as a gateway guard. Saurabh is 23. He arrived in Delhi five days ago from his home district of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh. It is his first time in the city, he says. He informs he did his postgraduate master's degree in commerce from Rewa’s Awadhesh Pratap Singh University. Saurabh was awarded the degree a year ago, but he did not immediately try to search for a suitable employment. Instead, he stayed at home, pressing pause on his private plans to focus on performing a grandson’s duties.
City Landmark – Cinema Excelsior, Bazar Sirki Walan Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 31, 2024August 31, 20240 A Walled City landmark. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Pahari Imli takes its name from being a hill that once boasted of a tamarind tree, Gali Mem Wali was the lane housing a “ma’am,” and Amrood Wali Masjid is a mosque that had a guava tree. The origins of Old Delhi place-names are easily relatable, with notable exceptions. Take this landmark. Its name feels as foreign as caviar will in Chandni Chowk. Oxford dictionary dates the word to 1778 when it originated as the Latin motto (‘higher’) on the seal of the State of New York. Say salam-namaste to Excelsior (pronounced "ek" + "sel" + "see" + "aw".). Shut since 2016, the single-screen cinema at Bazar Sirki Walan stands discreetly behind the
City Life – Rat Poison Sellers, Gurgaon Life by The Delhi Walla - August 31, 20240 One of the ways of making a living [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The world has its share of unloved and unwanted rats. This becomes evident in Gurugram’s bustling Sadar Bazar. It offers an unusually frequent sightings of street hawkers selling rat poison. Here are brief sketches of a few of them encountered across the seasons. Seeshpal arrived in the city more than two decades ago from a Rajasthan village. He spent the early weeks surveying the markets, observing the many street businesses. One afternoon in Sadar Bazar, he sighted a hawker walking along a packed lane with a placard hanging from his neck. The placard depicted a rat. The man was selling rat-killing pills and powders. Today, Seesh
City Home – Sharif Manzil, Ballimaran Delhi Homes Life by The Delhi Walla - August 29, 20241 An old mansion in the times of climate crisis. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The summer of 2024 will soon pass into memory for Sharif Manzil. The historic residence in Old Delhi’s Ballimaran has withstood the passing of too many summers. 304 summers to be precise—the house came up in the year 1720. This afternoon, Sharif Manzil’s patriarch is ensconced in his upper-floor drawing room. If you open the door behind the sofa on which Masroor Ahmed Khan is seated, and step out into the balcony, you will have a direct view of Gali Qasim Jan. That street is the address of Ghalib’s last haveli, the home of the great poet is a flower’s throw away from Sharif Manzil. “The haveli