City Monument – Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School, Ajmeri Gate Monuments by The Delhi Walla - September 14, 20240 A Walled City institution. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] When stone is sewn into air, the two elements unite to become a jaali. Such a lattice screen makes a heavy structure look light, as if a strong breeze might lift the structure any moment into the sky. Some of the capital’s most exquisite jaalis lie preserved inside a Walled City school, where they frame the boundary of a centuries-old grave chamber. Delhi’s oldest surviving educational institution, Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School is a world of red sandstones and lakhori bricks, arched doorways and miniature chhatris. (One door has its wooden exterior etched into flowers.) It was also the subject of a scholarly book published two years ago by Oxford University Press—The
City Life – Star Cricketers, Old Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - September 14, 20240 Lest we forget. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] During your next walking tour to Old Delhi, try catch glimpses of Nadeem, Kashif, Atif, Arib, Hayat and Kamran. These super six are being hailed by the historic quarter’s cricketing world as among the top players in the recently concluded BMMTA Cup (full form—Bazar Matia Mahal Traders Association). Matia Mahal with about 700 shops is among the Walled City’s most boisterous bazars. Last week the market’s association hosted a T10-style cricket tournament involving eight Old Delhi teams in seven matches held over four days in Chandni Chowk. The audience at the Shanti Desai Sports Club was made of Walled City’s cricket fans, along with students of a school close to the playground. The
City Landmark -Martyr Roads, Around Town Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - September 14, 20240 Lest we forget. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is commemorated in the Millennium City of Gurugram as a shaheed, a martyr. In 1999, honeymooner Rupen Katyal boarded with wife a Delhi-bound flight in Kathmandu. He was the only one among the 155 passengers killed by the hijackers in IC 814, which is also the name of a talk-of-the-town web series that purports to recreate the hijacking episode. One afternoon, Shaheed Rupin Katyal Marg was full of raised dust. A portion of the roadside was taken over by a snack stall with a broken chair, a citizen lay sprawled nearby. Delhi-NCR has many roads named after the nation’s shaheeds—such as Shaheed Major Vikas Yadav Marg, Shaheed Sukhbeer Singh Yadav
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Charanjeet Singh, Wenger’s Cake Shop Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - September 12, 20240 Glimpses of an iconic citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A familiar figure in turban and tie, Charanjeet Singh, 80, is the longtime face of Wenger's. The Connaught Place confectionary traces its inception to 1924, and the genial gent has been with it since 1965 (the young diploma holder from Khanna in Punjab arrived in Delhi in 1962, worked as a shift-in-charge at the Imperial hotel before being hired as a resident engineer for the cake shop’s then newly imported air-conditioning plant. He retired as a manager in 2004, but continues to work in his beloved workplace!). Over the decades, more than one generation of Delhiwale have accumulated fond memories of their cake shop chitchat with the soft-spoken “Sardarji.” He is
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