City Food – Yellow Dal, Karim’s
Simple but complicated. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is startling to discover that the capital’s most delicious yellow dal is to be found at Karim’s, the Mughlai eatery famous for its non-vegetarian biryanis, kebabs and kormas. The…
City Notice – The Delhi Proustians XXIX, Outside Wenger’s
A la recherche du temps perdu. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla regrets to inform that the 29th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust, could not take place as scheduled….
City Secret – Old Swiss Watches, Nizamuddin Basti
Finding lost time. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here you get old hand-wound Swiss watches for cheap. Javed Husain Khan’s roadside ‘counter’ stands under a babool tree, at the border of central Delhi’s Nizamuddin Basti and Nizamuddin West….
City Library – Nandini Mehta’s Books, Vasant Vihar
A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One evening, The Delhi Walla knocks on the door of Nandini Mehta. In her sixties, Mrs Mehta lives with her husband Dalip in a bungalow in Vasant Vihar, a south…
City Life – Dangerous Bedroom, School Lane Flyover
Sleeping with the traffic. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] About midnight. A few men and a few dogs are sleeping on the concrete divider. “The (traffic) fumes prevent the insects from coming on to the middle of the…
City Moment – The Delhi Metro, Ghazipur Road
The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One evening The Delhi Walla was on the pedestrian bridge built across the Ghazipur Road in east Delhi. It was twilight, the hour of commuters. Below, the road swarmed…
City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XXVIII, Indian Coffee House
A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 28th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read…
City Monument – Maulana Azad’s Mausoleum, Near Meena Bazaar
The tomb of secularism. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is circled by the sounds of Shahjahanabad’s beggars, pavement vendors, shopkeepers, shoppers, goats, and amateur cricketers. Yet, the garden-tomb of Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed, aka Maulana Azad, remains…
City Book – Nobody Can Love You More, GB Road
The first book on Delhi’s red-light district. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] In GB Road, Delhi’s red light district, the women of Kotha No. 300 raise their children; visit temples, shrines and mosques; complain about pimps and brothel owners; cook for…
Mission Delhi – Muhammed Anwar, Hazrat Nizamuddin Chilla
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The elderly fakir has always felt a sense of peace living year after year alongside a graveyard in the Sufi shelter of Hazrat Nizamuddin’s Chilla….
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