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 Landmark – Lakshmi Book Store, Janpath Bhawan Hangouts Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 20, 20240 A lesser-known haven. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Bookstores aspire to build a community of loyal readers, nudging the book browsers to linger on for hours. But this bookstore has a note stamped on the counter saying: “Please do not spend more than 15 minutes in the shop.” The little-known Lakshmi Book Store in Connaught Place’s Janpath Bhawan specialises in “occult sciences,” crammed with volumes on astrology’s many branches—astronomy, palmistry, numerology, Vastu, tarot card and face reading. The mezzanine floor destination is empty this evening in contrast to the jam-packed eateries (including the legendary Depaul’s!) downstairs in the market corridor. The shop started as a pavement stall in CP in 1951 by migrant Prem Sagar. It moved through a series of CP
City Landmark – New Art Installation, Mandi House Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 13, 2024August 13, 20240 In the world of public art. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A classical dancer in a classic dancing mudra, two tablas and two larger-than-life faces exuding such calmly trance that they could only be of artists in the middle of their early morning sadhana. This is among Delhi’s newest art installations. No big deal in that, for many have lately come up around Bharat Mandapam. This one is unique because it sits on the very heart of the capital’s art district—the Mandi House roundabout. Mandi House is the address of art galleries, concert halls, theatres and music schools. It has something of the Montmarte district of Paris where at one time bohemian artists would wander around with their paint brushes and canvasses.
City Landmark – Three Semal Trees, Hazrat Nizamuddin West Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 2, 20240 On the passing of a trinity [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In other news, semal flowers will no longer be seen in this park. The little municipal garden in Hazrat Nizamuddin West is reeling under a gaping loss. A few days ago, at around one in the afternoon, during a light shower accompanied by a moderate wind, a gigantic semal tree in the park fell. As it fell, it trampled upon two adjacent semal trees, causing them also to fall, a passer-by says. The secretive park lies in a corner of the posh neighbourhood, beside the busy Mathura Road, and for a long time has been among the best places in Delhi to enjoy the semal in bloom. During the
City Landmark – Kamala Places, Around Town Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - July 30, 20240 Delhi place-names and American politics. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? Somebody famous famously asked this sometime last year. She immediately went on to answer the question herself—“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” This is particularly true in the case of Delhi’s place-names. The names of Delhi localities didn’t just drop from the sky: each of them has a background. Accidentally, quite a few places in our city bear the first name of the woman quoted above. Another hint: she might become the first person of Indian origin to take oath as the president of the United States of America. Readers
City Curtain-Raiser – Humayun Museum, Near Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah Hangouts Landmarks Monuments by The Delhi Walla - July 27, 2024August 4, 20241 India's new heritage site museum. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nestled in a corner of the pristine Sunder Nursery garden, across the road from Humayun’s Tomb, a series of red sandstone ramps gently head to the grassy ground beneath. They descend into corridors and halls with massive sheesham doorways that summon the grandeur of Fatehpur Sikri’s Buland Darwaza. Inside, await five huge galleries of granite flooring, marble columns, and stone benches. Delhi is crusted with layers and layers of past. These exist laterally, extending outwards, but also vertically, beneath the ground, under a surface that millions of feet pound on every day. It is fitting, then, that the newest landmark of this city of graveyards is entirely underground. Opening next
City Landmark – Delite Cinema, Asaf Ali Road Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - July 27, 20240 70 years of delight. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Chandeliers, stained glass windows, wood-panelled walls, and stately staircases. This is Delhi’s oldest surviving cinema theater to have stayed with its original owners—a fact confirmed by author Ziya Us Salam, a scholar of the capital’s film theatres. This year the landmark on Asaf Ali Road quietly observed its 70th anniversary. Opened in April 1954 with Raj Kapoor’s Angaray, Delite stands where a portion of Old Delhi’s historic wall stood. The balcony’s waiting lounge doubles up as a restaurant with marble-top tables, the “Gents Toilet” has a long slim settee that wouldn’t look out of place in a Defence Colony drawing-room, and electric panels display the temperature within the hall.
City Neighbourhood – Hamdadrd Chowk, Old Delhi Hangouts Landmarks Walks by The Delhi Walla - July 27, 20240 Circle of birds. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This humid afternoon the circular traffic island of Hamdard Chowk on Asaf Ali Road is filled, as always, with hundreds of pigeons. The traffic noise is reaching into the sprawling circle weakened and indistinct. A man in white kurta pajama is slowly walking about the circle, stopping frequently, picking up things from the circle’s surprisingly high platform, and he is putting those things… into his mouth! These are broken pieces of mithai that somebody must have placed for the pigeons, he says. He doesn’t give reasons for consuming these himself. ‘Partner in pain’ in Urdu, the chowk’s name comes from the facing headquarters of Hamdard Laboratories At night, the traffic circle’s surroundings--the
City Landmark – Hafizji ki Clock Shop, Gali Choori Wallan Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - June 10, 2024June 11, 20240 Funeral blues, and resurrections. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Stop all the clocks, silence the street sounds, and bring out the janaza, let the mourners come. We thought that it would last forever, we were wrong. For a long time, the beautiful clock repair shop stood at the mouth of Old Delhi’s Gali Choori Wallan. It has vanished, along with its massive collection of stately old wall clocks. The shop closed some weeks ago. The passing of the landmark has progressed into new beginnings. The three venerable brothers—who would be seen hard at work inside the shop, diligently concentrating on those precious heirlooms—have launched their own clock-and-watch repairing shops. Riyaz Khan, who specialises in hand-wound wrist watches, has his new establishment in
City Landmark – Neem Tree, Old Delhi Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - June 5, 20240 A Walled City sight. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The night air is growing less hot, almost spring-like pleasant. The sky is pitch black, not a single star to be seen. The dozens of street stalls are lying locked, sheeted and roped. The deserted lanes are littered with trashy remains of the day—upturned slippers, stained paper plates and squeaky clean chicken bones. Most lamps are out. Some homeless citizens are slumped across a flat landing, probably asleep. A barely perceptible sound is of the shiny green neem leaves that rustle in occasional gusts of warm breeze. This tree is among the most picturesque night-time sights in Old Delhi. Positioned directly opposite the eastern face of Jama Masjid, its nocturnal avatar