City Landmark – Deserted Bungalow, Connaught Place Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - April 7, 2015April 7, 20153 Space and the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There is a rare bungalow on Tolstoy Lane, a pedestrian-friendly street in the colonial-era business district of central Delhi’s Connaught Place. Nobody lives in the house. The only inhabitants are a couple of unwieldy trees. “The family left long ago” – the deserted building seems to say to the onlooker. It looks severely weather-beaten. The windows are broken and the paint has peeled off the walls, exposing the bricks beneath. The boundary wall is overrun with wild creepers. The porch is buried under fallen leaves. A couple of high-rises stand behind the bungalow. The old building is now being demolished. A high-rise is to be built in its place. After
City Landmark – Amrit Book Company, Connaught Place Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - January 9, 2015January 9, 20152 Surviving, for now. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This bookshop is a great spot for another Starbucks. (Connaught Place has just two Bucks so far.) The display counter will take over the left-side book shelves. The Classics corner will become a table for two. The poetry section will be a sideboard. The place will feel less bookish. There will be real life scenes of lovers, loners, and backpackers, with occasional sightings of book lovers. The coffee crowd will have no idea that this place used to be Amrit Book Company. The store was founded in 1936 by a former railway clerk named Amrit Dhar. Today, his son Prem Sharma sits at the cashier’s desk. Prem Sharma’s two sons, Puneet and Sumit, handle
City Landmark – Indira Gandhi’s Bungalow, Safdarjung Road Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - December 22, 2014November 22, 20152 The queen's white house. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One small group of women is wearing saris, Gujarati style. Another group is chattering in Bengali. A third group of women, with jasmine flowers in their hair, is clearly from the south. A barefoot man in a yellowing dhoti could be a farmer from any village in India. This diverse crowd walks wide-eyed in a white bungalow on central Delhi’s 1, Safdarjung Road. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi lived in this house for 20 years, until her assassination in 1984. It is now a memorial to her. Such conversion might never happen again in Delhi. “Henceforth, no bungalow shall be made available for memorial for any person,” Arun Jaitley, a cabinet minister in
City Landmark – Indian National Flag, Central Park Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 8, 2014August 8, 20141 People's republic of flagistan. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The largest in India, this national flag is larger than a badminton court. You can spot it from Kasturba Gandhi Marg, or from the samosa stand outside The Embassy restaurant, or even from inside the display window of Wenger’s pastry shop in Connaught Place (CP). The best front view is from Janpath. But perhaps you have already seen it on Facebook — in your friend’s selfie. Stitched by five tailors in east Delhi’s Jagriti Enclave, the tricolour in Central Park soars over the white arcades of colonial-era CP. In July 2014, the caretakers of the “monumental flag” resolved a tiff on the maintenance expenses, amounting to 60,000 rupees monthly. We will
City Landmark – Bharat Hair Dresser, Khan Market Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - July 28, 2014July 28, 20141 Small wonder. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The old Khan Market exists in memories alone. Sovereign Dairies has closed. Raj Sweet Shop has closed. Empire Stores has closed. Caryhom Ice Cream has closed. Modern Hair Dressers has closed. Pat a Cake has closed. The Music Shop has closed. The Book Shop has closed. Bharat Hair Dresser has not closed. This salon opened in 1952, a year after the setting up of Khan Market, which remained a cheap neighborhood bazaar until the 1990s when it transformed into a high-end shopping destination. Like the last man standing in the wake of a nuclear holocaust, Bharat Hair Dresser continues to retain the character of a shop-around-the-corner. The Hindi-speaking barbers gossip about the morning headlines
City Landmark – Aleksandr Pushkin, Mandi House Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - June 20, 2014June 20, 20142 The Russian abroad. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Moscow-born Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin seems at home in Delhi. The Russian poet’s statue stands high on one side of central Delhi's Mandi House traffic square. The statue is so discreetly situated that unless you are not actively looking for Pushkin, you will not be able to spot him. Resting on a nearby bench, mechanic Abdul Qadir says that Puskin was installed here in 1933. India was a British colony then. Why would the English choose a Russian and ignore their poets? “This Roosi must have have done something good for them,” says Mr Qadir. Pushkin died in 1837. Almost 150 years later he became responsible for the international success of a Delhi
City Landmark – Hindu College, North Campus Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - June 6, 2014June 6, 20142 The rightward course. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It appears to be a new dawn for the “lotus”. No, The Delhi Walla is not cheering the 2014 election victory of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Narendra Modi, who led the campaign with a plastic lotus, his party’s symbol, pinned to his jacket. I mean the logo of Delhi University’s (DU’s) Hindu College, which shows a rising sun above a lotus-like flower. On closer examination, though, it turns out to be a water lily. News anchor Arnab Goswami is perhaps the college’s most famous alumnus. In May, while being feted by the college alumni association at The LaLit hotel, Mr Goswami, who studied sociology, said: “This award means more to me than any award in
City Landmark – Taxi Stands, Around Town Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - May 19, 2014July 21, 20142 Almost history. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Just the place to while away an evening—string cots under mulberry trees, cold water in earthenware pots, a table fan to keep the flies away, and if it rains, a cabin for shelter. You need to be a cab driver to lie on an inviting cot. For this is the Anand Taxi Stand on Subramania Bharti Marg in central Delhi. If it were not for the black and yellow Ambassadors, this roadside landmark could have been mistaken for a shrine — with multicoloured cots set out beside the open-air tomb of a Sufi saint. The 50-year-old taxi stand has 10 kali-peelis, driver-speak for the aforementioned cars, and a few DLYs, the slang for taxis with
City Landmark – Flyovers, Around Town Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - May 7, 2014May 7, 20140 The underbelly. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi has 90 flyovers. And some of them play a role beyond ensuring the smooth flow of traffic. Take the ITO-Ring Road flyover. The IP Estate police station is located underneath it — as is a tea stall, whose grim-faced owner, Shankar Das, makes chai for policemen and visitors whose relatives are locked up in the police station. The tea stall does not appear to be doing brisk business at the moment; perhaps the crime rate is down. While Mr Das awaits a customer, his three-year-old daughter Aanchal is playing with an empty steel bowl, and wife Seema is staring at an abandoned, dilapidated jeep beside the stall. Damaged possibly in an accident, the vehicle
City Neighborhood – Sujan Singh Park, Central Delhi Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - March 17, 2014March 20, 20141 The higher plateau. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Green creepers cover the red brick walls. Hibiscus vines frame the windows. Pink bougainvilleas climb to higher balconies. A large mulberry tree graces the lawn at the center. The apartments, with their high ceilings and fire places, betray their colonial-era loyalty. Sujan Singh Park in central Delhi is rumoured to be the address of the bookish gentry. The drawing rooms are, apparently, shrines to antique hardbounds. The curtains are said to be embroidered with verses of great poets. Every home is believed to be inhabited by a published author. Author Khushwant Singh is the most famous resident here. The plate beside his door-bell says: “Please do not ring the bell unless you are expected.” In