City Anniversary – Ahmad Ali’s Twilight in Delhi, Old Delhi Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - March 10, 20250 Twilight of Delhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] To turn 85 is a privilege. It means you have lived a decade beyond your golden anniversary. This year, two Delhi institutions are reaching this milestone. One is a novel. The other is a… we’ll celebrate the other one later in the week! Published in the autumn of 1940, Ahmed Ali’s Twilight in Delhi recreates a world of poets and lovers, begums and havelis, dargahs and tombs—and all of this is arranged around Jama Masjid (see photo). The sandstone mosque is mentioned many times over across the pages. Indeed, every Twilight devotee has her own beloved scene in the novel. A few of us for instance might fondly recall “Chaori Bazar”
City Walk – David Street Part 1, Old Delhi Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - February 23, 20250 The Old Delhi encyclopedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In the olden times, when the Sunday Book Bazar of Mahila Haat unfolded every week along the long Daryaganj pave, it was the Lohe Wala Pul that marked the market’s last point. The foot-over iron bridge was dismantled more than a decade ago. That was the area’s first loss. The next landmark to go was barber Baldev Raj’s long-time pavement establishment at the foot of the bridge. Baldev Raj hasn’t been seen for three years. And aloo paratha vendor Abdul Rehman, who would set up his stall next to Baldev Raj, wasn’t seen for months until he returned a day ago. He was unwell, he explains. In brief, the opening segment of David
City Neighbourhood – Kona, Old Delhi Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - January 18, 20250 The Walled City encyclopedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Straight, short and lean, the gali quickly hits an impasse, ending into a doorway veiled by a flashy red curtain. The short gali deserves to be recorded—because it's there!—and because every big and small Walled City lane commands a unique personality. One lane near Turkman Gate Bazar for instance is shorter than even this lane, called Gali Nal Wali (already chronicled on this page). This lane though has been denied the formal status of a gali. It is simply referred to as Kona. Kona means corner, and the lane indeed lies in a corner of Haveli Azam Khan Chowk. A pedestrian-friendly intersection, the chowk is like New York City—it never sleeps, energised by
City Neighbourhood – Gali Kalyanpura, Old Delhi Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - January 17, 20250 The Walled City encyclopedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Mohammed Tahir is an unusual type of healer. He is said to help rid people of their inner djinns and bhoot. The healer’s hoarding (hand-painted by Walled City’s iconic Shakeel Artist) is hanging at the mouth of the lane—a long, very long lane. This cold gloomy evening, nobody being accosted in Old Delhi’s Gali Kalyanpura has any gyan to offer on the story behind its name. The easygoing chap at M.S. Mobile Communication suggests badgering the street’s elderly folk. But the elderly face at the facing stationery shop says that those who would have known a story or two are lying buried in Dilli Gate Qabristan. Whatever, the first part of
City Neighbourhood – Kucha Faulad Khan, Old Delhi Regions by The Delhi Walla - October 27, 20240 A street in the Walled City. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Kucha traditionally implies a lane of dwellers sharing the same occupation. Faulad means steel, or strong. So Old Delhi’s Kucha Faulad Khan neighbourhood can be explained as a strong man’s street. As for Faulad Khan the man, let’s pester the street’s shopkeepers. The genial Mahesh administers Asia General Store. “Faulad Khan...,” he murmurs, deep in thought. He remains thoughtful for some more moments, and then smiles, shrugging. “Well, it has always been called by this name.” Mahesh doesn’t live in Faulad Khan but his shop has been here for 75 years. It was set up by his father, the late Nand Lal, who used to run a vegetable stall on the
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
City Walk – Gali Lal Darwaza, Old Delhi Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - August 26, 20240 A Walled City lane. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The yellow door headlines the saffron doorway, and the wall around is light blue. The sight dazzles the eye. It is one of the many compulsively clickable private doorways on this Walled City street, which is actually named after a doorway. Gali Lal Darwaza is entered, naturally,, through a lal darwaza, red doorway. This long lane near Bazar Sitaram goes past a series of residences and temples before ending into a… well, doorway. Here’s a severely truncated tour of Lal Darwaza darwazas. —An unusually tall wooden door graced by a sculpted Ganesh ji forms the portal to Jugal Bhawan, marked with the year 1953. —A doorway’s dark-wood door is arrayed out
City Neighbourhood – Gali Haveli Kallu Khawas, Old Delhi Hangouts Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - August 17, 20240 The world of a long lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] What to write about it? This is just a narrow lane remarkable only for looking too-too unremarkable. Its mouth at the bustling Chitli Qabar Bazar street is flanked by a bangle stall. Whatever, the gali seems short and dull, it must end some dozen steps ahead on reaching that facing wall. The lane reaches the wall, but doesn’t end there. It veers to the left, goes straight, turns sharply to the right, goes straight, to the right again, straight, to the left, finally ending into a panel of partly pink doorways. Contradicting the first impression, the entire path turns out to be dense with many sights and many sounds. Such
City Neighbourhood – Gali Pyaun Wali, Chawri Bazar Faith Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - August 4, 20240 Lane with a well and temple. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Maa Durga, Bhagwan Krishen with Radha ji, Devi Sita with Bhagwan Ram, and Hanuman ji… all these divinities are present, their portraits sanctifying the temple’s blue walls. The eyes though are first drawn to Shiv Bhagwan. The life-like statue’s right palm is bestowing a blessing, while the wrists are adorned with marigold malas. The eyes next wander down to something less common for a sanctum sanctorum. A blue hand-pump. It stands where a kuan is said to have existed. For centuries, that well diligently served this part of the Walled City, a passer-by says. Inevitably the place came to be identified as a general pyaun of drinking water for the
City Street – Gali Surkh Poshan, Old Delhi Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - June 15, 20240 Red lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The fakeer’s deep-throated singing voice is wafting probingly along the weathered walls of the narrow cul-de-sac. The other much younger fakeer is silent, holding a small polythene thaila filled with surkh-red tomatoes. Both men are attired in white. Gali Surkh Poshan must have its share of dwellers, but nobody else can be seen this afternoon. No matter, the fakeer continues to sing with feeling. Dur hoon Medine se, Aur isliye udasi hain. (Being far from Medina, Is the cause for sadness.) Meanwhile, it is unbearably hot, but it is so outside the lane, where the lane merges into the open expanse of Gali Choori Walan. Within the cramped Surkh Poshan, it is like being in cool