City Walk – Civil Lines, North Delhi & Gurugram General Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 18, 20230 Double Lines. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is the balmiest of places. It is the balmiest of places. It is called Civil Lines. It is called Civil Lines. It is in north Delhi. It is further south, in Gurugram. The all-knowing Wikipedia describes Civil Lines as “the residential neighbourhoods developed during the British Raj for its senior civilian officers like Divisional commissioner and District magistrate.” Here’a brief account of a smog-soaked wintertime walk in both the aforementioned Lines, lined with bungalows and trees. Indeed, to stand under these roadside arbors and purposelessly watch the slow-moving cyclists on the road lulls the senses—as if you have finally orbited out from the worldly loop of WhatsApp alerts and instagram reels. Delhi Civil This
City Season – October Light, Around Town General by The Delhi Walla - October 13, 20230 Tracking the season's subtle glow [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The shadows the tree leaves are making on the wall are continually trembling (because a slow breeze is blowing the adjoining trees). On the same wall, a spherical shadow of some indecipherable thing enlarges and contracts. Elsewhere on the wall, spheres of brightnesses partly intersect, like circles in a Venn diagram (see photo). Meanwhile, the evening light is becoming slightly gold, stripping the wall of its corporeality, turning it almost translucent. Such are the illusions unfolding on Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg. The shadows formed by the foliage of the roadside peepals have transformed a dull boundary wall into a panel of artistic cut-outs. This is indeed a special time of the year,
City Landmark – Mobile Phone Statues, South Extension General Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - September 30, 20230 Installations in a changing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] See the smiling woman on the bench staring at her mobile. Maybe she’s reading a WhatsApp joke, or binge-watching those funny Instagram reels with high-pitched laughing sound effects. We’ll never know. The phone isn’t real, nor the woman. This statue is a new addition to the city’s public art installations. So new that it might just have been installed this day itself. A garland of fresh gendaphool is strung around her neck, here at the plaza atop the metro station in South Extension 2. The statue is extremely arresting because it is so relatable. Look around at the fellow humans in flesh and blood. Each is with a mobile. There is no
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Esha Rajan, Najafgarh City Poetry General by The Delhi Walla - September 28, 2023September 28, 20230 Poet in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is a poet and she lives in Najafgarh, so it is logical to call her a poet of Najafgarh. But the assertion holds true only up to a point. True, Esha Rajan has grown up in this zipcode far from Delhi’s city center, and she does know the gallis and gateways of Najafgarh, and she fondly talks of its winter-season mustard fields. But her true karma bhoomi, the land where she came of age, happens to be the campuses of Delhi University. Esha became more deeply acquainted with herself at Jesus and Mary College in the South Campus, where she graduated, and at the Arts Faculty in the North Campus
City Nature – Tree Tomb, Kasturba Gandhi Marg General by The Delhi Walla - September 4, 2023September 4, 20230 Trees of Kasturba Gandhi Road. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In this megapolis of tombs, this too appears to be a tomb. A tree fell down some years ago, here at Kasturba Gandhi Marg. All that is left is the stump of the trunk. The site resembles a memorial because a circle of unpainted bricks borders the tree’s remains (see photo). As if these remnants were sacrosanct, not to be stepped upon by an unsuspecting passerby. What tree was it? A quick investigation ended up in a catalogue of all the trees lining this side of the road. The survey begins at the KG Marg’s starting point, across the radial from Connaught Place’s N-block inner circle, and ends at British Council. You
City Life – Greenlands, Gurugram General by The Delhi Walla - September 1, 2023September 1, 20230 Train views. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Before the tombs, the qilas, the bhawans, the DDA flats, what was it like? This zameen, on which our Delhi stands. Easy to tell you about the land on which Gurugram stands. The Millennium City is a more recent construct. This land of malls/ condos/towers used to be a sprawl of grass/trees/farm-fields. But not all of that paradise is lost. Such panoramas can still be sighted in parts of Gurugram. All you have to do is to board any of the Rewari-bound trains. An average express bolts through the small Gurugram rail station within seconds but the city being huge, the train leaves its last point after very many minutes. And through the
City Life – Gali Chamre Wali Part 1, Old Delhi General Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 2023June 3, 20230 Life of a lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tak tak tak tak. An elderly man in an extra-maheen white kurta pajama is walking extremely slowly into the narrow gali. His metal walker is tap-tap-tapping the dusty ground strewn with discarded plastic packets. The street is choked with eavesdropping walls and windows. A black dog is asleep, curled into a ball. The gigantic door to the first house is ajar, revealing a long straight flight of stairs going up to a landing illumined in fuzzy orange. Gali Chamre Wali used to be a locality of people employed in the chamra, or leather, trade, mutters the man, his voice like the soft clanging of two tiny copper chords. “Most of
City Life – The Delhi Walla’s Speech on Being a ‘Hyperlocal Homer’, India International Center General by The Delhi Walla - February 10, 2023May 1, 20232 The Delhi Walla's talk on International Greek Language Day. [Photo by Ismini Panagopoulou-Boudouris] Hello everyone, hello Mr Ambassador, and thank you Ismini for inviting me. To me, who lives more than 3000 miles away from Athens, the word Greece first and foremost used to evoke… “Greek salad.” This is true: Greek salad was my first practical exposure to Greece—and not really the history schoolbooks. Each time I would be eating this exotic-named dish, I would wonder: what’s the fuss about Greek salad? Seriously, the taste was no big deal—at least in the restaurants of the UP cities where I grew up. The salad would have too much kheera—cucumber—in it. And no green chillies, which I adore. But Greece—Greek language—Greek myths—Greek literature—and its greatest writer—came
City Life – Place Names, Around Town General by The Delhi Walla - February 6, 2023February 6, 20230 No small wonder. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Time passes. Places are transformed. Something routine in timeless cities like Delhi/Dilli/Indraprastha/Khandavprastha. This year the Mughal Gardens in Rashtrapati Bhawan (formerly the Viceroy's House) has been rechristened Amrit Udyan. Here’s a list of few of the many, many places in the Delhi region that met the same treatment, sometimes more than once. Gurugram, earlier Gurgaon An entire city had its name changed in 2016 when Gurgaon was turned into Gurugram, a nod to the belief that the place originated as a village given by the Pandavas as gurudakshina to Guru Dronacharya. The city also has Dronacharya Government College on the prosaically named New Railway Road, and it continues to have a village called Gurgaon. Kartavya
City Nature – Bougainvillea Trees, Lodhi Garden General by The Delhi Walla - November 3, 2022November 3, 20220 Life outside the season [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Where have the pinks gone? This pair of much-instagrammed bougainvilleas in Lodhi Gardens are so large that they are as imposing as a tree. In season, which is at least twice a year, the trees get loaded with tens of thousands of bougainvilleas flowers. They then resemble a hapless bride with too much jewellery. Of course, their blossoming have already been celebrated in this space. It is high time to applaud these friends even during a part of the year when they stray away from the dictates of conventional beauty. This afternoon, in early November, the leafy trees are without their famous flowers, and are appearing disarmingly casual—like a celebrity in pajamas, without