"The Sweet Smell of Hash Filled the Nooks and Corners of St. Stephen's" – Interview with Siddhartha Basu, India's No. 1 Quiz Master (Part II) General by The Delhi Walla - January 31, 20081 GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The iconic face of Indian TV sits down with The Delhi Walla.Calcutta-born Siddhatha Basu is widely recognized as father of television quiz shows in South Asia. Managing Director of Synergy Adlabs, he has produced TV classics like Quiz Time and Kaun Banega Crorepati. Mr. Basu lived in Delhi all these years but recently shifted to Bombay. The Delhi Walla badgered him on his life, wife, career, and just why (oh why) he ditched our Delhi.[This is the second of the three-part interview series Mr. Basu gave to Mayank Austen Soofi. In the first he compared lives in Bombay and Delhi.]Babu, how was Delhi like
Shopping – Card Street, Chawri Bazaar General by The Delhi Walla - January 26, 20080 GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.A street dedicated to wedding cards.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Delhi marriages may be made in heaven but their announcements are printed in Chawri Bazaar. Ask Sonal and Geetesh, or Yashwant and Suman. Like thousands of Delhi's newly wed couples, they too had their wedding cards printed here. This market, a part of which is dedicated exclusively to wedding cards, has an easy access. If you are at the Chawri Bazaar metro station, walk in the direction of Jama Masjid. Soon chaat stalls will give way to card shops (more clue: daily wage laborers carrying tonnes of A-4 size paper on their bent back).
"Bombay is now my Karmabhoomi, Not Delhi" – Exclusive Interview with Siddhartha Basu, India's No. 1 Quiz Master General by The Delhi Walla - January 23, 20083 GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The iconic face of Indian TV sits down with The Delhi Walla.Calcutta-born Siddhatha Basu is widely recognized as father of television quiz shows in South Asia. Managing Director of Synergy Adlabs, he has produced TV classics like Quiz Time and Kaun Banega Crorepati. Mr. Basu lived in Delhi all these years but recently shifted to Bombay. The Delhi Walla badgered him on his life, wife, career, and just why (oh why) he ditched our Delhi.[This is the first of the three-part interview series Mr. Basu gave to Mayank Austen Soofi. The picture shows him with wife Mrs. Anita Kaul Basu.]Welcome to The Delhi Walla,
Photo Essay – Muharram Mourning, Kashmere Gate Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - January 20, 2008December 17, 20107 The heart could not hold its tears. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Portraits of grief captured in the Muharram procession in Kashmere gate, Old Delhi. We're in mourning Ya Hussain Ya Hussain The Karbala Story - listen and cry Hai Hussain We lost! In agony Feeling the tragedy Inflicting pain Remembering Karbala Just tears In rage Mullah's kurta Ladakhi mourners Bloodied grief No one is left unmoved Ya Ali Ya Hussain
Viewpoint – My Delhi Vs Lucknow, Punjabis and the Americans General by The Delhi Walla - January 7, 200814 GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The city is changing its hues.[Text by Sadia Dehlvi; picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Delhi is the city of my birth and it is a prayer that it may be my burial ground too. Delhi, the threshold of Sufis is for me near sacred as the holy as the cities of Mecca and Medina. Prophet Mohammed is the pride of Allah and the Sufis are the pride of the Prophet. Delhi is one of the centres where the light of Medina radiates in abundance. History and background is one way of defining ourselves and to the group we belong. I must confess that my
Media Report – The Delhi Walla is the Most Compelling and Attractive Indian Blog General by The Delhi Walla - January 6, 20082 GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Mail Today newspaper, part of the India Today Group, is awestruck by this blogsite.[The newsreport was published in the print edition of Mail Today on January 3, 2008. The story is by Binoo K. John]Perhaps the most compelling and attractive Indian blog I have come across is the delhiwalla blog run by Mayank Austen Soofi. Soofi is a creative photographer chronicling Delhi, its moods, its tombs, its histories and its dirty face with some amazing photography. He takes pains to avoid the clichéd angles and there is an effort to capture the defining moment.Like all bloggers he puts his daily activities up there for us
January 1, 2008 – Letter from The Delhi Walla General by The Delhi Walla - January 1, 2008January 1, 20116 Coming home to Dilli. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The last week of the last year was memorable. Along with Arundhati Roy's twins, I travelled to Ajmer, Jaipur, Fatehpur Sikri, and Agra. The medieval alleys of Ajmer, saturated with Jerusalem-isque spiritualism, overwhelmed my senses. The meetha paan in Jaipur’s Jauhri Bazaar brought me easy laughter. The Hindu-Muslim-Christian influences in the ruins of Fatehpur Sikri made me sentimental. The obscene beauty of Taj Mahal blinded my eyes. I did other, unmentionable, things too. Like the namaz number in Ajmer dargah and evening aarti in Mathura’s Krishna temple. It all was heady and too much. Sometimes I had tears in my eyes. The familiar world too disappeared. No internet, no blogging, no writing, no