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Year: 2009

Mission Delhi – Berenice Ellena, Jangpura

by The Delhi Walla - 8

One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] When sad, Berenice Ellena locks herself in her Jangpura apartment and listens to flamenco songs, Portuguese lamentations or nostalgic Brazilian music. “I love the sound of these languages,” the Frenchwoman says. “They are like a cuddle.” Born in Bordeaux, the famous wine region in France, Ms Ellena has been in Delhi for two years, creating European designs out of Indian fabrics. She first took a house in Nizamuddin West, a neighbourhood popular with foreigners. “In Paris, there are different areas, which are like villages with distinct personalities,” says Ms Ellena, “and Nizamuddin West is like that.” In the evenings, she would walk around the streets of Nizamuddin

Madrid Confessions – What I Really Did

by The Delhi Walla - 4

Schmap Madrid Guide has liked The Delhi Walla. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] [One of the several photos taken by The Delhi Walla has been selected for inclusion in the ninth edition of Schmap Madrid Guide. Click here to see that picture] Never before been out of India but having grown with Tolstoy, Bach and Vermeer, I considered myself a brown European with Proustian sensibilities. In September, 2009, I finally went to the ‘mother continent’, not on an extensive tour, but for a weeklong getaway in Madrid. (You may read and find links to The Delhi Walla's entire Madrid Diary here). I wasn’t excited. I feel for Paris and Vienna. On the map, Madrid is closer to Morocco than Moscow. Besides,

Dateline GB Road – Sex Workers Want License

by The Delhi Walla - 7

Delhi’s red light district is hopeful. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] GB Road, Delhi’s red light district, is all gratitude to the Indian Supreme Court. “We are so happy,” says Ms Nasreen, a sex worker. On December 9th, 2009, a two-judge bench in the court asked the government whether it could legalize prostitution if it couldn’t curb it. Immediately afterwards, the kothas (establishments) were abuzz with what might happen next. “If we get licenses, then we’ll have ration cards,” says sex worker Ms Babita, “and we can also save ourselves from being exploited by lawyers, kotha owners, pimps, money-lenders, and women traffickers.” A substantial portion of the earnings of the mostly illiterate women in GB Road is spent in legal hassles.

Mission Delhi – Muhammad Salim, Mathura Road

by The Delhi Walla - 3

One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is holding onto the rear bumper of a fast moving auto, the wheels of his low-floor improvised wooden trolley making a clattering noise on the potholed street. The auto is turning left towards Oberoi Hotel flyover. Letting it go, he is steering the trolley across Mathura Road, maneuvering it by hands. The cars and scooters are not slowing down to give him way. A blueline bus misses him just in time. How much of the world the 18-year-old Muhamamd Salim would have seen if the polio had not destroyed his legs? Three days ago he boarded Dakshin Express from Jhansi, his hometown in Uttar Pradesh state,

Mission Delhi – One Percent in 13 Million

by The Delhi Walla - 18

Cracking the city. [Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi] You don’t understand a city by its buildings and bazaars, but by its people. That's why you can’t take in the entire Delhi in one lifetime - we have 13 million souls here. The Delhi Walla plans to make portraits of one per cent of this 8-digit figure, that is 1, 30, 000 Delhiwallas. Each portrait will have a photograph of the person along with a peek into his life. By the time I finish the project (just assuming), the looks and the lives of most people I will photograph and profile is bound to change. You may wonder then, what is the point? People are not ruins. They evolve over the years. Trying to

City Sighting – Arundhati Roy, Jamia Millia Islamia

by The Delhi Walla - 16

She was mobbed by admirers. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] There was no wine, no cheese. Yet it was a full house at the 600-seater Ansari Auditorium at Jamia Millia Islamia University. A day after her 48th birthday, author Arundhati Roy was in conversation with Professor Shohini Ghosh. The venue was so crowded that some had to be turned away. In the two-hour-long talk, the essayist talked on India's Maoist crisis, discussed human right violations in Kashmir, chuckled over the idea of a mass struggle of the Middle Class, ripped apart the hypocricy of the corporate media and also brought up the new novel she is working on — in passing. She was in a saree. Asked what she feels

City Monument – Ghalib’s Tomb Restoration, Nizamuddin Basti

by The Delhi Walla - 10

Restoring the dignity of Delhi's greatest poet. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi By March, 2010, the 19th-century Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib will finally lie in a resting place worthy of his iconic status. "It will all be simple and elegant," says Mohammad Shaheer, a landscape architect, of his latest charge — Ghalib's tomb. The greatest flagbearer of Urdu poetry has been dead for 140 years, but his grave is at the centre of a revival plan, one that hopes to transport the visitor "to a pool of peace", as Mr Shaheer puts it. The tomb complex covers an area of 3,500 sq ft and is tucked away in Nizamuddin Basti, a densely populated 14th century Delhi village. Like other places of historical

City Sighting – Arundhati Roy, Around Town

by The Delhi Walla - 6

On the Delhi-based author's 48th birthday. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi November 24, 1961. That’s when Arundhati Roy was born. On her 48th birthday, The Delhi Walla presents a few Delhiwallas seen with The God of Small Things, Ms Roy’s first novel. In Nizamuddin East (A Hindustani classical singer, his mother is always upset with him for not being as crazy for books as she is) In Defence Colony Market (An India-born Tibetan, she has seen Julia Robert's Pretty Woman more than a dozen times) In Videocon Tower, Jhandewallan Park (A radio jockey, she loves talking about Jane Austen's women and men, off the air) In Nizamuddin Basti (A butcher by trade, he is in love with two girls) In Connaught Place

Memo from Jantar Mantar – 19/11, The Day of Infamy

by The Delhi Walla - 7

Delhi’s historic solar observatory attacked. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is quiet on Ground Zero. “I have worked in Jantar Mantar for 40 years and have seen many demonstrations but never such vandals,” says Harilal, a sweeper, 24 hours after the pillaging of this 18th century solar observatory in Central Delhi. On November 19, 2009, the first day of the World Heritage Week, thousands of farmers from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh came visiting Jantar Mantar. Protesting against the sugarcane pricing of the Indian government, their plan was to gather outside the monument — the designated place for demonstrations. However, hundreds, possibly thousands, of farmers gatecrashed into the Jantar Mantar complex. What followed could put Nadir Shah, Delhi’s great plunderer,

City Life – William Dalrymple, Bestselling Author

by The Delhi Walla - 0

Delhi’s most famous expat author. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] William Dalrymple has a big paunch. When The Delhi Walla met the Delhi-based British author at his Mira Singh farmhouse off the Mehrauli-Gurgaon highway, he was lounging on a wicker chair in his garden. Looking like a white nabab, Mr Dalrymple is as popular. India International Center fills up each time he speaks. His articles are published in literary journals such as The New Yorker. Mr Dalrymple’s bitch, Aishwarya, was barking; his bird Albinia was kissing him on the lips; his children were playing with goats and cocks; his wife, Olivia, had returned from a walk. The latest New York Review of Books was on the table, along with his latest work,

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