City Style – The Classy Delhiwalla, Matia Mahal
Searching for the stylish.
[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]
The Delhi Walla saw this man in the Walled City’s Matia Mahal Bazaar. He was selling halwa on the pavement but he actually looked like an Ottoman vizier.
The man was glowing as bright as street-lamps though his primary attire was simple: a spotless-white cotton shalwar kurta, which made sense since it was summer. The shining colours came from his necklaces, from the stones of his giant finger rings, from his golden-yellow jooti and from his red velvet tasseled cap, the Turki topi. During the old times in Old Delhi, turki topi was as common as denim is today. The man told me that the cap belonged to his grandfather.
Any other person might have failed to carry off this look. The big stones would have looked vulgar. The cap would have seemed out of place. But this man carried off the look most elegantly. If Old Delhi starts its own GQ magazine, then he must be its first cover boy.
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I’d never be able to carry that off !!!
Thumbs up, nice article on a very colorful and unique personality spotted amongst commoners, wonderful. I appreciate sense of hygiene, something not so common among Delhi’s street food vendors, as he has covered his food in transparent cling-wrap, nicely secured with bulldog clamps, well done.
waah waaaah,kya shaan hai.only read about these type of person in novels.thnx soofi miyaaan
BTW, Mr Soofi, is this guy also a soofi too? He certainly looks like a mystic or could easily be a bohemian mystic.
Complements on your blog. I had come across the same person in a more sombre mood on the day of Eid in 2005 (or was it 2006).
I was struck by his personality, the rings, topi, kaftan, et al. You can find teh picture at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabbas/384499327/
Carry on the good work!
Abbas
I watched a video on YouTube on the Iftaar delicacies of the Jama Masjid and this colorful man was also present in that mini flick. I guess he is a peer or mureed but yeah as Vishal said, he himself is looking clean and so is his livelihood i.e. Halwa.
Here is that video link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTKTmg65XzQ