City Moment – The Delhi Walla Books, Around Town
The beautiful Delhi instant.
[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; pictures by Marina Solveig Bang]
One rainy evening, The Delhi Walla was at the lobby of The Claridges, Aurangzeb Road. There I got the first copies of my four-volume series on Delhi called The Delhi Walla. Sheema Mookherjee, senior editor, HarperCollins India, the publisher, handed the slim volumes. The occasion was celebrated over rum ‘n’ coke (me) and white wine (Ms Mookherjee).
The second destination was the Jorbagh residence of Solveig Marina Bang, the series’ art director. She said, “Yay.” Over a cup of chamomile tea, Ms Bang photographed me on her couch with “my concubines.” 25 minutes later, her partner and dogs joined us.
Next, I went to the sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya to present the books to the saint. The climax was the midnight knocks at my parents’ apartment in Anand Vihar, east Delhi. They looked sleepy, surprised and satisfied. It was a beautiful moment.
Reading The Delhi Walla
With the concubines
With Ms Solveig Bang
Ms Solveig Bang with her partner
Reading The Delhi Walla, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah
With Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya
wwaaaaaaaah waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh waaaaah ,mubaraak ho jiiiiiii:).meko bhi ,meko bhi:):)
Congrats! You rock! Can’t wait to get my hands on them.
Thats just wonderful MAS, a well deserved, hard earned moment of satisfaction and glory. Enjoy this moment and things will keeping getting better as this is just the beginning, you will go far. You life may change rapidly from here on, you too will change and evolve as a human, hopefully as as better human as your success continues to climb. You already have large enough fan following, which will just explode. I suggest that it might be worth chronicling your evolution, your inner feels and thoughts as you went this these times of transition, will be interesting to read how you grow and evolve from here on. All the best mate. Well done and congratulations again.
From a regular and ordinary fan
Cheers to you!
yipeeeeee
Yay, Team!
This is a great & happy moment indeed. I’m pleased to share your joy.
One couplet for you…
“Main kahan rukta hoon arsh o farsh ki aawaz se
Mujh ko jana hai bohut ooncha hade parwaz se
Best wishes for your future.
Congratulations..
Can’t wait to see the books. Brilliant work and hope there will be many more to come.
Lovely pictures, btw
congratulations…looking frwd to browsing the books..warmly, shantum
Congratulations!
Congratulations,Mayank….eagerly awaiting the day the books will be available in the bookstores.
Hi Mayank
Came here through Tbg’s link. I would love to read the book and follow the blog too. Already bookmarked it . Awesome as far as I see it .. Will eagerly wait to get my copy and savor the flavors of Delhi 🙂
Congratulations to you and best wishes for the future.
Mayank,
I’m delighted to see that your Delhi series is out, and look forward to reading it. You must be immensely pleased.
Mayank,
This was long due. Can’t wait to get my copies. 🙂
Best.
Congratulations Mayank!
had e parwaz se…gr8!
Mum and Dad must be so proud! Can’t we see the proud parents in a frame…happy picture complete?