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Month: September 2011

City Hangout – Maulana Aagan Chaikhana, Mohalla Kabristan

by The Delhi Walla - 7

Lovely and sad. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two blackened kettles, two ceiling fans, some wooden benches, a few plastic chairs and a roughly carved pillar makes it one of Old Delhi’s most charming chaikhanas, or tea houses. The air of Maulana Aagan Chaikhana in Mohalla Kabristran neighbourhood, Turkman Gate, is saturated with quietness. The street teems with people but inside there is the comfort of reclusion. This is an illusion for the chaikhana is rarely empty. The shop’s daily turnover is Rs 1,200; it uses 35 liters milk everyday. The Delhi Walla met trader Raees Ahmad who is coming to the chaikhana every single day without fail since it opened 30 years ago. “You are walking down from some place

City Moment – Song of the Road, Aurangzeb Marg

by The Delhi Walla - 3

Late night melody. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One late night The Delhi Walla is walking down Aurangzeb Marg, a boulevard in central Delhi. Named after a Mughal emperor, it is lined with bungalows of Very Important People, including the ambassador of Netherlands. His bungalow was once the property of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Since it is almost midnight, the four-lane road is empty. It is washed with the yellow of street lamps. The rich people and their servants are inside their houses. The houses are hidden behind a dense cover of gigantic trees. The pavement is crowded with the shadows of these trees. The rest is silence. Suddenly, a car approaches from The Claridges hotel. It makes a

City Monuments – Tombs, Domes & a Bridge, Lodhi Garden

by The Delhi Walla - 2

Ruins in a landscaped setting. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Lodhi Garden in central Delhi is famous for its flowers, trees, birds and sloping lawns but before the garden there were the tombs. Built by the Sayyids (1414-1451) and Lodhis (1451-1526), who once ruled the Delhi sultanate, the tombs, now ruined, make dramatic centerpieces in this garden, which was created around them in 1936 on the site of a village called Khairpur. The park was originally named Lady Hardinge, the then British viceroy’s wife. Visible from Lodhi Road, the mausoleum of Muhammad Shah Sayyid, said to have been a lazy and inefficient ruler, stands on a mound. One of Delhi’s earliest octagonal tombs, it is surrounded by royal palms and

Hauz Khas Series – A House in the Village, Chapter 3

by The Delhi Walla - 4

Life in Delhi’s prettiest neighbourhood. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Late September morning. The shadows are cold. I enter into a part of the Hauz Khas ruins that is not frequented by tourists. May be they are here. I’m searching for Pappu and Usha, the couple I met the other day while walking towards Green Park. They are daily wage labourers, migrants from Jhansi. Pappu had said that they were living in Hauz Khas ruins. Is that possible? The monument closes at sunset. In the night you don’t find anyone except a love-sick guitarist or a love pair hungry for a French kiss, who manage to slip inside just when the guards get a bit sleepy. No one is supposed to live

City Life – Family Album, Old Delhi

by The Delhi Walla - 5

The new Old Delhi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In a house on Pahari Rajaan hill, stairs lead to a courtyard. Here a new flight of stairs passes a kitchen and leads to another courtyard. More stairs, another room, stairs—and then you reach the roof and get a view of Purani Dilli or Old Delhi. These low hills and flatlands are carpeted with rooftops. Your view is framed by the domes of the Jama Masjid, the ramparts of Red Fort, and the high-rises of Connaught Place. The Walled City that Shahjahan built in the 17th century has undergone many transformations. And this labyrinthine house and its occupants reflect the changes. The seven-room mansion is at Chitli Qabar Chowk, Old Delhi’s only traffic

INFIDELITIES@The Delhi Walla – A Well-built Dusky MBA Student Seeks a Female

by The Delhi Walla - 3

Make your life smart and sexy. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] I’m a 21 year old man who shuttles between Delhi and Bombay. A science graduate, I’m in the 2nd year of my MBA from a top B-school. I like loitering around, exploring cities, cooking, astrophysics, quantum mechanics, playing with my dogs and re-reading Lord of the Rings. I was a big foodie and an Über-geek once; now, I’m hunting for a new passion. Well, as you can see, I’m really bad at talking about myself, so here are a few statistics for your perusal: Physical - 6'1", well built, dusky complexion Mental - IQ = 135, interests range from physics to history to social psychology If you (female) are reading this on The Delhi

City Style – The Classy Delhiwalla, Bazaar Sitaram

by The Delhi Walla - 9

Searching for the stylish. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla saw this man in Bazaar Sitaram, a grocery and vegetable market in the Old Quarter. He was wearing a black cap, white kurta, white dhoti and black leather shoes. His glasses were perched high on the nose, partially hiding his wiry eyebrows. Light-brown sandalwood paste was lightly smeared at the center of his forehead. His hair was grey, his moustache was trimmed and his skin was wrinkled. There was no one dressed like him. The man’s casually crumpled kurta reached his knees. The round collar bordered his neck; folds of his aging skin gracefully emerging out of it. The white dhoti was striking. An unstitched piece of cloth wrapped

City Library – Ira Pande’s Books, Noida

by The Delhi Walla - 3

A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One rainy afternoon, The Delhi Walla knocked at the door of writer and editor Ira Pande. Now 60, Mrs Pande shares her ground floor apartment in Sector 93, Noida, a Delhi suburb, with her husband, Amitabha, and thousands of books. “Our collection is the work of generations,” she says. “Amit’s parents were passionate about books. Most Hindi books you see here on religion and spirituality belonged to Jiya, my mother-in-law.” She points out a shelf that has cloth-bound copies of Ramcharitmanas, the Hindu epic by poet Goswami Tulsidas. While there are books everywhere, it is the Pandes’ study that is the hallowed haven of musty volumes; the air is thick with the memories

City Guide – Mao on Surviving Delhi

by The Delhi Walla - 3

China's God on Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The news from Delhi is bad. On September 2011, a bomb blast killed 12 people outside the Delhi High Court, close to the India Gate monument. The same night the earth roared. The quake measured 4.2 on the richter scale. The next day heavy downpours hit Delhi. For three hours, we got as much rain as the entire month of September does in a normal year. The city was flooded. Is God angry with Delhi? How to survive in this city? Since it’s such a trifling question, I won’t bother Allah. Instead, I’ll resort to Chairman Mao, China’s god. Not many people know, but the great leader not just wrote a Little

INFIDELITIES@The Delhi Walla – Poet-Philosopher Male Seeks a Female with Fantasies

by The Delhi Walla - 1

Make your life smart and sexy. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] I am 27-year-old male in Delhi, originally from Bangalore. I like reading, poetry, philosophy, movies and music. Love writing, have a novel that is half-finished and will be ready in a year if my work permits it. Can talk on a variety of topics right from Ghalib to Harry Potter, and from Ramayana to Indian economy. Don't claim to have Greek God looks but can assure you that you won't feel like where the hell have these Delhiwallas landed me into! I am seeking an intelligent, lively person - ok, females only - who is not shy of talking for hours over a cup of coffee. And if that sounds unromantic to

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