City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XVIII, Indian Coffee House Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - April 29, 2012April 17, 20136 A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 18th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla must make an announcement. The Delhi Proustians society is moving out of the Indian Coffee House. This place is economical and its torn sofas strike a chord with romantic sensibilities, but the coffee is revolting. And Proust was especially particular about his coffee. If Marcel lived in Delhi, he would have never stepped inside the Indian Coffee House. The stewards wear unwashed uniforms. The menu is
Mission Delhi – Syed Ameen Meer Dehlvi, Chandni Mahal Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - April 28, 2012April 28, 20126 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The cat is observing him. Syed Ameen Meer Dehlvi is helping his wife make tea. The Delhi Walla is standing outside their kitchen. The second-floor house, adjacent to Chandni Mahal police station, looks to the rooftops of Shahjahanabad. It is morning. The neighbors are still sleeping on their terraces. Mr Dehlvi, 77, is talking to his wife in a low voice. Turning to me, he says, “We have two cats... ,” and pointing to his wife, he adds, “she is Tahira. Three of our six daughters are married. All my five sons except the youngest are living elsewhere with their wives. My fath…” Mr Dehlvi’s wife interrupts
Photo Essay – The Geography of Face, Around Town Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - April 25, 2012April 25, 20127 Portraits of Delhiwallas. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Photographing a person's face is like stealing his or her life - a moment of it. Walking through the city, The Delhi Walla makes face portraits daily. These are long journeys, for each face is a different world. One face, one world
City Food – Raw Vegetables, Around Town Food by The Delhi Walla - April 24, 2012April 24, 20124 Heat relief. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi food is laden with butter gravies and tandoori meats offering no respite to the digestion. Relief is to be found in cut vegetables, served raw with a sprinkle of masala salt. In summer, the street hawkers fill their carts with cucumbers and their slimmer cousins called kakdis. In winter, they sell tender, sweet carrots and radish, especially at congested traffic lights and railway crossings. Child-boys run up and down carrying the freshly peeled veggies, the green leaves (sometimes retained) contrasting with the virginal white and bright orange. In Delhi’s difficult weather, this is one of the greatest comfort foods. At Kasturba Gandhi Marg, next to the Hindustan Times building, a woman sits in the summer months
City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XVII, Indian Coffee House Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - April 23, 2012April 17, 20133 A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 17th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is alone. Two people on the next table are talking of selling five farmhouses. Closing my eyes, I flip through Swann’s Way – the first of the six volumes of the novel - and place my finger on the first page I stop at. Opening my eyes, I find myself on a line that says: “You do look sad!” I turn to some other page. Swann, our man, is in love
City Notice – Urs, Mai Sahiba Dargah Faith by The Delhi Walla - April 21, 2012April 21, 20121 Celebrating a woman Sufi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Urs, or the death anniversary celebrations, of Bibi Zulekha, the mother of Delhi’s 14th century Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, will be celebrated on April 22 and 23, that is on Sunday and Monday. Known as Mai Sahiba, her dargah lies in Adchini village, just behind IIT Delhi in south Delhi. In Sufism, a saint’s death is not mourned, it is celebrated. Urs means “wedding” in Arabic and it symbolizes the union of the lover with the beloved, who is God. Mai Sahiba died in 1250. She was buried in the house where she lived. During the Urs, expect crowd, qawwalis, prayers, besan rotis and biryani. Where Dargah Mai Sahiba, Adchini Village When
City Library – Aatish Taseer’s Books, Rajesh Pilot Lane Library by The Delhi Walla - April 19, 2012April 19, 20122 A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One late evening The Delhi Walla knocked at the door of Aatish Taseer, a novelist. In his 30s, Mr Taseer lives in an apartment in Rajesh Pilot Lane, a quiet neighbourhood close to Lodhi Garden in central Delhi. Hundreds of books are on display in his library. “If you count... ” he says, “there are 35 books on each shelf and the number of shelves is... well, I’m not good at Maths.” Switching to Urdu, Mr Taseer says, “This house reels under the terror of my dictatorship. No one is allowed into my study. What if somebody tried stealing the books?” The library contains many volumes in Urdu. “They are the letters
City Moment – Holding Hands, Barakhamba Park Moments by The Delhi Walla - April 17, 2012April 17, 20123 The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One afternoon The Delhi Walla entered Barakhamba Park, a public garden in Nizamuddin West that is an unofficial home to the homeless. Nisha Begum, a park resident, was standing against a tree. She was in a yellow salwar-suit and a pink dupatta. A family of four was sitting on the brick pathway. They were watching her. “I have grown in this park,” Ms Begum said. “Last week I left my job as a house-maid and now all I do is to lie on the grass here.” Ms Begum had a white mobile phone. A longhaired man appeared in a black T-shirt and grey shorts and sat down close to us. He was slim, his
City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XVI, Indian Coffee House Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - April 15, 2012April 17, 20131 A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 16th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is sitting on the terrace of the coffee house. The wind is refreshing. I have ordered jam-toast and scrambled egg. Swann’s Way, the first of the six volumes of the novel, is on the table. “I’m going to read one of my most beloved parts in the novel.” I say to law student Abdul Muqhtadir, a regular Proustian. “May I read it?” He asks. I bow. I open page
Photo Essay – Saliva on the Street. Around Town Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - April 13, 2012April 13, 201216 A quintessential Delhi sight. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Aak thoo. This, too, is art. It is always the men who spit their saliva in the streets of Delhi. The spit-forms are enchanting to look at. Some shine like a white pearl. Some resemble enormous silver-coloured worms. Some are translucent. Some seem so delicate as if Moonlight Sonata has just crossed our path. The Delhi Walla presents photographic evidence. Spitting for art's sake