Photo Essay – The Fire, Himalaya House Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - December 12, 2012December 13, 20124 Tragedy in the morning. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The cold morning was masked in a gray fog of smoke that leapt out of the 15-storey Himalaya House, an office-complex on Kasturba Gandhi Marg, an avenue in Central Delhi’s Connaught Place. The building caught fire earlier in the morning. It had started due to a short-circuit. The few bystanders who were at the avenue had their eyes turned towards the flames. Some silently stood beside the Outside Broadcasting vans of TV new channels. An old man walked past a fire brigade van; he did not look up. The birds were (occasionally) spotted flying with a hurried flapping of wings. As the smoke spread across the blue sky, the nearby buildings, including the British Council
City Secret – Devi Prasad Sadan Dhobi Ghat, Hailey Lane General by The Delhi Walla - December 10, 2012December 10, 20121 The world of the washermen. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Oxford dictionary describes a dhobi as “a person whose occupation is washing clothes” and a ghat as “a flight of steps leading down to a river”. Yet here, the river is four Metro stations away. Located in the commercial heart of New Delhi, the Devi Prasad Sadan Dhobi Ghat looks up to the high-rises of Connaught Place. Home to a community of 64 dhobis, it is tucked away on quiet Hailey Lane. “I know what you are thinking,” says Mr Rajinder, a resident dhobi in his 40s who, like most dhobis here, uses only one name. In rolled-up trousers and vest, he says, “This place might appear to be expensive real estate
City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XXXIV, Old Delhi Railway Station Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - December 9, 2012April 17, 20130 A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 34th 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, a multi-volume novel sometimes also known as Remembrance of Things Past. Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is outside (Old) Delhi railway station. I arrived in this city a decade ago and had disembarked at this station. As I stand in front of this redbrick building, I wait for old memories to come back to me so that it
City Moment – Book Launch Ceremony, Matia Mahal Moments by The Delhi Walla - December 8, 20125 The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is about noon. The Delhi Walla enters the home of Haji Miyan and his brother Amir Dehlvi. They live in Matia Mahal, a congested neighbourhood in the Walled City. I’m carrying a copy of my new book, Nobody Can Love You More: Life in Delhi’s Red Light District. Haji Miyan, who runs a hotel near Jama Masjid, is not to be seen. Amir Bhai, a self-published Urdu poet, is performing his afternoon prayer. I open the book and scribble a short message on the title page. Dear Haji Miyan, You and your poet brother Amir Dehlvi are some of my favorite Delhiwallas… people like you both are the reason why I love this
City Monument – Hindon Rail Bridge, Ghaziabad Monuments by The Delhi Walla - December 6, 2012December 6, 20124 The bridges of a Delhi county. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Positioned five miles outside Delhi’s eastern limits, this redbrick railway bridge is in Ghaziabad, a district in Uttar Pradesh. Composed of a series of six 70-feet-wide arches, it looks like a Roman aqueduct. Spanning the banks of the Hindon, a tributary of the Yamuna, the bridge looks best at dawn. If it is winter, the mist might be drifting over the river. Arrive at six. The road is empty at this hour; the train traffic is heavy. Sit down on the stairs that lead to the bridge. Can you hear the faint whistle of a rail engine? Yet another train is approaching. The faint echo is transforming into a roar.
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Job, BKS Marg Subway City Poetry General by The Delhi Walla - December 5, 2012June 3, 20155 Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla arranged to meet poet Job at the BKS Marg subway in Connaught Place. Telling me his story, Job says he was a decent man who suffered calamities in his life for no apparent reason. “I questioned the fairness of God,” he tells me, “but later I reconciled with Him.” Taking up the disguise of a malnourished homeless man, Job dresses up in torn clothes and positions himself beside the subway stairs. He shares a passage of his Hebrew poem with us. Remember: life is a breath; soon I will vanish from your sight. The eye that looks will not see me; you may search, but I will be gone. Like a cloud
City Life – Home Sweet Home, Lodhi Road Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - December 4, 2012September 29, 20153 Inside the walls. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One cold evening The Delhi Walla entered the home of a person who appeared to be living alone in this city. The house looked to Lodhi Road. It had no walls. The person was sleeping on a mattress spread under the shade of a tree. The mattress could have been originally white. Owing to its exposure to the elements for what seemed like a long time, it had discolored to a muddy-brown tint. It was also torn in places. The stuffed cotton was visible. Two blankets – grey and brown – wrapped the person tightly from feet to head. A large piece of stone was placed on one side of the grey blanket. Perhaps
City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XXXIII, GB Road Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - December 3, 2012April 17, 20138 A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 33rd 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, a multi-volume novel sometimes also known as Remembrance of Things Past . Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is sitting in Kotha no. 300, a brothel in GB Road, Delhi’s red light district. I’m lying on the bed where the women entertain their customers. The walls are plastered with the posters of Hindi film stars. I have been coming to
City Food – Aloo Chaat, Around Town Food by The Delhi Walla - December 2, 2012December 2, 20122 Beyond the french fries. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi’s roadside version of French fries is not eaten with the fingers. Cut into cubes and fried to a crisp, the potatoes in the aloo chaat come coated with spicy masalas and chutney, so it is best to pick them up daintily with a toothpick and place them gingerly in your mouth. While it is available at every respectable street food corner, aloo chaat can especially be found near bus stops. Since potatoes have hardly any gastronomic virtues of their own, aloo chaat’s sensuousness lies in its dressing. A few chaat walla bhayyas play coy by refusing to share their recipes for the masala mix. They try to create an aura of
City View – Delhi Intellectuals & Anti-Semitism General by The Delhi Walla - December 1, 2012December 1, 20128 The other side of the story. [By Jonas Moses-Lustiger] I am a Franco-German. I have lived in Delhi and have travelled throughout India. I speak Hindi and understand Bengali. I know all the Madhuri Dixit songs. I consider Satyajit Ray one of my gods. I love reading Arundhati Roy. I have studied Economics and Philosophy at St Stephen’s college. I call myself a Buddhist, a seeker of the Sufi path, and I am also a Jew. In November 2012, a short war started between Israel and the Hamas, which rules Gaza. Both the Israeli government and Hamas have an interest in such kind of hostilities. Both are reluctant to see the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority submit a resolution to the UN calling for an