City Faith – Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed’s Dargah, Near Jama Masjid Faith by The Delhi Walla - February 6, 2014February 6, 20141 Old Delhi's naked fakir. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Outside: a confusion of shoppers, beggars, biryani stalls and goats. Inside: stillness. Sandwiched between the imposing Jama Masjid and the chaotic Meena Bazaar, the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed in Old Delhi boasts of no dome or marble. The cramped courtyard gets its homely character from a giant neem tree and a Mughal-era well. The dargah is flanked by Imran’s chai shack, the Sonic CD store, Raza Bookshop, the Qutubkhana Sarmadi stall that sells pamphlets, perfumes and amulets, the one-room office of Al Makkah Tours & Travels, and Rahat Open Surgery, an open-air clinic where a hakeem claims to cure diseases like cancer and diabetes by bloodletting. Although Sarmad’s tiny tomb does
City Travel – Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris Travel by The Delhi Walla - February 4, 2014February 4, 20141 The heart of France. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Its bell tower is the oldest in the French capital. The Delhi Walla is in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, one of the oldest churches of Paris. The ancient abbey has been standing on this cobbled ground for more than fifteen centuries. It has a cross, a 14th century statue of Our Lady of Consolation, a wooden statue of Christ, 13 chapels, a couple of paintings and an organ that was installed in 1813. According to a pamphlet I picked up inside the church, Saint-Germain-des-Prés was named after the bishop of Paris and it was one of the most important intellectual centers of Gaul before it was destroyed by the Norman invasions in the 9th century.
City Hangout – Sunday Used-Book Bazar, Daryaganj Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 2, 2014September 6, 20152 Delhi's biggest second-hand book market. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] There are two kinds of muggles in Delhi. Those who have been to the weekly used-book bazar at Daryaganj and those who haven't. The first group doesn't want the others to know that each Sunday, the mile-long footpath between Delite cinema and the Daryaganj footbridge (now extinct) disappears under the 'maal'. The 'maal' being the seller-speak for novels, memoirs, whodunits, quiz books, classics, encyclopaedias, coffee-table books, pulp fiction, foreign magazines and, sometimes, rare first editions. The Delhi Walla is spilling the secrets. After reading this, you won't have to walk through the entire stretch. Here is the guide to the best spots. The book king Surinder Dhawan's 12-year-old stall, close to Delite cinema, is