Our Self-Written Obituaries – Arpita Das, Gulmohar Enclave Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - February 28, 2015February 28, 20151 The 23rd death. [Text by Arpita Das; photo by Freddie Ribeiro] Arpita Das was an independent publisher of a whimsical list of books. Although she was often heard saying that she couldn't be bothered with bestselling books, a friend remembers that she lived her entire working life in anticipation of publishing a bestseller. Few may be aware that Ms Das was also a writer. Apart from blog posts that seemed much too short and feature pieces that were much too long, she wrote fiction in her head transferring it at times to Evernote. Four chapters of a novel about the Bengalis of Banaras and three more of ghost stories for young readers have been found thus. Towards the end of her life, Ms
Letter from Montreal – Partition Objects, Delhi & Pakistan General by The Delhi Walla - February 28, 2015February 28, 20153 Anatomy of the Radcliffe Line. [Text and photos by Aanchal Malhotra] There is a map on the wall of my room. It is a modern depiction of the projections of Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. Towards the east, prominently recognizable even then by its elegantly sharp peninsular shape, rests the Indian subcontinent. The colours of the map are bright- blues, greens, yellows and oranges -- except within the subcontinent. Here the map acquires a dull, aged look. My fingers have often grazed over this portion, wearing down the surface day after day; eroding the vibrant inks. I trace the land where a border has now been established, where India ends and Pakistan begins. This was not a boundary that always existed.
Atget’s Corner – 716-720, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - February 27, 20150 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 716 to 720. 716. Turkman Gate 717.
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Prabeen Panigrahi, Toronto Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - February 27, 2015February 27, 20150 The 22nd death. [Text by Prabeen Panigrahi; photo by Vinit Kumar Ashish] The shy software engineer, who hailed from Kalahandi in Orissa, ended his journey today thousands of miles away in Toronto, Canada. No one who knew Prabeen Panigrahi in his student days could have believed that this young man who used to be so afraid to talk to strangers would eventually emerge out of his shell and fly to a foreign land in search of himself. After finishing his Bachelors from the National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Mr Panigrahi did his MBA from the University of New Brunswick in eastern Canada. Leaving behind his family and acquaintances in India, Mr Panigrahi carved out a more truthful life in North America.
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Bina Shah, Karachi Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - February 26, 20152 The 21st death. [Text by Bina Shah] Bina Shah, Pakistani writer and columnist, died peacefully at her home in Karachi, Pakistan, at the age of ___. Ms Shah could never quite understand the reason for her popularity as a writer. She never won any major literary awards, never attained an MFA from a prestigious creative writing program, never made any list of “Best Writers Under 40/50/60". Yet as the author of several novels and collections of short stories, and the producer of a steady series of columns for international newspapers about her home country, Pakistan, she gained a small but loyal readership that enjoyed everything she ever wrote. She realized, at an early stage in her life, that this was more important
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Taslima Nasreen, Somewhere in New Delhi Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - February 25, 2015February 25, 20153 The 20th death. [Text by Taslima Nasreen; photo by Bebika Rai] Bengali writer Taslima Nasreen was beheaded yesterday by Islamist terrorists at her home in New Delhi where she had been living in exile. A video of the decapitation was posted on social media sites this morning. It was inevitable. Author of 41 books of poetry, essays, and novels, Ms Nasreen, known for her powerful feminist writings against the injustices and inequalities of religions, had to live under a succession of death fatwas. She was forced to leave her country, Bangladesh, in 1994, not long after the publication of her novel Lajja, which she wrote during her duty hours as an anesthetist in Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Despite repeated bans on her books and
Atget’s Corner – 711-715, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - February 24, 20150 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 711 to 715. 711. Sunlight Colony 712.
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Namya Sinha, Caribbean Sea Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - February 24, 2015February 24, 20154 The 19th death. [Text by Namya Sinha; photo by Showkat Shafi] It was confirmed early morning today that Namya Sinha, a flamboyant elderly lady, was among the missing passengers in the cruise liner Isis (named after an Egyptian goddess, not the terrorist organisation) that sank late last week in the Caribbean Sea at 11.40 pm (ship time), two hours after hitting a floating island, 20 miles off the coast of Barbados. The ship was carrying about a thousand tourists; most of them were from the Himalayan city of Simla. All of them are presumed dead. Miss Sinha grew up reading shallow books about deep love. She died the way she lived -- traveling around the world with the latest Mills & Moon
Mission Delhi – Shagun Sinha, Jawaharlal Nehru University Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - February 23, 20152 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] "Aamir Khan mahodayasya abhinayam sameecheenam aasit atet sampreshyintu yatam andh-vishvasho maa kartayavamam. Sushant-mahodayasya Anushka-mahodayayashra abhinaya api sameecheenam aasite. Tathapi gitani samayanya aasan.” Aamir Khan’s film PK has been talked about endlessly since its release in early 2015 — but not like this. Here’s the translation: “Aamir Khan acted well to communicate his message not to have blind faith. Sushant and Anushka also acted well. Though the songs were just average.” Shagun Sinha, 22, offers her short film review in fluent Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language long relegated to the scholar’s domain, its connection with the current generation limited to a couple of years’ optional learning in school. In October 2014,
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Raymond Lee, Blacksburg, USA Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - February 23, 2015February 23, 20150 The 18th death. [Text by Raymond Lee; photo by Andrew Eng] Raymond Lee, 30, passed away today in Blacksburg, VA. He was a researcher and doctoral student at Virginia Tech, where he was building a computer model to estimate how water and pollutants flow down a forested hillslope. He had published peer-reviewed papers on topics including water quality in drinking water reservoirs and evaporation in Himalayan lakes. Mr Lee was born in San Francisco, CA, and had residences around the world, including Yosemite National Park, southern California, New England, and Delhi, India. At one point, he was homeless. He had worked day shift as a zoo caretaker, swing shift as a hotel porter, and graveyard shift as a baker; other jobs included