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Month: September 2015

Netherfield Ball – Moin & Fatima’s Walima, Daryaganj

by The Delhi Walla - 5

The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One evening The Delhi Walla gatecrashed into the women-only zenana section of a wedding dinner held in Old Delhi’s Daryaganj. Moin Ahmad Alvi had married Syeda Seemver Fatima the night before. All guests to the walima (dinner) had to take off their shoes and sandals at the entrance because the venue was the Sufi shrine of Shah Sabir Baksh Chishti. “The real glamour is only inside the zenana”--Sabiha Alvi, an Old Delhi resident, was overheard whispering these words into the ears of Begam Ishrat, the grave-looking wife of late Justice Sardar Ali. Ms Alvi was the groom’s eldest sister and had come straight from the Look’s Makeover Ladies Beauty Saloon on Kucha

Our Self-Written Obituaries – Vivek Malik, Sector 45, Gurgaon

by The Delhi Walla - 0

The 100th death. [Text by Vivek Malik (second from left); photo by Vikas Rathi] Vivek Malik, a middle-level media professional, died last night during a small party he had thrown on his rented rooftop residence in Sector 45, Gurgaon. Mr Malik, 60, was surrounded by close friends and family when he collapsed due to cardiac arrest. He leaves behind his wife and a daughter, who is married and settled abroad. His friends, who were contacted after his demise, were still nursing their hangovers and sounded incoherent and mumbled bitter nothings. After talking to five of them and joining the dots of what each of them said, it emerged that Mr Malik was ranting about the state of the world, as usual, and

City Landmark – Nehru’s Red Rose, Teen Murti Bhawan

by The Delhi Walla - 0

The Prime Minister's flower. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Both Jawaharlal Nehru and Babur shared a passion for the rose. The first Mughal emperor not only composed a poem on gul, Persian for rose, but also made sure the word was part of his daughters’ names. The first prime minister was democratic enough to spare his family—he just tucked the flower into the third button of his sherwani. Nehru started wearing a red rose in the 1940s. A representation of one such flower can be seen (see the top photo) in a glass display case at Delhi's Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru's last home, which was converted to a museum dedicated to his life and work after his death in 1964. “The iconography

Atget’s Corner – 866-870, Delhi Photos

by The Delhi Walla - 0

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. Five randomly picked pictures from this collection are regularly 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 866 to 870. 866. Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya's Dargah 867.

City Food – Hello to the Queen, Ajay Guest House, Paharganj

by The Delhi Walla - 4

The backpackers' fantasy. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is the most curiously named dessert to be found in Delhi. The decadent Hello to the Queen is available only in a few places in the capital. The Delhi Walla asks you to try it at the backpackers’-friendly cafe in Ajay Guest House, a hotel in Paharganj. Served in a glass bowl, the dish consists of scoops of banana-studded vanilla ice-cream lounging on a mound of cookies, and the whole thing is generously smeared with hot chocolate sauce. It demands such a simple preparation that you can easily rustle it at home. But the Queen is truly enjoyed only in a room filled with sugar-starved tourists, preferably from Israel. There is a

Mission Delhi – Devi, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti

by The Delhi Walla - 3

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The elderly woman is walking alone with three bags this afternoon. One in her hand, two on her back. One of the bags is actually a large sack. The Delhi Walla spots her singular silhouette in central Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti. The woman is dressed in a mustard-green tunic, falling over a pink kaftan-like garment. Her accessories includes black-rimmed glasses and red-and-yellow glass bangles. She is walking down the Mirza Ghalib Street, a lane of kebab stalls, tea kiosks and meat shops that is named after the famous Mughal-era poet—the street actually ends in front of his tomb. “We started seeing this aurat (woman) about six months ago,” says

Delhi Metro – Nikhil Kumar’s Commute With Vikram Seth, Barakhamba Metro Station

by The Delhi Walla - 3

The book lover’s commute. [Photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nikhil Kumar is interested in history and politics. He lives in Sector 10, Dwarka. And he read the whole of Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy while commuting on the Delhi Metro. Here are glimpses of the reader, the Metro and the precious copy of Mr Kumar’s novel, signed by Vikram Seth himself! The boy on the tracks 1. 2. 4. 3. 8. 9.

Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Ram Chander Bhakt, Mathura Road

by The Delhi Walla - 1

Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One evening The Delhi Walla arranged to meet Hindi poet Ram Chander Bhakt on Mathura Road in Central Delhi. Mr Bhakt makes his living as an auto-rickshaw driver. I talked to him in his auto. A native of Patna, Bihar, he lives in North-West Delhi’s Sultanpuri with his wife, two sons and a daughter. “I have been writing poems for many years,” he says, seated on the passengers’ seat of his vehicle. “I usually write about the problems afflicting our country. I have composed dozens and dozens of poems. But only one of them was published about 15 years ago in Punjab Kesari (newspaper). It could be because I always write short

City Monument – Restored Edition, Hazrat Sarmad Shahid’s and Hazrat Hare Bhare Shah’s Sufi Shrines

by The Delhi Walla - 2

New look, old mood. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Each of the two tombs is now surrounded by a grille of white marble. The floor has been laid with smoother tiles. These are among the new attractions. The Sufi shrines of Hazrat Sarmad Shahid and Hazrat Hare Bhare Shah have undergone a major renovation. Situated on the footsteps of Old Delhi’s Jama Masjid, both the graves lie within the same compound. It took two years for the red-and-green walls to be demolished and replaced by new red-and-green walls. The colors correspond to Sarmad Shahid (red) and Hare Bhare Shah (green). Sarmad Shahid was born to an Armenian Jewish family in what is now Iran. He later converted to Islam and lived

City List – New & Old Road Names, Around Town

by The Delhi Walla - 3

On the margs [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Dalhousie Road and Aurangzeb Road, rest in peace. In February 2017, the New Delhi Municipal Council renamed Dalhousie Road as Dara Shikoh Road. Lord Dalhousie was a colonial-era administrator in British India. According to newspaper reports, the demand to rename it came from New Delhi’s MP, Meenakshi Lekhi, of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Indian Express reported her as saying: "Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, had promoted the peace and concord between the followers of Hinduism and Islam, and has interest in comparative religions, universal brotherhood, humanism and peace. In fact, the library in Delhi named after him is a live example of his desire to

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