City List – Pradip Krishen’s Most Suitable Trees for Delhi Delhi by List by The Delhi Walla - May 31, 2016May 31, 20165 Dry, deciduous. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Though Delhiwallas wilt in the sweltering heat, summer is also the season when a great part of the city comes to life in a magically beautiful way. Walk along the wide roads of New Delhi and you will find a completely different world. The trees lining the avenues are dressed in all their finery. The branches of the anjan tree on the roundabout near the Udyog Bhawan Metro station are just beginning to sprout leaves. The mahua trees on Rajesh Pilot Marg still bear a tint of red newness. The stately semal in Jor Bagh Market, under which the security guard of a nearby ATM takes his tea breaks, is dense with leaves. Their soothing
Atget’s Corner – 921-925, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - May 30, 20160 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 921 to 925. 921. Paharganj 922. Preet Vihar 923. Place
City Monument – Zafar Mahal, Mehrauli Monuments by The Delhi Walla - May 29, 20163 The last palace. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The summer palace of the Mughals, it turned out to be their last major building. It is in ruins. Situated beside the shrine of Sufi saint Khawaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Zafar Mahal is in South Delhi’s Mehrauli village. Its beauty lie unnoticed. Neighbourhood boys piss on the walls and play cricket in the courtyards. The walls are broken and the pillars are cracked. The designs on the slender columns have faded. The terraces and balconies are home to bats. Some passageways end in dark chambers. The stones echo with the otherworldly sound of planes flying overhead. Emperor Akbar II built Zafar Mahal in the 1820s. It was named after his son Bahadur Shah Zafar,
Netherfield Ball – The Superhit Show at Rana Ayyub’s Book Launch, India Habitat Center City Parties by The Delhi Walla - May 27, 2016May 30, 201627 The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There was so much room to breathe during the forgettable launch of Tavleen Singh’s book a few weeks ago at the India Habitat Center. The veteran journalist with 233K followers on Twitter is a passionate devotee of the current regime and there were barely any people in the venue. There was almost no room to breathe at Rana Ayyub’s memorable book launch. It ended up being the biggest event of the season. One recent evening The Delhi Walla attended the unveiling of Ms Ayyub’s book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up. The young journalist with mere 98.8 K followers on Twitter is a passionate critic of the current regime and the
Photo Essay – Sufi’s World, Mehrauli Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - May 27, 2016May 27, 20162 Meow. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sufi lives in a monument-facing apartment in South Delhi’s Mehrauli. She shares it with Vidya Rao who is a human. Sufi is very old now. She spends her days reading books about fellow cats. These days she is engaged with Carl Van Vechten's The Tiger in the House. When the reading gets too oppressive, she makes small talk with Ms Rao. And if she is too exhausted to hold a conversation, she asks Ms Rao to stage a music concert just for her in the drawing room. Sufi doesn’t like it when Ms Rao leaves her to perform Thumri songs for fellow humans in venues where she herself would be denied entry for no
Mission Delhi – Kutte Walle Baba–Part II, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 26, 2016May 26, 20163 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here’s a real-life story with a happy ending. The greatest landmark of Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti is its Sufi shrine from which this Central Delhi village takes its name. The area’s other important monument is poet Ghalib’s tomb. But the greatest living landmark here is not some dervish or Sufi music singer or Ghalib scholar. It is a homeless man with a brown dog. Nobody knows his name. He never talks. He just parked himself permanently in one corner of Ghalib Street and there he has been existing for years in conditions unfit for any human survival—men, goats, dogs freely relieve themselves around him. One could mistake the
City Moment – The Opera Singer’s Front Row Audience, Alliance Francaise de Delhi Moments by The Delhi Walla - May 25, 2016May 25, 20160 The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is summer and yet the air is not warm. The opera singer's song is sneaking out of the door. Inside, her booming voice has flooded the whole world. She is in a blue-grey gown and she is standing beside the pianist on the stage. The rest of the hall is dark except for cell phones recording the performance. One evening The Delhi Walla steps inside ML Bhartia Auditorium in Alliance Francaise de Delhi. The opera singer completes her beautiful performance and takes a bow. A gentle applause follows. She leaves the stage and disappears. The pianist stays. Another woman appears. Her gown is a deep shade of pink. She introduces herself into
City Food – Jodhpuri Paratha, Eatopia, India Habitat Center Food by The Delhi Walla - May 24, 2016May 24, 20165 The crushed dream. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Why should you go all the way to Parathe Walli Galli, in Old Delhi’s congested Chandni Chowk, to have delicious deep-fried parathas when you can get Delhi’s most delicious (and non-deep fried!) paratha in a more conveniently-located place? Let it be known that the best paratha in the capital is to be had at the crudely-named Eatopia food court in Central Delhi’s India Habitat Center. Yes, yes, this is not a romantic address—no bylanes, no milling crowds. Eatopia is a shockingly sanitized family-friendly place with too many children running about during evenings. Still, the paratha is worth the visit. It’s called Jodhpuri Paratha (no connection with Jodhpur pants). And don't let its ugly
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Anannya Dasgupta’s Amaltas Poems, Amrita Shergil Marg City Poetry by The Delhi Walla - May 23, 2016May 23, 20163 Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is crossing the road. A car heads straight towards her putting her existence in doubt. An entire self-contained world is at risk: her own being + the poems she has written so far + the people who read her poetry. One summer evening The Delhi Walla arranges to meet poet Anannya Dasgupta on Amrita Shergil Marg. The Central Delhi boulevard is lined on both sides with Amaltas trees in bloom. The branches are laden with the yellow flowers. The pavements, too, are covered with these flowers. Amaltas also figure in Ms Dasgupta’s poetry. An assistant professor at Shiv Nadar University, Ms Dasgupta teaches literature of the British Renaissance and Writing, which includes
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Poulami Chakraborty, Calcutta Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - May 23, 2016May 23, 20161 The 130th death. [Text by Poulami Chakraborty; photo by Ria Chakraborty] The sweet grandma who used to write stories for her grandchildren is no more. She had just turned 70 when she died of a brain tumor. This kind-hearted lady has left us to narrate her tales to children in Heaven (or so it is believed by her relatives). Poulami Chakraborty had a one-of-a-kind personality and, without ever getting married, became grandmother to many orphans. She used to willingly do things to help each and all – when it came to give a helping hand, “no” was just not part of her lexicon. A Bengali, her ‘rosogolla’ face always wore an indefinable smile and there was a glow in her almond-shaped eyes. A