Photo Essay – Sandal Vs Chappal, Delhi High Court & Elsewhere Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - January 30, 2017January 30, 20174 The great riddle. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What is India Gate and what is Gateway of India? The first monument is in Delhi and the second is in Bombay. But there’s a greater riddle. What is chappal and what is sandal? Well, they are footwear and they are not shoes. But how are they different from each other? The riddle has finally been solved. The Delhi High Court has ruled that woman’s footwear without a strap at the back is a sandal, and not a chappal. The Delhi Walla will finally sleep peacefully for all nights to come. For years, I have been walking across the city and snooping around peoples’ sandals and chappals. This photo essay, obviously, is dedicated to Lord Justice S Ravindra Bhat and
City Monument – Delhi’s Vanishing Ruins, Mehrauli Monuments by The Delhi Walla - January 28, 2017January 28, 20171 The dying heritage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Outrageous. No other word to describe it. A new garish pink building, still splotched with cement stains, now stands right beside what is probably the last important Mughal monument in India—Zafar Mahal. The gap between these two structures is as narrow as the bridge of your nose. It’s a depressing welcome to Mehrauli, a historic district in Delhi that is even older than Old Delhi. It has hundreds of monuments that can be traced to almost every empire that ruled this part of the subcontinent. Dozens of beautiful monuments lie within what is called the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. The celebrated Qutb Minar, too, is in Mehrauli. That tower has been here for hundreds
Netherfield Ball – Author RV Smith’s Kissing Escapades With Delhi’s Beautiful Ladies, Central Delhi Garden Party City Parties by The Delhi Walla - January 26, 2017January 26, 20171 The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He came, he saw, and he kissed one willing woman after another. This is Ronald Vivian Smith, Delhi's ultimate romantic figure. One afternoon, The Delhi Walla attended a garden party hosted by author Rakhshanda Jalil. Beautiful faces outshone the beautiful flowers. The principal attraction, however, was Mr Smith. The venerable author looked quite venerable in his advanced years, and that was a deception. Mr Smith’s heart still sustains all the inconstant buoyancy of his ancient youth when he would be walking around town writing newspaper columns about the lesser known charms of Delhi. During those days, if whispers are to be trusted, Mr Smith charmed—a little too intimately--many of our great society ladies
City Walk – The Regal Cinema Backside, Central Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - January 24, 2017January 24, 20171 The underground excursion. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This has to be the craziest 'walk' in Delhi. Actually, it is nothing but a little lane hidden behind the Regal cinema building in the Colonial-era Connaught Place. You might want to run away upon entering it, but this lane might also offer a treasure trove of materials to aesthetes who gravitate towards the derelict architecture of inner cities. Before you dive in, stuff yourself with Delhi’s best and arguably greasiest chhole bhature at Kwality restaurant in the Regal cinema building, off Parliament Street. Then walk past a blood test lab which, until a few months ago, was the historic A Godin & Co. piano shop, and turn towards the back lane
City Moment – The Homeless Person Sleeping Through Sufi Songs, Hazrat Sarmad Shahid’s Dargah Moments by The Delhi Walla - January 23, 2017January 23, 20170 The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a concert without an audience. One night The Delhi Walla is at the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Sarmad Shahid... sorry, a factual error.This is actually a shrine to two Sufi saints. Hazrat Hare Bhare Shah is buried next to Hazrat Sarmad. It is very cold. The world outside is plunged in darkness. Even the dependable stars have abandoned the sky, not to speak of the inconstant moon. The dome of the shrine, however, is strung with fairy lights. The four musicians inside are offering sacred qawwalis to the two lesser known Sufi mystics of Delhi. One man is playing the harmonium, another, rather youngish-looking, is in charge of the dholak. The detail on
Atget’s Corner – 996-1000, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - January 20, 20170 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 1,00,000 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 996 to 1000. 996. Vaishali 997. Hazrat Turkman Shah's
City Library – Rakhshanda Jalil’s Urdu Books + Her Forthcoming Urdu Festival, Central Delhi Library by The Delhi Walla - January 17, 2017January 17, 20175 A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Can you dream of touching with your own hand Ghalib’s handwritten poem? Well, just visit author Rakhshanda Jalil’s private library. One freezing evening, Ms Jalil unfolds this priceless object on her writing table. The Delhi Walla is at her study. The small room is filled with hundreds of books in Urdu — Ms Jalil has not only authored several volumes of fiction and non-fiction, but has also translated many great works of Urdu into English. Nervously holding the delicate sheet of paper on which the great Ghalib wrote with his own hand, Ms Jalil tells me that this piece of paper had passed down to her as a family heirloom. It actually belonged to
City Life – The Marvelous Sighting of The Bride’s Palki, Galli Chooriwallan Life by The Delhi Walla - January 17, 2017January 17, 20170 The long life of the past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was draped in silk, or so it seemed. One cold night The Delhi Walla comes across a silver-plated palki (aka doli), the palanquin traditionally used to carry a bride from her parents' home to her husband's. The Galli Chooriwallan street in the Walled City is empty at this late hour. The palanquin is lying on one side of the pavement, behind a Hero Honda motor bike. It is a rare sight. Palki belongs to the past. It is now only seen in old Hindi movies. These days brides are escorted alongside their husbands in cars decorated with flowers. Nobody is carried in palki. This palki, however, appears to be dressed for
City Faith – The Urs Qawwalis, or Death Anniversary Celebrations, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Central Delhi Faith by The Delhi Walla - January 15, 2017January 15, 20170 The Sufi date. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ranbir Kapoor. Rockstar. Kun Faya Kun. This particular actor and his 2011 movie and its chartbuster song, a qawwali, are what many of us think of when the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi is mentioned. It is here that the song was filmed. Indeed, every week on Thursday evening, that special night before the Islamic sabbath, a great crowd gathers in the shrine’s courtyard to listen to Sufi music, and the qawwals almost always perform Kun Faya Kun on “public demand”. It’s not widely known that qawwalis are performed every evening in the shrine, though there isn’t much of a touristy crowd on other days and the qawwals, too, are not
Mission Delhi – Ibrar Ahmad, Hazrat Nizamuddin’s Sufi Shrine Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - January 13, 2017January 13, 20172 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Huddled within the folds of a white shawl, he is sitting as still as a rock. One cold night The Delhi Walla walks upto a silent, brooding man in the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. The man looks at this unexpected intruder and mumbles, as if he talking to himself: “I’m looking for my child. He disappeared three months ago.” The man takes out a piece of laminated paper from his wallet. It’s the government-issued identification card of his missing child. The document gives the son’s name as Faish, born 11/02/2012. "What's your name?" I ask. The man doesn't utter a word. Instead, he produces his own government-issued identification card. It