Netherfield Ball – Wicked Babble on Narayani Gupta, Laila Tyabji and Meru Gokhale at TCA Raghavan’s Book Launch , India International Center City Parties by The Delhi Walla - April 12, 2017April 12, 20171 The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is supremely enigmatic, and since she is a diva, she never allows herself to be photographed. You may Google for a clear portrait of her face and you shall be disappointed. This is no more the case. One evening The Delhi Walla unabashedly photographed historian Narayani Gupta for two long continuous minutes despite her severe censure towards your humble lensman. I had sighted her at the launch of TCA Raghavan’s book Attendant Lords: Bairam Khan and Abdur Rahim, Courtiers and Poets in Mughal India at the Fountain Lawns in India international Center. The elusive Ms Gupta now stands totally exposed to the voyeurs of the world. All the historiophiles are encouraged to circulate
City Nature – The Grand Pilkhan Tree, Feroz Shah Kotla Ruins Nature by The Delhi Walla - April 11, 20170 The season's great gift. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Our hapless world is caught in the middle of future-shaping events of profound significance. In such a time, do we have the luxury to pause and look for hints of extraordinary beauty lurking about us? The other day The Delhi Walla came upon a most spectacular tree in Delhi. It sounds a little indulgent on my part to get so passionate over a tree but... you have to see to believe it. This gigantic Pilkhan tree stands like an unbeatable sultan in the ruins of Feroz Shah Kotla, the fortress of Ferozabad, the fifth city of Delhi whose stones were used to build the foundation of Old Delhi. I had originally meant only to
Atget’s Corner – 1016-1020, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - April 10, 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 1016 to 1020. 1016. LNJP Colony 1017. Feroze Shah
City Life – ‘Friends Forever’ of Arab Sarai General Store, H. Nizamuddin Basti Life by The Delhi Walla - April 7, 20170 Real world friends. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] To outsiders, Nizamuddin Basti in central Delhi is most famous for the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. The more knowing among us may also point to the tomb of great poet Mirza Ghalib. The Delhi Walla, however, can list other equally endearing, if not as well-known, aspects of this historic enclave, such as Javed Khan’s cheap-old Swiss watches shop, the ittar (perfume) shops opposite Karim’s restaurant, and — last but not least — the friends circle of Arab Sarai General Store. Every Sunday afternoon, five friends assemble without fail at this all-purpose neighbourhood shop on the atmospheric Ghalib Street. They all are middle-aged married men living in the Basti since they were born. Their
City Food – Numberwalli Kulfi, Turkman Gate Food by The Delhi Walla - April 5, 20171 Cold games. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Why are Delhiwallas always running scared of Delhi’s summer? After all, it is in these hot dusty months that the city comes into its own. We temporarily get rid of all the disloyal super-rich who dump Delhi for London and New York. Our avenues are again lined with the extravagant yellow bloom of Amaltas trees. The refrigerated cold water and lemonade trolleys too return on the streets, decked with roses, marigolds and lemons. And how can you claim to be a Delhiwalla if you have never licked off a midnight orange bar at India Gate grounds? However, one element of Delhi summer is fast receding into living memories of its inhabitants — the numberwalli kulfi. When
City Landmark – The Extinct Regal Cinema, Connaught Place Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - April 3, 2017April 3, 20173 Of the golden age of movies. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nobody was surprised. Regal’s closure was widely expected. Delhi’s colonial-era single-screen theatre that faces the park above Palika Bazaar Parking in Connaught Place finally shut down in March 2017 due to lack of business. While the cinema is expected to return as a multiplex, newspapers and opinion websites were filled with sentimental accounts of Regal’s heritage. Our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, too, had been here — when Regal was still a theater. Delhi-based photo-archivist Ram Rahman told The Delhi Walla that his grandmother, dancer Ragini Devi, had performed in Regal during the 1930s. Regal opened in 1932, and 85 years later, it closed with the week-long screening of Anushka Sharma-starrer film Phillauri.
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Priyanka Haldipur, Bangalore Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - April 1, 20170 The 142nd death. [Text by Priyanka Haldipur; photo by Gautam Sabba] Priyanka Haldipur, a corporate communications professional by day, and Jar Jar Binks by night, passed on a somewhat drizzly June morning. She died of cardiac arrest after reading a Facebook status update written entirely in a series of phone text messages. She is survived by a loving husband, tomato plants on the verge of bearing fruit, copious amounts of American ‘chapsy’ in the fridge, and a half-used tube of Himalaya toothpaste. Priyanka was greatly admired by her friends for her ability to consume four pieces of sohan papdi at a stretch, and sketch Picasso’s The Dog flawlessly even after four glasses of sauvignon blanc. Four, it seems, was her lucky number. She