Mission Delhi – Dev Kumar, Near Malai Mandir Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 30, 20170 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One hot and humid evening The Delhi Walla bumps into him near Malai Mandir, in South Delhi. He is lying sprawled on the grass. His long hair and long beard are looking unkempt. He seems to be utterly alone. I sit down beside him and try to break the ice by complaining about the weather. He turns his face away. Looking up at the sky, he says, "What a world! Nobody exchanged even a single word with me when it was raining heavily last week, and I was so completely drenched...” The man sits up and pulls out a tuft of grass. Staring ahead at the evening rush hour
Atget’s Corner – 1066-1070, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - October 27, 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 1066 to 1070. 1066. “You see that gentleman
City Hangout – The World’s Best Garden Bench, Nehru Park Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - October 23, 20175 To you with love. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Yay, The Delhi Walla found it. I have discovered the most romantic garden bench in the entire capital. It's in Nehru Park, and it sits alone under a grove of jasmine trees. This is a sprawling expanse of greens but the cluster of jasmine trees is easy to find. It is on the garden's southern edge, the side that faces The Ashok hotel. Come in the evening when the entire corner is perfumed with jasmine fragrances. Looking at the trees is heady enough to start with: they are covered with hundreds of these white flowers. So is the ground, with fallen jasmines littered all over. During the first few minutes of
City Monument – Poet Arthur Rimbaud’s Memorial, Marseille Monuments by The Delhi Walla - October 21, 2017October 21, 20170 Poet's landmark. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is close to midnight. The Delhi Walla cannot see the Mediterranean but can hear it. The sea waves are softly washing upon the shore. I'm on the southern edge of Marseille. The lights of the denser parts of the city are twinkling on the other end. Here, I’m on a small hill. After climbing a bit, I stop at a curious rocky structure at the top. It is a monument to Arthur Rimbaud. Tomorrow is his 163rd birth anniversary. Although Rimbaud is buried somewhere in the north of France, he had died in this city, and this is the only remembrance to him in Marseille. The memorial is just a few steps away from
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Tulika Bhattacharjee, Rohini Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - October 18, 20171 The 147th death. [Text by Tulika Bhattacharjee; author photo by Pallavi Dhingra] Tulika Bhattacharjee, a photojournalist who moonlighted as a comic book artist, died unexpectedly on Thursday night, it is said, due to sudden failing of the heart. A closet romantic and thorough cynic, she was found on her favourite rocking chair, holding a copy of The Sense of an Ending, with a full wine glass on the table beside her. She was 34. Her neighbour's dog came to play with her every morning and on this particularly sombre morning, discovered her lifeless, unable to play with his fur. She is survived by her eternally energetic parents and brother (unlike her passive self), her personal library of over a thousand books and
City Food – The Cooks of Shereen Bhawan, Chitli Qabar Chowk Food by The Delhi Walla - October 16, 20171 Where sweetness lives. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This looks so much like a dalaan, the kind of courtyard only seen these days in havelis of yesteryears. And that room with three arched entrances is probably a traditional sehdari. The Delhi Walla is told this was the house of a nawab’s daughter. Today, the dalaan is cluttered with red LPG cylinders, cooking stoves and karahis filled with piping-hot desi ghee. The cupboards inside the sehdari are stacked with steel trays containing dil bahar, ras malai, lachha rabri and other such sweet delicacies. I'm in the kitchen of Shereen Bhawan. The mithai shop in Old Delhi’s Chitli Qabar Chowk commands a cult following. It is said that if you have not
City Hangout – The Bookshop Ghosts of PVR Anupam, Saket Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - October 13, 2017October 13, 20170 The saving grace of bookstores. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There were days, not long ago, when the PVR cinema and plaza in Saket seethed with energy. The capital’s smart set would inevitably beeline to this south Delhi multiplex featuring Hollywood’s latest. The lustre has worn out. Multiplexes now dot Delhi. A nearby mall offers more creature-comfort distractions. But here, at the old Anupam, broken benches and child beggars bear their own message. Even so. The plaza has managed to hold on to three second-hand bookstores, where The Delhi Walla recently chanced upon first editions of well-known works — from Salman Rushdie to Vikram Seth. I didn’t hesitate in snapping up a hardbound copy of Gabriel García Márquez’s News of a Kidnapping. These bookstores
Home Sweet Home – Daily Wager’s Mansion, Galli Choori Wallan Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - October 11, 2017October 11, 20172 A whole world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] As the eyes adjust to the darkness, The Delhi Walla realizes that the bare walls are of lakhori bricks. The thick columns seem to be hewed out of stones. But, oh, the floor. It's all sand. I'm at the home of Geetam, Munna and Ashok in Old Delhi's Galli Choori Wallan. The three laborers have been living in this... what should I call this place? Probably the remnants of a haveli. The three men living here call it ‘purana khandahar’, the old ruin. They haul construction material on wooden carts to different parts of the Walled City for a living. Despite its architectural elegance, the place has the character of a godown. Sacks of
Atget’s Corner – 1061-1065, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - October 9, 2017October 9, 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 1061 to 1065. 1061. The Way We Were…
Julia Child in Delhi – Dr Shirali Raina Makes Her Kashmir’s Leydhar Tschaman and Oluv, Noida Sector 61 Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 7, 20171 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] She was born in Srinagar. Both her parents were also born in Jammu and Kashmir’s capital. And this was her husband’s birthplace too. But her daughter was born in the city of Jammu, six hours away. She was pregnant when she left the Valley in February 1990, due to what she calls ‘disturbances’. Shirali Raina is a Kashmiri. The Delhi Walla is at her third-floor apartment in Sector 61, Noida. The apartment complex, with scores of flats, is also home to about a dozen Kashmiri families. A clinical research specialist, Ms Raina largely grew up in Baramulla, where her father taught English literature in a college. She has sweet memories of