Home Sweet Home – A Residential Lane Without a Name, Gurgaon Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - September 13, 2018August 29, 20220 A nameless address. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Such a world of colors here. Red and orange saris are hanging down from the wash lines, while the little doors are painted in bright hues of green and blue. This small narrow lane in Gurgaon’s Sector 31 is home to security guards, courier-delivery men and pavement-stall owners. It consists of 16 windowless rooms; each room housing a full-fledged family. Two public bathrooms serve the entire community. The lane does not have a name. How do the residents receive their letters? The young Ravi shrugs in mild amusement. “We have been here for decades… everybody knows about us, including the postmen and the courier wallas.” Ravi’s father runs a vegetable stall; he himself sells aloo-tikki
City Hangout – Vishnu’s 16th Century Statue, National Museum Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - September 12, 2018September 12, 20180 God's view. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What does a god look like when supposed to be sleeping? One answer is found at the National Museum in Delhi where an ancient sculpture of Vishnu is tucked away in a ground floor corridor. And evidently lying on a bed. But, not really. A careful examination reveals that he’s actually resting on the back of the serpent god Adisesha. Carved in the Vijayanagar Empire more than 500 years ago, the crowned figure appears to be resting. But when you move close you find that the god’s eyes are, in fact, wide-open, with a beatific smile lighting up his face. The sort of glow you might spy on the face of a loved one during an
City Walk – A Secret Track , India Gate Grounds Walks by The Delhi Walla - September 11, 20181 The path less traveled. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Hard to believe. Right in the heart of Delhi you’ll suddenly run into verdant countryside by merely meandering along a secretive pathway few citizens know about. Of course, you’ll need to find this muddy path in the first place--cutting through the less-visited of the lawns between India Gate and the Presidential Palace. Suddenly there’s tree cover as you walk past a pond filled with weedy life. The twisting branches leaning towards the pond look like dancers frozen in mid-motion. Otherwise, there’s huge expanses of overgrown grass where a dozen solitary souls casually lounge about, some sound asleep, others sitting as still as ancient exhibits in a museum. We could easily while away an
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Shashank Sharma, Ghaziabad Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - September 10, 2018September 10, 20180 The 205th death. [Text and photos sent by Shashank Sharma] Shashank Sharma, 25, who went to bed after savoring his favorite chhole chawal from Karol Bagh, was found dead earlier this morning in what appears to be case of severe asphyxiation due to excessive crying on his pillow. His favorite pilot pen, a can of Thumbs-Up and few scribbled bits of paper were found next to him. Although sources say that Mr Sharma was seen fidgeting and stressed in the last few days, no suicide note was found. Mr Sharma, a marketing enthusiast and a passionate writer, lived a life made out of eccentric choices and regrets. It was only after finishing his MBA that he realized the futility of money. He
Mission Delhi – Fatima Khan, Ghaffar Manzil Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - September 10, 20180 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Fatima Khan loves her pomeranian dog, truly does. But she simply can’t get over the sudden death of her other dog—a two-year-old toy breed named Chuski who deserved a far longer life. Ms Khan, just 15, vividly recalls that fateful afternoon back in April when she was offering the Friday jumma namaz in the family drawing room in South Delhi’s Ghaffar Manzil—when suddenly her father exclaimed: “Chuski has passed away!” The rattled girl somehow completed her prayers, and then asked her parents if they were joking. “How could this have happened?” Well, it just… did. A life-searing event for Ms Khan who regarded Chuski as her closest ally. Every time there
City Life – The Rubble of Our Ruins, Old Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - September 8, 20180 Goodbye to past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There goes down one more landmark whose history is now lost to us forever. But where’s the time to pause and mourn. In any case, cities are forever changing their complexion. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not. The historic Walled City is no exception. Besides iconic monuments like the Red Fort, it’s also been home for generations of residents. But these old homes are vanishing. One by one. And now one more lakhori-brick residence has been demolished, right here at the street intersection of Gali Sooiwallan with a lane that connects to Ganj Mir Khan. “The authorities razed it because it and developed cracks,” explains a local fruit seller to The Delhi Walla. The elegant
Photo Essay – Living With Jane Austen, Around Town Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - September 6, 20181 Being Jane. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Since my middle name is ‘Austen’, some people confuse me as being some distant relative of Jane Austen. That’s not true at all. In fact, I am The Jane Austen. I consider myself an incarnation of the world’s greatest drawing-room novelist because I have successfully internalized her. Every year, for instance, I read all of Jane Austen’s six novels, from the beginning to the end. I’ve been doing this for a decade. In addition, my bedside reading includes a collection of her letters that I flip through randomly every night before closing my eyes. To be frank, I was actually planning to write something else this week but then I made the mistake of absent-mindedly
Mission Delhi – Anusha S, Bahrisons Booksellers, Galleria Market Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - September 6, 20180 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In real life, it is almost unthinkable to come across a person walking out straight from the pages of a classic novel. But here’s one of literature’s greatest characters, casually stepping inside the Bahrisons Booksellers bookshop in Gurgaon’s Galleria Market. The lady is in a kind of getup that anybody will instinctively relate to Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov’s tragic heroine in the famous novel of that name. She is in a frock in which the teenaged Lolita wouldn’t have looked out of place. By clipping two butterfly cloth-patches on to her metallic-grey backpack, she also seems to be celebrating Nabokov’s celebrated reputation as a butterfly illustrator. Anusha S is thrilled
City Monument – Shahi Kadam Quila, Nabi Karim Monuments by The Delhi Walla - September 5, 20180 Ruined fort. [Text and photos by Maynak Austen Soofi] Some nimble guesswork may be required to figure out what one is confronted with. In truth these are the ruins of a 14th century citadel right in the heart of central Delhi. Said to be built by Emperor Feroze Shah Tughlaq to house a memorial for his son, the Shahi Kadam Quila has managed to fuse effortlessly with contemporary culture/architecture. Cables run hither and thither, while the monument is surrounded on all sides by phone shops and samosa shacks and what have you. Precious few tourists or heritage lovers venture into the crowded streets to feast on the remains of this fort at Nabi Karim. Not much is left for the curious, to be certain, although
Home Sweet Home – Divya Babu’s 30th Floor Balcony, DLF Park Place Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - September 3, 20180 Life at the top. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nobody can mistake Delhi's so-called Millennium City of Gurgaon as a holiday resort. But Divya Babu’s balcony feels like one of those weekend getaways in the mountains that Delhiwallas escape to in the superfast Saturday morning Shatabdi Express trains. In her 30s, Ms Babu lives on the 30th floor. Her apartment complex is one of the tallest in DLF Park Place, Sector 54. Its balcony is like a hill-top lodge and seems detached from the world, as if it’s a floating balloon. Gurugram itself looks heavenly. This afternoon the day isn’t very smoggy and you can see the high-rises spreading out to a blur. On the left side is the busy Golf