City Food – Railway Station Chai, Gurgaon Food by The Delhi Walla - March 30, 2019March 30, 20190 The romance of the platform tea. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Frothy, extra-sweet, moderately milky, ginger-flavoured and aggressively invigorating. Such is the chai you’ll find on platform No. 2 in the Gurgaon railway station. The tea, however, is punchier in some mysterious way. It has the deep aroma of a brew that has spent deliciously long hours simmering in the kettle. But that can be true of tea in the thousands of other stalls in the National Capital Region (NCR) too. Could it be that the chai here is special because the refreshing flavour is imbued with the thrill of trains and journeys? But the stalls in platform No. 1 are similarly permeated with the mood of travel and their chai is
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Tanvi Lall, Rohini, Delhi Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - March 30, 20190 The 225th death. [Text and photos sent by Tanvi Lall] Tanvi Lall, 57, was found cold and breathless early this morning, in her own bed donning a creepy smile. It was as if she was denied a fancy closure. On the side, her bed had a stack of neatly sprawled books as her OCD would allow and a struggled, almost unfinished draft of something that could have been a deal breaker for her. Her hands, hours later as well, reeked of cigarettes and the room of prominent musk fragrance. She took the quarter of a bed to announce it as her grave. Her wish to see it raining of french fries leaves us with her. A woman of minutest things, she wanted to be remembered
City Landmark – Jain Paan House, KG Marg Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - March 29, 20190 Small wonder. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Any number of kiosks in our fair city attract a steady stream of regular customers who show a loyalty that grand showrooms might well envy. There’s Jain Paan House on KG Marg, for instance, that amounts to a mini-supermarket, selling stuff as varied as digestive choorans and milk chocolate to namkeen on the go, though it stopped its paans years ago out of consideration for the area’s general cleanliness. Nearby officegoers often gather here during their breaks; while almost everybody is on bantering terms with owner Sunil Jain and his father, Bhagchand, who opened the popular kiosk back in 1975. In an area teeming with commercial high-rises the Paan House amounts to a charming
City Poetry – What if Ghalib Were a Woman, Old Delhi City Poetry by The Delhi Walla - March 28, 2019March 28, 20191 Ghalib as woman. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Not only was poet Mirza Ghalib to be reckoned with in Delhi’s super-sophisticated literary and aristocratic salons but, according to late historian Percival Spear, he also “burrowed below the dignified upper classes to the raffish and spendthrift Delhi underworld”. What if Ghalib were a woman? How different his experiences would have been? What would have been our understanding of Shahjahanabad, aka Old Delhi? After all, he lived there most of his life. More than a century-and-a-half after his death, Ghalib’s verses and letters present us with a broad portrait of Mughal-era Delhi, just as its artistic ascendancy started paralleling its political decline. “If Ghalib were a well-born woman living in the mid-19th century Shahjahanabad, his
City Monument – Moti Bagh Gurudwara, South Delhi Monuments by The Delhi Walla - March 27, 2019March 27, 20190 A refuge in Sikhism. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Peace is softly settling about each person. This is how it appears to be during ordinary afternoons at this historic gurudwara in South Delhi—a site sanctified by the visit of Guru Gobind Singhji sometime in the early 18th century. Here, in this Sikh temple in Moti Bagh, is a retreat from the heinous hubbub in the modern metropolis. At this very moment, a handful of devotees are sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor, listening sedately to three elderly singers. Their soothing voices are harmoniously intertwined with the sounds of the tabla and harmonium they so skillfully wield. The world of Delhi may seem far away. But now the roar of an elevated metro
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Swapnil Sinha, Patna Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - March 27, 20190 The 224th death. [Text and photos sent by Swapnil Sinha] At the ripe age of 77, Swapnil Sinha died a child, for he believed that homes belong only to children and that as we grow, homes turn into a carcass of living space; beds become a grave a few inches too comfortable. Bitter almonds didn't remind him of unrequited love. Instead, they reminded him of a poor place of growth, a bad home. Perhaps that's the reason he died while sitting on his chair that was placed beside a kerosene lamp that burnt even as the morning’s glory knocked in. The smell of fuel consumed the scent of bitter almonds. He didn't know answers to a lot of questions and he wasn't interested in
City Season – Semal Trees in Spring Bloom, Around Town Nature by The Delhi Walla - March 26, 2019March 26, 20190 Season's gift. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A soft thud on the ground and a beauty is born. This phenomenon is unfolding again and again, day after day—thanks to a ceaseless “snowfall” of red and orange semal flowers on the roads, streets, pavements and parks of our city. The blooming of the semal marks Delhi’s brief spring. It is that strange season of the year when it is neither hot, nor cold. The air is free of humidity. The sky is reasonably blue. The newspapers are quiet on dengue and chikungunya. Now is the time to lean and loaf at ease, and the red semal embodies this shift towards the ideal. The semal flowers seem to be present everywhere, sometimes even
Home Sweet Home – Staircase to Heaven, South Delhi Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - March 25, 20190 Jacob's ladder. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Staircases are surely one of the great human inventions though there is no knowing just when the world’s first staircase was built. Neither is it clear which civilisation came up with the radical idea to build something for easily navigating a vertical distance. In modern times, the proliferation of lifts and escalators has made the very idea of staircase a bit dated. Even so, seedhiyaan continue to be built as emergency fire exits and similar such utilitarian necessities. It’s easy to forget that these functional stairs can also be things of incredible beauty. Such as the grand stairway at L’Opéra in Paris or, closer to home, the sweep of stairs at the Polish
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Rupali Rakheja, South Extension, Delhi Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - March 25, 2019March 25, 20190 The 223rd death. [Text and photos sent by Rupali Rakheja] A hypocrite of emotions, perplexed between her thoughts on archaeology and history. Rupali Rakheja died yesterday because of thinking too little about others and too much about her medieval ancestors. She dreamt more than she slept, she was a believer of Foucault's Philosophy. There were days when fellow workers tried to send her to an asylum as she was seen recognizing Khalji in Harappan skeletons. She was a free soul who believed in the freedom of art, discovered her essence in the enigma of thrill and mystery. She was opinionated and firm about her thoughts on living life but was often confused about what food to eat for dinner. She scribbled her words on the
City Monument – Madhi Masjid, Mehrauli Monuments by The Delhi Walla - March 24, 20191 So beautiful, so ignored. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Monuments aren’t only about stones, not always. Sometimes they are more about air and sky. Such is the case with Madhi Masjid in Mehrauli. Close to Jain Mandir Dadabari, the Lodhi-era mosque is tucked away in a tiny garden. A picturesque stone gateway leads into a sprawling courtyard that hits you with an outdoorsy spread so intensely intimate that the sky seems like roof and the air as palpably tangible as thick jelly. One of the most beautiful of Delhi relics, the forlorn mosque lies ignored by all but some. This evening the yard is teeming with parrots and pigeons—they are milling around excitedly like North Indian vacationers on a Goa beach. Soon